Saturday, March 23, 2013

There Really Is Nothing Funny About Alcohol Jokes

By Christi Larsen


With some of the movies that have come out over the years, it would seem that alcohol jokes are still all the rage, and always will be. The fact is, these movies are sometimes glamorizing irresponsible and even dangerous activities. The joking that goes on at the bar, or the next morning, only serves to support this glamorization.

America has now seen a rape verdict passed against two young men who thought their behavior was funny. The most disturbing thing that has come from this whole matter is that these young men did not seem to understand that they did anything wrong. Repeatedly during the trial, it was expressed that taking a passed out girl sexually was viewed as being no big deal.

While the release of the video into public domain caused a lot of people to behave as if they were shocked, anyone who has been to a college frat party knows how common this is. Drunk girls are not a gift and should be treated as hands-off until they come to their senses and can decide for themselves whether or not to consent to sex. Young men have not been taught to view females in this way.

These situations are made even worse when the young women themselves regard the behavior as perfectly normal. Waking up not remembering who you had sex with often gets glazed over, like it was just part of the party. It makes it even more difficult to make young men understand how wrong this is when the young women themselves do not seem to understand.

Another area where people tend to pick fun at a tragedy is when an intoxicated person injures themselves. It is not uncommon for drunk people to fall and give themselves severe bruising, black eyes, and sometimes even broken bones. Rather than recognizing that they have a problem with substance abuse, they will often just laugh it off as if injuring themselves is a normal part of their weekend.

To further add to the disgusting nature of this kind of humor, drunks often make light of things that happen while they are driving under the influence. There is nothing funny about not remembering how one got home. To have this level of levity with regards to endangering the lives of strangers really shows how low that person has sunk.

There is a time and a place for alcoholic beverages, and certainly adolescence is not it. Adults who continue heavy consumption well after college often find they have trouble keeping a job, and they simply stay in that college level of maturity. Bars and night clubs all over the world are full of these types of individuals, and after a certain point it is just sad.

At the end of a night filled with dangerous and irresponsible behavior, alcohol jokes just are not funny. These comments are a cynical means of avoiding responsibility for what is clearly a problem within society. The worst part of it is that grown men and women will actually accept this kind of behavior from themselves when they are drinking, and not understand why others are angry or worried for them.




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