Apparently responsibility isn't a subject that the Philadelphia Daily News is interested in propagating. In an irreverent piece called Freshmen alert: Beer is more complex than you think, writer Don Russell who bills himself as "Joe Sixpack", is advising students to dispense with all the worrying over all the "Alcohol is Evil' speech" stuff.
I have to question this attempt at "common man" humor when directed at people who are a tad less than the "men" (read adult) that such a pointed satire of an adult point of view might be more properly aimed. Should we really be minimalizing alcoholism and binge drinking in articles pointed at our college students who are already too prone to taking chances with their health, not to mention their schooling, already?
"Joe Sixpack" stampedes right for the idea that kids will ignore advice and warnings of the evils of drinking because they are going to "do the exact opposite" in shades of the claim that we shouldn't bother teaching kids about abstinence because they are going to "have sex anyways".
Thanks to scare tactics like that, you've (students) been turning a deaf ear to authorities since your dad warned you that you'd go blind if you didn't stop. You'd think these do-gooders would know by now that all that finger-wagging only makes most people go out and do the exact opposite.
Our friendly alcoholic advisor then goes on to regale us on his ideas of the proper ways in which to view binge drinking. With such gems as:
-Getting drunk is not evil. It is a natural form of adult socialization
-The 21-year-old drinking age is nonsense, but it is the law. Pour that bottle into a plastic cup, and the cops won't bother you
-Go ahead and binge
-Don't drink one beer every 10 minutes for an hour, unless it's a bet
-Beware of Internet rip-offs when buying fake IDs
While the piece was seemingly meant to be somewhat amusing, it seems to me that this approach to drunkenness aimed at our students is one that we should not be seeing in the news daily of one of our biggest cities. In any case, it sure doesn't live up to treating binge drinking seriously.
Sadly, the Philadelphia Daily News does not concur.
