If you’re trying to justify your drinking to me after I said “Oh, I don’t drink” I’m really gonna think you’re an alcoholic because I said nothing to warrant you needing to justify yourself. I just don’t like drinking myself.
Almost every single time I have made a comment about how I do not like alcohol, I get a few replies from people trying to justify their consumption to me, as if I said I hate people who drink.
I guess I’m lucky. Since I retired from drinking no one has pushed back when I’ve declined to partake.
I think in some areas, the culture is starting to shift around that a bit. I remember the 2000-2010s era having a lot of shows that were more on-the-nose about the topic and then seeing more people talking about how to properly interact with recovering alcoholics on social media in the years following.
Purely anecdotal, of course. I just get the vibe that some areas where drinking used to be very expected, have learned to treat it as a choice
Also don’t drink, can confirm.
This is always weird when the doctor asks. Both my wife and I are not adverse to drinking and do but like it took us several years to use up a bottle of cognac she had picked up because she wanted to do up eggnog all special one year. So the answer is always. Yes but very very very rarely.
I drink because I like to support local business. It just happens that the local business I want to support are breweries.
Not all heroes wear capes. Thank you for your service!
Sometimes the point of alcohol is just to get a little bit drunk.
Similarly, asking anyone to defend their position on why sobriety is superior will eventually have them sound like they are insecure and judgemental.
I can’t think of a scenario where you ask someone to defend why they don’t drink but they are the one that is insecure and judgemental. There’s plenty of situations where people drink when they shouldn’t (eg driving) but it’s not quite so common to be in a situation where you must drink but don’t.
Maybe I’m just terminally online, but I’ve seen lots of people boast that they’ve “never gotten intoxicated” and view this as some sort of moral boon. It just reads as fear to me. Not that I’d force them to get high, but don’t knock it if ya haven’t tried it.
Alcohol is a great solvent and widely used in flavor extracts such as orange and almond concentrating and preserving the essence of flavors.
It’s use can add natural flavors to a great variety of recipes.
Whatever, boozer
You need different friends.
Try it with opiates lol.
Nah I’m alcoholic, why defend it beer makes me happy
I enjoy drinking
This sounds like it starts from the assumption that it can only be consumed for the effect, not the taste.
I drink once, maybe twice every year, and never more than 2-3 drinks. And I specifically either sip a finger of Jägermeister, a White Russian, or expensive gin tonics (Scapegrace is brilliantly rich and nuanced, for instance), because I enjoy the taste.
What I do not enjoy is getting drunk. Not only because the following two days are worse than death, but especially because I don’t like how my body slips out of my control and how it encourages my mind to drift toward the dark place.
Yeah, like you could totally defend going for a wine tasting a few times a year without sounding like an alcoholic. The amount matters.
I think alcohol like music can not be separated from its effect upon the mind. I think those effects are entirely the point we take it, I think if it was just taste you would not drink your White Russian. I think when you drink it it is because you want to visit or at least be reminded of your dark place. Like all drugs it is vital not to ignore the positive effects they can have while also being very aware of the long term negative consequences. As to answering the original question I think if you drink less than the average it is permissible to give as your reasons that you sometimes like the way it makes you feel. You drink in the same way you put on music, not because of the sound or the taste but because it takes you to somewhere else and for a little while that is where you needed to be.
You drink alcohol EVERY YEAR?! Wow, look at this boozehound over here.
I love the taste!
I’m also addicted to the substance.
All due respect, I cannot speak for your situation, but neither does your situation for everyone else who likes to sip alcohol.
I cannot stand the taste of cinnamon or licorice, but I don’t believe addiction is required to be able to enjoy them.
I think you’re reading a bit too much into my statement.
Not at all, which is why I specified this in mine.
I am merely working with what’s been given.
It’s actually quite simple, sounds like you need to change your friend group
Oh, I don’t have friends, it was just a shower thought.
I don’t have a drink problem. I drink. I get drunk. I fall down. No problem.
I don’t abuse alcohol. I love alcohol, so why would I abuse it?
Why would somebody need to defend it lol
If you don’t like it don’t do it, if you like it do it.
Na, fuck alcohol, it’s as deadly as rat poison, a little won’t kill you but no amount is good for you and the only reason you are defending it is because you think it has some good traits and it doesn’t. Maybe it’s a good thing it’s hard to defend since it is literally poison. Try Pot or Lsd both are less harmful than Alcohol and are more fun
Ah yes. Who hasn’t dropped a tab after a long day of work to unwind and rela…
Na, fuck sugar, it’s as deadly as rat poison, a little won’t kill you but no amount is good for you and the only reason you are defending it is because you think it has some good traits and it doesn’t. Maybe it’s a good thing it’s hard to defend since it is literally poison. Try Pot or Lsd both are less harmful than Sugar and are more fun
Fixed that for you.
They’re not completely wrong, though. The studies show that no amount of alcohol consumption is healthy for you.
But, they were an asshole for how they said it.
Not being healthy for you isn’t the same as always being a detriment. There is a non-zero amount of alcohol that can be ingested without causing harm. Sometimes having a small amount of something that isn’t great for you, but makes you feel good is fine. A few sugary snacks occasionally is never healthy, but it also isn’t always harmful. Same with alcohol, having a small glass of wine to celebrate something a couple times a year doesn’t provide nutritional health benefits, but it also isn’t going to cause harm.
Not being healthy is by definition causing harm.
You are thinking of unhealthy. Between healthy and unhealthy are neutral things that our body simply processes and expels as long as we don’t get oo much. The whole point of discouraging any consumption of alcoholic drinks is to counter the myths that alcohol provides health benefits.
A small amount of alcohol on occasion doesn’t cause harm to the body. It is processed and expelled. That is why fermented foods, which contain trace amounts of alcohol, are not unhealthy.
Most spices aren’t healthy in the way that the majority of people use the word for food. They don’t provide nutrients our bodies need. Pepper doesn’t improve our health, but it doesn’t harm us either in reasonable quantities. It is something our body simply expels, just like small amounts of many other things that our body processes and expels.
The point is that the level of alcohol that is not harmful is really low compared to what people think.
That’s because the amount of alcohol you need to survive is 0, sugar on the other hand is both, needed and “bad”.
You need 0 refined sugar to survive too.
Why would you need to defend anything?
So nobody takes your booze.
