America perfectly represents the ideals of the Enlightenment: the land of the free and the home of the brave; a nation in which citizens can choose who they want to be and what they want to do. Throughout the Revolutionary War, the colonists relied on each other for support and no one could afford the luxury of a peaceful, secluded life. That emphasis on sociability became a part of the American identity. Lung cancer has declined steadily over the last thirty years (Cancer Statistics Report), but liver cancer incidents have tripled over that time period as Americans are binge drinking now more than ever (Key Statistics About Liver Cancer). While, at times, smoking can be social and drinking can be anti-social, America’s emphasis on gregariousness causes society to hypocritically scorn smoking but tolerate binge drinking because smoking is an anti-social activity whereas binge drinking is a social activity. Advertisement posters against smoking and binge drinking differ because of the USA’s cultural values, particularly due to the solidarity of smoking versus the camaraderie of drinking. Although binge drinking is typically considered four drinks for women and five drinks for men in a two-hour span, this fails to account for someone’s height, weight, and food consumed, and therefore many people have no idea if they are binge drinking or not, causing some to black out (Drinking Levels Defined). A photo of a passed out teenage girl with embarrassing sayings written in sharpie
The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition is a very interesting book written by W.J. Rorabaugh which anlyze the high prevalence of alcohol consumption in United States during the early 19th century. When he explains how he started writing the book, he said that when he was looking for a long essay in a particular subject he came across a lot of temperance pamphlets from the 1820’s and 30’s. That is the starting point of writing the book for him. He has stated in the preface Ix that Americans drank more alcoholic beverages percapita than ever before or since between 1790 and 1830. He has mentioned
Alcohol-Related Windows on Simmel’s Social World by William J. Staudenmeier Jr. from the text, Illuminating Social Life, dives into the topic of alcohol and how its role in society can be directly reflected back to Simmel’s work. The text was introduced by explaining how alcohol has been a major influence throughout American history and how it has shaped the interactions of difference cultures, races and ethnicities by characterizing drinking as “conflict between coexisting value structures” (98). Simmel’s ideas about the core differences between dyads and triads was applied in the context of how group interaction significantly changed when the role of alcohol becomes a factor to socializing. Three different group stratifications can be seen
By the 1820s, the average American was drinking the equivalent of seventy gallons of beer a year, due to both a lack of safe drinking water and of few other options.(Meredith) Even though it originated out of necessity, this excessive drinking outraged and shocked a portion of the U.S. population. This began the Temperance movement, where many campaigned to minimize alcohol consumption. Doctors objected to drinking alcohol on medical grounds, because excessive drinking lead to cirrhosis of the liver.(Meredith) Ministers claimed that it damaged moral behavior. Many mothers and wives were outraged with their husbands and sons for going to saloons or bars and drinking the family money away.(Burns and Novick) These groups believed temperance, and eventually, prohibition, would fix these problems. The Temperance movement gained traction in the United States and whipped the nation into a fervor. This lead to the passing of the 18th Amendment, beginning what we know as
In his book, The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition, William J. Rorabaugh makes the argument that early American society was a place where alcohol flowed freely through every level of society. Americans in the late eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century partook in so widely it was one of the defining characteristics of the culture of the early United States. Using data collected from censuses, surveys, and reports from those who traveled across the country in its early years, Rorabaugh concludes that the drinking in the United States found no barriers with age, sex, race, class, or location. But his assumptions and conclusion are not proved strongly enough by hard evidence and data to be considered a reliable narrative of the early America.
We all know America is a diversify country. All different type of people with different races, culture,religion, and life styles are living here since decades. We all faces different types of challenges differently but today my essay will address challenge that we as an American face in our lives. My essay will explain it's causes and how badly it could impact on American reputation. Consumption of Alcohol in an excessive amount and creating social issues is getting worst in our homes, family and society.
Both articles have many similarities; both agree that binge drinking is a problem among adolescents across the country. Binge drinking is defined by both articles as, “five or more drinks in a row for boys and four or more drinks in a row for girls” (Wuethrich, p.58-59). Both articles agree that one major
This experimental study is being done to better understand the effectiveness of anti-drinking and driving advertisements on university-aged students. “Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 16 to 25 year olds, and alcohol and/or drugs are a factor in 55% of those crashes” (Madd, 2013). Increasing the effectiveness of anti-drinking and driving advertisements could be a solution to this critically high mortality rate in young people. The main purpose of this study is to better understand the effect of positive and negative anti-drinking and driving advertisements within different settings and different amounts of times.
Australia needs to wake up and realize that society is influencing us to develop the binge culture. Thus, making binge drinking into a social issue. There is a sharp increase of binge drinking in the younger generation with the statistics showing 86.2% of Australian teenagers aged 14-18 years have consumed alcohol. The underage youth are stating that their parents are allowing it, that it is easy to get the alcohol, drinking’s cheaper and that they are getting highly influenced seeing the older (legal aged) youth drinking. Consequently, the younger youth cannot comprehend why they cannot drink
According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), 36.5 million Americans currently smoke, that is about fifteen percent of the population which is equal to the combined population of America’s twenty-five largest cities. Although anti-smoking advertisements are shown throughout the United States, people do not take them seriously half the time. The advertisement in this analysis showcases a grayish background, with the colors focusing mainly on a cigarette box that has the cigarettes put into crayon labels and the box also opens like a crayon box. There is also a child’s writing with crayons saying, “Just like mommy.” From this, the image showcases the dangers of smoking and the causes it has on loved ones. This advertisement uses strong ethos, pathos, and logos to get ASH’s point across very clear.
Young people have been attracted to alcohol since the early 1820’s, and it “...has rattled authorities around the world for centuries” (Clark 5). Through the 1800’s and into the 1900’s, “...anti-saloon activists helped to pass Prohibition in 1919 by circulating pictures of children sneaking alcohol out of taverns” (Clark 5). Teen drinking, however, climbed quickly after World War II and proceeded in an upward motion up into, “...the early 1970’s…[where there was a] successful movement to give 18-year-olds the right to vote” (Clark 6). And with
“According to the CDC, about 90% of all teen alcohol consumption occurs in the form of Binge Drinking, which experts say peaks at the age of nineteen.” (qtd by Listfield). Binge Drinking is the consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. The author, Emily Listfield, defines that the standard alcohol consumption over a two hour period is considered to be four beers for women and five beers for men. This has become a great distraction for college students nationwide and a major dilemma on college campuses. Nearly two hundred thousand students visit emergency rooms each year due to the abuse of alcohol, and more than one thousand seven hundred students die. In the article “ The Underage Drinking Epidemic”, Listfield identifies the problems that underage drinking can cause, the dangers that could happen, and four solutions on what parents can do to keep their kids from binge drinking.
Those who want to see the legal drinking age was reduced from twenty-one to eighteen often argue that the legal drinking age in Canada and many European countries are in the middle of adolescence, and argue further that this "lower drinking age has not resulted in the dismantling of the social structure "(Heath 28). As some scientists and social researchers have pointed out, however, drinking habits of young people has changed considerably in recent years as the influence of American advertising and the availability of U.S. products has spread (Heath 231). Although the argument that a lower legal drinking age may be based on data from other countries, we must remember that the culture of alcohol are different in many of these countries and should not serve as a valid basis for a discussion of American matters. Once again, science and research should lead to an argument for reducing or increasing the legal drinking age.
These statistics’ prove Engs theory that because Alcohol consumption is illegal for young adults tend to consume alcohol and abuse alcohol more often. If their theory was true the binge drinking rate for 21 to 25 years olds would not be 45.5% in 2010. Another statistic that proves Engs “forbidden fruit theory” wrong is the statistic noted by the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study, they found that a proportion of those 19- to 22-year-olds that binged drank two weeks prior to their surveyed in 1984 was 40.7% and their current study in 2006 found that only 38.1% binged drank 2 weeks prior to the recent survey, Which; proves that the 1984 act has decreased binge drinking by 2% in America. This drop in binge drinking rates may only be a small drop in binge drinking rates. Which, convey that Americans do have a high percentage of binge drinkers. This problem brings up another argument that supporters of lowering the drinking age bring up.
“From the moment freshmen set foot on campus, they are steeped in a culture that encourages them to drink, and drink heavily. At many schools, social life is still synonymous with alcohol-lubricated gatherings” (Cohen). Binge drinking is a huge aspect of the culture of college life; many college students binge drink to become socially accepted in a particular group. Binge drinking is not only
The public service announcement we decide to chose is drunk driving. The group's goal is get a message out to stop teenagers from drinking and driving. Drinking and driving is a serious issue among teens now and days. Our targeted audience in this psa are parents and teenagers. The main point of this Psa is to get parents to understand and feel comfort to allow their kids to leave and go out but have a gut-instinct that they will come back home safely and be able to make smart choices. The main point of this psa to teenager’s is to stop underage drinking, not only is it a crime but it messes up the liver. To give a message to teens that being under the influence and driving not only is risking their life but the life of others.