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OPINION & EDITORIAL

Moderation needed in drinking

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by Badger Herald Editorial Board

Monday, October 24, 2005

It is undeniable that alcohol is a part of the cultural fabric of this nation. It permeates all aspects of American life, from the crisp opening of a can of beer before Sunday football or the ceremonial popping of champagne to celebrate a momentous occasion, drinking dots the American landscape like confetti.

And nowhere is this more noticeable than right here in Madison, where drinking consumes the better part of the city's social life. We tailgate before home football games, we glorify FAC and schedule our classes to avoid the inevitable clash between Thursday night drinking and Friday morning class. To some it would seem that our three-day weekends almost exceed the overindulgence of Dionysus.

None of this is a problem. A long line of American heroes has proven that a drinking culture does not necessarily rule out achievement. Even our Founding Fathers were knee-deep in suds. The Revolution was financed partly by brewers like Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson, one of our nation's greatest intellects who owned his own wine label.

Yet there is a difference between a drinking culture and a culture of decadence.

Too often we see students choosing to drink not just to get drunk, but to drink to the point where they become a danger to themselves and to others. We see students drinking Herculean amounts of alcohol in order to prove something, as if detox were a badge of honor. Drinking to the point of blue lights and ambulances.

It's time for this kind of behavior to stop.

There is a difference between drunkenness and destruction. Drinking, for those of us over 21, is not a crime nor should it be. Getting drunk on the weekends is an enjoyable way to spend time with your friends and is a vibrant part of the downtown atmosphere. But when drinking becomes an excuse for outright destruction, a line has been crossed. When grades suffer, when crime increases and when trips to the emergency room rise, it is time for us as a campus to take stock.

Let's take to the streets and celebrate our culture. Raise a glass to your friends and drink to contentment and merriment. But let's leave all that destruction at home.

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Anonymous (October 24, 2005 @ 8:39am):

It's remarkable that getting drunk now falls within the
range of moderation.

"Too often we see students choosing to drink not just to get drunk, ..."

and

"Getting drunk on the weekends is an enjoyable way to spend time with your friends and is a vibrant part of the downtown atmosphere."

It does not improve the atmosphere for those who are not drunk and it does tend to make people more vulnerable to being victims of crime.

Anonymous (October 24, 2005 @ 9:05am):

Thank you Badger Herald, a student voice for constraint is needed. It scares the rest of the population reading stories about riots and the number of trips to detox which come from this University. A clear voice arguing that drinking itself is not a problem, only those who use it as a veil for their destructive ways are the problem, is needed.