Australia and binge drinking

[OzGuy]

Australia is a country obsessed with alcohol and drinking. I feel this keeps getting worse each year.

As a non-drinker, I am often ridiculed simply because I choose to live a healthy lifestyle by not destroying my liver every weekend.

Whenever I mention that I don't drink, people look at me as if I'm some sort of freak. Other times they assume that I must be a recovering alcoholic, because apparently they are the only people who don't drink in Australia.

Most people in Australia actually believe that you need to get drunk in order to have "fun" or a good time. In fact, when people mention "I like to go out and have fun" - 9/10 it translates to "I like to go out and get drunk".

People even think less of you if you don't drink, its as if it is some sort of requirement for being Australian.

There has been an alarming increase in alcohol related violence over the years. Hospital staff are always complaining about them clogging up hospitals on the weekend, at tax payers expense.

Women are also getting drunk more than ever. If you go out on a typical Friday/Saturday night, you will see a lot of women behaving in an aggressive and stupid manner. I find this rather repulsive.

I cannot stand this binge drinking culture. This is one of the biggest reasons why I want to leave this country. I want to live somewhere where "fun" actually means going out and doing stuff that doesn't involve alcohol.

[zboy1]

Australia is a country obsessed with alcohol and drinking. I feel this keeps getting worse each year.

As a non-drinker, I am often ridiculed simply because I choose to live a healthy lifestyle by not destroying my liver every weekend.

Whenever I mention that I don't drink, people look at me as if I'm some sort of freak. Other times they assume that I must be a recovering alcoholic, because apparently they are the only people who don't drink in Australia.

Most people in Australia actually believe that you need to get drunk in order to have "fun" or a good time. In fact, when people mention "I like to go out and have fun" - 9/10 it translates to "I like to go out and get drunk".

People even think less of you if you don't drink, its as if it is some sort of requirement for being Australian.

There has been an alarming increase in alcohol related violence over the years. Hospital staff are always complaining about them clogging up hospitals on the weekend, at tax payers expense.

Women are also getting drunk more than ever. If you go out on a typical Friday/Saturday night, you will see a lot of women behaving in an aggressive and stupid manner. I find this rather repulsive.

I cannot stand this binge drinking culture. This is one of the biggest reasons why I want to leave this country. I want to live somewhere where "fun" actually means going out and doing stuff that doesn't involve alcohol.

The U.S. is just as bad with the drinking culture as Australia it seems. In fact, that's all most Americans ever appear do in their spare time--get drunk and smoke a joint or do drugs. I noticed the same thing when I was stationed in the U.K. as well. Must have something to do with the messed up Anglo Saxon cultural influence that produces such a dysfunctional social environment--I guess?

[Banano]

Ozguy you are 100% right abt everything u said, meaning of having fun translates to getting drunk. During daytime everyone look so depressed, miserable and antisocial especially females

[jamesbond]

Australia is a country obsessed with alcohol and drinking. I feel this keeps getting worse each year.

As a non-drinker, I am often ridiculed simply because I choose to live a healthy lifestyle by not destroying my liver every weekend.

Whenever I mention that I don't drink, people look at me as if I'm some sort of freak. Other times they assume that I must be a recovering alcoholic, because apparently they are the only people who don't drink in Australia.

Most people in Australia actually believe that you need to get drunk in order to have "fun" or a good time. In fact, when people mention "I like to go out and have fun" - 9/10 it translates to "I like to go out and get drunk".

People even think less of you if you don't drink, its as if it is some sort of requirement for being Australian.

I cannot stand this binge drinking culture. This is one of the biggest reasons why I want to leave this country. I want to live somewhere where "fun" actually means going out and doing stuff that doesn't involve alcohol.

Hey, you just described the United States perfectly! People in these 'anglo-countries' must share the same behavior, because here in the US, if your a young single person and it's a Friday or Saturday night, your supposed to go out and get drunk! If you don't people assume you are a recovering alcoholic or a loser!

People at work will say things like, "this weekend I got so wasted" and "man, I still have a hangover from Saturday night." In college it was the worse, almost every human being at my college went out on the weekends and got drunk. Me and roommate were two people out of the 10,000 students at my college that did not get wasted at all when we were in school! I was never into "the bar scene" so I guess that makes me a freak here in America!

[Will N. Dowd]

It's no different than Canada. If you don't drink, you're essentially seen as a freak. If you think about it, most people that drink are really drug addicts, it just happens to be drug that is legal in some countries. I don't drink either. I never did much to begin with, but I stopped altogether a few years ago. I agree with you, it's an awful drinking culture in the anglosphere, I've hated it since high school. Doesn't matter if you are in the USA, UK, Canada. Australia, New Zealand or Ireland, same drinking culture, same language, different location. Mind you many of the Japanese girls I met did the same thing every weekend:get drunk! I'm still thinking of going to Brunei because it has no alcohol, income or sales tax, it's always warm, peaceful and English is widely used.
I went to a boarding school in Ontario, Canada in the 80's, and almost every weekend many of the guys in the dorms would go across the river to Quebec where the drinking age is 18, so they could get drunk and come back before the school locked the doors at midnight. Of course I and the other sane guys were seen as losers because we didn't do this.

[OzGuy]

So what is it like in most European countries? I hear they drink, but not to get drunk... ie, to enjoy a glass of wine with a meal.

Is binge drinking very common in Europe?

[Voice of Reason]

Women are also getting drunk more than ever. If you go out on a typical Friday/Saturday night, you will see a lot of women behaving in an aggressive and stupid manner. I find this rather repulsive.

So do I, and I don't even bother going out anymore...it's pathetic. All the women do is get drunk and grind each other, and pose for Facebook photos while touching each others tits together and trying to pull sexy faces.

If you start a conversation with them, you will be lucky to get ten seconds of their time (and even that doesn't count as proper conversation), before they go off again to act stupid.

[Voice of Reason]

Australia is a country obsessed with alcohol and drinking. I feel this keeps getting worse each year.

As a non-drinker, I am often ridiculed simply because I choose to live a healthy lifestyle by not destroying my liver every weekend.

Whenever I mention that I don't drink, people look at me as if I'm some sort of freak. Other times they assume that I must be a recovering alcoholic, because apparently they are the only people who don't drink in Australia.

Most people in Australia actually believe that you need to get drunk in order to have "fun" or a good time. In fact, when people mention "I like to go out and have fun" - 9/10 it translates to "I like to go out and get drunk".

People even think less of you if you don't drink, its as if it is some sort of requirement for being Australian.

I cannot stand this binge drinking culture. This is one of the biggest reasons why I want to leave this country. I want to live somewhere where "fun" actually means going out and doing stuff that doesn't involve alcohol.

Hey, you just described the United States perfectly! People in these 'anglo-countries' must share the same behavior, because here in the US, if your a young single person and it's a Friday or Saturday night, your supposed to go out and get drunk! If you don't people assume you are a recovering alcoholic or a loser!

People at work will say things like, "this weekend I got so wasted" and "man, I still have a hangover from Saturday night." In college it was the worse, almost every human being at my college went out on the weekends and got drunk. Me and roommate were two people out of the 10,000 students at my college that did not get wasted at all when we were in school! I was never into "the bar scene" so I guess that makes me a freak here in America!

Your avatar animation is typical behavior of how Australian women behave on a weekend. They always do that with their tits to each other, as well as countless other forms of idiotic behavior.

The one major difference is that many of them are not as good looking as the one in your avatar, yet they think they are.

[Soulthinker]

Are those Aussie women are super ladettes than the ones in the UK aka Pomland?

[AsioLoretta]

Binge drinking is disturbing, but what I find more disturbing is that it's almost expected that you get drunk on a Friday/Saturday night because you're an Australian. I've had this argument with friends many times before and they seem unwilling to budge on the subject. They cling to the stereotype and use it as the ultimate excuse.
I am a drinker, but never to excess and I usually stick to a glass or two of wine. It absolutely disgusts me to see women going out and getting so drunk that they make fools out of themselves.
Where did it go wrong? What ever happened to being a lady?
'Ladettes' are awful people who are misrepresenting the female population. It's not fair on us who do the right thing and aren't completely brain dead.
Some of the blame has to be laid on the parents though, society can only shoulder so much of it. If parents were a tad more strict then maybe they would grow to respect themselves and the people around them.

[publicduende]

Binge drinking is disturbing, but what I find more disturbing is that it's almost expected that you get drunk on a Friday/Saturday night because you're an Australian. I've had this argument with friends many times before and they seem unwilling to budge on the subject. They cling to the stereotype and use it as the ultimate excuse.
I am a drinker, but never to excess and I usually stick to a glass or two of wine. It absolutely disgusts me to see women going out and getting so drunk that they make fools out of themselves.
Where did it go wrong? What ever happened to being a lady?
'Ladettes' are awful people who are misrepresenting the female population. It's not fair on us who do the right thing and aren't completely brain dead.
Some of the blame has to be laid on the parents though, society can only shoulder so much of it. If parents were a tad more strict then maybe they would grow to respect themselves and the people around them.

It's a very similar story in the UK and I believe you're right. Being aware of the threshold between a joyful, tipsy evening and one littered by all sorts of weird and embarassing behaviours, barefoot walking, casual sex, street corner vomit and a massive hangover, is all about self-respect. I have seen this apply to women and men alike. Those "ladette" types are a product of the working class who thrives in its raunchy sexist stereotypes, whose cultural peak is reading the Sunday magazine insert, and whose idea of female success is hooking up with a young City trader or a Premiere League footballer. They are usually people who didn't have a solid family upbringing, their moms and dads being quite similar to them, so that the curse of the drinking class, as Oscar Wilde defined it, is passed on.

You know, at least Aussies came across as genuinely friendly. If I had to have to deal with a drunk woman, or man for that matter, I'd much rather deal with a drunk Aussie than a drunk Brit.

[eurobrat]

...

[AsioLoretta]

Binge drinking is disturbing, but what I find more disturbing is that it's almost expected that you get drunk on a Friday/Saturday night because you're an Australian. I've had this argument with friends many times before and they seem unwilling to budge on the subject. They cling to the stereotype and use it as the ultimate excuse.
I am a drinker, but never to excess and I usually stick to a glass or two of wine. It absolutely disgusts me to see women going out and getting so drunk that they make fools out of themselves.
Where did it go wrong? What ever happened to being a lady?
'Ladettes' are awful people who are misrepresenting the female population. It's not fair on us who do the right thing and aren't completely brain dead.
Some of the blame has to be laid on the parents though, society can only shoulder so much of it. If parents were a tad more strict then maybe they would grow to respect themselves and the people around them.

It's a very similar story in the UK and I believe you're right. Being aware of the threshold between a joyful, tipsy evening and one littered by all sorts of weird and embarassing behaviours, barefoot walking, casual sex, street corner vomit and a massive hangover, is all about self-respect. I have seen this apply to women and men alike. Those "ladette" types are a product of the working class who thrives in its raunchy sexist stereotypes, whose cultural peak is reading the Sunday magazine insert, and whose idea of female success is hooking up with a young City trader or a Premiere League footballer. They are usually people who didn't have a solid family upbringing, their moms and dads being quite similar to them, so that the curse of the drinking class, as Oscar Wilde defined it, is passed on.

You know, at least Aussies came across as genuinely friendly. If I had to have to deal with a drunk woman, or man for that matter, I'd much rather deal with a drunk Aussie than a drunk Brit.

So the solution is simple, sterilise the working class? (I joke)
But I think we should see a return of the good old charm school. Teach them old fashioned values. Wouldn't kill them to say thank you once in a while.

[OzGuy]

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health ... 6559588345

[Voice of Reason]

(Skip the first minute)