POZ Community Forums
Off Topic Forums => Off Topic Forum => Topic started by: mecch on May 15, 2013, 02:53:29 pm
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http://gawker.com/unconscious-student-with-near-lethal-bac-left-outside-e-506801925
Odd. A few weeks ago a current events TV show in Geneva did the same reporting.
It seems young people are leaving their plastered friends on sidewalks, alleys, or sending them alone in taxis to the emergency rooms. Every weekend evening there are several in the emergency rooms in Lausanne and Geneva, dangerously drunk and sometimes pretty banged up. They interviewed the nurses and even showed some of the patients, it was pretty damned grim. The show believed the rational is the "friends" just want to keep partying and don't want to kill their evening.
Mostly I'm optimistic and positive about youth today. But there does seem to be a glitch in responsibility to others.
What do you think?
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I don't find myself particularly paying much attention to that age group.
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If it's anything like here and in the UK it's not just the drunks who are out of it and being dumped by friends, in a lot of cases it hasn't much to do with just alcohol.
I think the reason they are being left at Emergency room doors has to do with both alcohol and party pills, and the so called friends don't want to get involved when there are drugs on the scene and the police become involved. Like you said who needs friend like that.
Aroha
Jan
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Well, in Switzerland the report was about alcohol.
Though you may be on to something about the illicit nature of the intoxicating agent, because maybe one of the factors with these frat "boys" in the US, is that its underage drinking, so they maybe wanted to avoid hassles and heat on their frat or themselves.
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I heard for years that European youth were more responsible with drinking, because they were introduced to it at a young age. Drinking wasn't a big deal, because kids had been drinking at dinner for years. I heard American kids had issues, because we are told it is wrong to drink until you're 21, so many binge drink.
But, I keep hearing how bad binge drinking is across the pond. Friends who have visited London say guys are pissing in the streets. They claim it is rampant. I saw on the news where parts of London have installed urinals near pubs. They raise out of the ground at night. There were no doors. You piss right in the open.
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Did anyone notice where this occurred? Arizona State Univerisity. The party school of all party schools.
It's not exactly news that college kids drink too much and do stupid things like leaving their frat brother in a wheelchair outside the ER with a post it note saying he was the consequence of a drinking game. I have never drank so much as when I was in college.
Ted, come on..you've never pissed in the street after a night of drinking stumbling home?
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When I moved from New York to Switzerland, one of the culture shocks was the public drunkenness. I went to school in two college towns in the US, and I guess its par for the course in one of those, so maybe we don't really notice it because we expect it, or are too young (or drunk?) ourselves to notice?
London shocked me, too, and its been like that for many years.
What I was shocked about in Switzerland was so many polluted adults mixed in. I guess most of my friends were in their late twenties or early 30's when I moved here and people went to parties and many got really really smashed. I didn't have this experience in New York as an adult, working. I don't remember my friends in my 20's getting smashed every weekend. I don't remember seeing smashed people stumbling around the streets at night.
Anyway what was surprising about the article I posted was that the frat bothers didn't bother to stick around for their buddy and make sure he was alright. And that the same behaviour has been reported here in my town. It's been on my mind because one of my students had this experience this spring.
Maybe it not news or a trend, but the TV news report said it was new in the culture - extreme drunkenness + abandonment - and the emergency room staff said the same thing, they are getting worried and also a bit fed up.
I guess I could go for the stretch and tie it in with other current events that might show a similar tendency for lack of empathy. Like the bullying or the rapes, that the young witness and don't think to intercede let alone report it and try to make it right.
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Like USA , Europe is a big place and to lump France Greece UK in one melting pot will not help.
Northern Europe/Scandinavia/Eastern Europe share hard drinking cultures. Even when you see public drunkenness that is for a few hours as yet I have never gone shopping at 10am to be met by mass drunkenness .
What I have seen change , is Alcohol companies targetting the young with 2 for 1 happy hours , Mass produced Alcohol not tasting off Alcohol 'Alco-pops' I guess you had to be rich enough before to afford cocktails that hid the Alcohol.
Universities bombarded by drink company freebi and such like. Your average neighbourhood dealer would blush at the inducements to drink drink drink.
It is causing huge problems in areas where it is collected together, one off which is off course ER / Casualty depts . Off course our Tory Gov has far too much personal investment in booze companies to truly look at the problem and come up with any plans , no that would be hard work and our present batch off Tories are very much allergic to that.
Cheers all bottoms up
m
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Yes those are all good points.
In fact I was walking in town this morning and saw a public poster campaign about this very topic, alcohol abuse among younger people. So I guess people are moving and thinking about solutions.