After writing yesterday's post about drinking I started wondering if I gave the impression that I'm a teetotaller or some form of puritan (I probably am, but not when it comes to alcohol). It's kind of like bad driving. I'm not 100% pure, but I'm nowhere near the worst offender. And, I can recognize there's a problem here.
I like beer, wine, etc. I really like a glass of wine (or two) with dinner and the occasional strawberry daiquiri during the summer. I don't go out much, but when I do I like a pint in a pub. Yesterday evening I was watching the Met game - a rare midweek noon start in NY - and I grabbed a beer during the 6th inning, but during an ad break I started thinking about what I had written.
To people here, Irish-Americans are just American. They hardly recognize the 'Irish' aspect to those called Murphy or O'Connor or whatever who are born and raised in the US. Well, I can tell you that if there's one aspect of Irishness that is very evident among Irish-Americans, it's the drinking. The primary difference is that Irish-Americans live among other ethnic groups and in a general culture where drinking is just not as tolerated.
It's subtle, but there is a definite difference in how easily people here accept drunkenness. Not just a gentle buzz, but falling-down drunkenness. You see more of it at weddings, parties and just out on the street - especially in daylight and not just winos - than you will in New York or Boston. There's no shame to it.
Identifying the problem is easy. Correcting it is not. Drunkenness should not be acceptable or 'cool'. It probably always will be among students, but people should grow out of that. Too many here do not. I don't think a temperance movement would work, but I don't have a clue what will. Maybe there's no cure, other than the disappearance of the disposable income that is so easily poured down the drain today.
