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Given how St. Patrick's Day is coming up and how I'm of mostly Irish heritage myself, I guess you may have seen this rant coming (along with just the fact that I'm a jaded old soul stuck in a current 18 year old's body).
I find it utterly moronic how I'm legally old enough to drink in most other westernized nations (plus 3 provinces in Canada) except for the one I was born and raised in, the United States of America, which for some stupid reason has decided to make it's legal drinking age 21 instead of a more reasonable and fair age of maybe around 16 - 18 or so (as a little side note, you could perhaps make a little joke about the amendments here). I've always found the legal American drinking age to be arbitrarily high in comparison to most other countries in the world and also find it quite ridiculous how even though I'm not legally old enough to drink, I am somehow legally old enough to sign myself up to go and get killed in a war (to which I'd say is totally backwards if the legal age of adulthood here is 18, I mean, seriously, you'd think that becoming an adult should grant you ALL of the freedoms that come with being an adult instead of only some of them).
I don't plan on getting drunk, but don't you think I should be able to legally down a glass of wine or a nice, fruity cocktail every once in a while with some of my friends? Most 18 - 20 year olds aren't dumb enough to understand the concept of and practice moderation, for the love of God. And I also think it's unfair that there are so many events that I want to attend but can't due to my age being used as a barrier to entry with so many emo night events being held in bars instead of more age accessible locations and having some friends that can go to these events doesn't help. I can't even walk by the liquor aisle at the grocery store without simultaneously being enraged yet curious as I walk by and stare at all of the glass bottles.
Hell, I'd argue that by setting the legal drinking age so high, the consumption of alcohol becomes tempting like it were some sort of forbidden fruit dangling over the heads and mouths of 18 - 20 year old adults (plus, the way Americans treat the consumption of alcohol really doesn't help). And unfortunately, due to having such limited access to alcohol and by criminalizing the possession and even consumption of it, many 18 - 20 year olds who do manage to drink underage are more likely to overdose due to a lack of availability outside of certain settings (such as at house parties and perhaps even in one's own home if they're still living with their folks) and less likely to seek out medical attention for alcohol poisoning. If there's anything one can learn from the 18th amendment, it's that prohibition DOESN'T work. I hope the politicians of the 1980s who enacted higher legal drinking age laws and the stupid lobbyist groups pushing for such laws on alcohol consumption are fucking proud of themselves here.
And you wonder why the rest of the world thinks we're so backwards? This is why, my fellow American citizens, this is fucking why (along with other things, of course, but this is perhaps a prime example of what I'm talking about here).
Fuck, I've gotta get myself a passport in the near future and take a trip up to Canada and go bar hopping while I'm up there and then go and brag about my experience up there to everyone about my experience once I return home. I may not be able to do this in my home country until August 3rd, 2027, but the laws of the land only apply to which side of the border you're currently on. Fuck having to wait another 2 1/2 years to consume more than a concentrated percentage of about 0.5% alcohol (I love myself some Haagen-Dazs Irish Cream Brownie ice cream), I want the real deal now.
But yeah, that's my rant.
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Neooooo
I'm not from the US but recently I was thinking about how fun it would be to go bar-hopping and partying in NYC if I travel there this year and then it hit me - I wouldn't even be able to do so cuz I'm still 19 lol
francis, fran
10/10 rant honestly. i think after writing this you should just get an honorary pass to be able to drink because this is just plain reasonable.
rules exists but as you said they kind of encourage drinking more than anything