"The Sum 41 Thread"

[Ghent]

Let's all clap for ghent, he's related to alcoholics. 

 

Your shit gets old man. can't you let beth speak for herself or do you always have to chime in with remarks?

[Ghent]

Probably all that "straw action" they have going, people get stupid with vacuum vapors.

 

straw vaping is pretty hardcore and you know!

[M!ke]

sorry you're sensitive about it beth, but you're grasping here. i understand alcoholism very well..based on my genes, i am severely prone to alcoholism. several of my extended family members were alcoholics. 3 of my great grandpas were drunks, one was the president of AA in my area.

 

i respect that it's a serious condition, but I do think that many people choose to allow themselves to become addicted. 

 

I agree completely.  The problem is the behavior you exhibit when you start drinking for the first times.  This will shape your relationship with alcohol for the rest of your life.  If you respect its power and use it only occasionally when you first started drinking, its very likely you'll continue with this kind of mindset for the rest of your life with alcohol.  This makes it easy to only drink on weekends.  Believe me I know, this is the behavior I've always exhibited with alcohol.  If however you started out by bingeing and doing it regularly, its no wonder that not long later in life that same person is drinking every day because they feel they need it.

[fElon]

Cue Kyle, and the faux poltically correct butthurt attacks.

 

I am not defending what Ghent said though.

[Melty Mark]

http://www.ncadd.org/index.php/learn-about-alcohol/alcohol-abuse-self-test

 

Addiction is a trait that an alcoholic has, the difference between drinking abusively and becoming an addict is all in your own chemistry. I'm happy for you that you could stop drinking, but an addict typically would not, and does not really choose that actively. It's a fucking miserable way to live and addicts know that. Drinking in the mornings or during the day doesn't make an alcoholic. Some alcoholics binge drink once a week. It's about not being able to stop once you've started, not being able to predict the outcome of your drinking (waking up in unfamiliar places, not anticipating getting as drunk as you did on a constant basis, etc), not seeing any point in just a couple of drinks, there's a lot that makes an alcoholic mind different than a non-alcoholic in terms of their relationship to drinking.

 

Ghent, two other people responded to you but you singled me out as being "sensitive". I'm sure you're aware of my background, but you made a generalized statement to make a point and probably to tick a couple people off. I should know better than to respond to the shit you say with any degree of personal attachment to the topic, but you live and learn.

 

Also, y'all can hate on the straw all you want, I drank faster with a straw! This might not be a scientifically proven trend!!!! Hataz

[Scott.]

Your shit gets old man. can't you let beth speak for herself or do you always have to chime in with remarks?

Very aggressive isn't he.

[M!ke]

http://www.ncadd.org/index.php/learn-about-alcohol/alcohol-abuse-self-test

 

Addiction is a trait that an alcoholic has, the difference between drinking abusively and becoming an addict is all in your own chemistry. I'm happy for you that you could stop drinking, but an addict typically would not, and does not really choose that actively. It's a fucking miserable way to live and addicts know that. Drinking in the mornings or during the day doesn't make an alcoholic. Some alcoholics binge drink once a week. It's about not being able to stop once you've started, not being able to predict the outcome of your drinking (waking up in unfamiliar places, not anticipating getting as drunk as you did on a constant basis, etc), not seeing any point in just a couple of drinks, there's a lot that makes an alcoholic mind different than a non-alcoholic in terms of their relationship to drinking.

 

Also, y'all can hate on the straw all you want, I drank faster with a straw! This might not be a scientifically proven trend!!!! Hataz

 

We all know what addiction is.  My argument is that with alcohol especially, you can control whether or not you get addicted to it with your earliest interactions with it.  Respect it and its power at a young age, drink little when you first start, you very likely will not become an addict and can enjoy it socially later in life, opting to only drink on the weekends if thats what you prefer.  Don't respect it and drink a lot from the get go with no care for how often you drink it, and you'll end up an addict with the need to drink every day.  My simple advice to children is this, when you start drinking, don't go crazy, do it rarely and don't over indulge. 

[Jane]

We all know what addiction is.  My argument is that with alcohol especially, you can control whether or not you get addicted to it with your earliest interactions with it.  Respect it and its power at a young age, drink little when you first start, you very likely will not become an addict and can enjoy it socially later in life, opting to only drink on the weekends if thats what you prefer.  Don't respect it and drink a lot from the get go with no care for how often you drink it, and you'll end up an addict with the need to drink every day.  My simple advice to children is this, when you start drinking, don't go crazy, do it rarely and don't over indulge. 

 

If it was that simple, there would be no addicts.

[M!ke]

If it was that simple, there would be no addicts.

 

Read the rest of my post.  You can control it, if when you start drinking as a "kid" you don't over indulge.  I know plenty of alcoholics who when they started, didn't think anything of it, and binged, drinking all the time, they thought, because they were so young that they were invincible.  Its no wonder at all that these same people are now addicts to alcohol.   Its not nearly the same as once you're addicted.  You have control for sure, but its not nearly as simple, because they didn't start off with the right mindset from the getgo.

[Melty Mark]

We all know what addiction is.  My argument is that with alcohol especially, you can control whether or not you get addicted to it with your earliest interactions with it.  Respect it and its power at a young age, drink little when you first start, you very likely will not become an addict and can enjoy it socially later in life, opting to only drink on the weekends if thats what you prefer.  Don't respect it and drink a lot from the get go with no care for how often you drink it, and you'll end up an addict with the need to drink every day.  My simple advice to children is this, when you start drinking, don't go crazy, do it rarely and don't over indulge. 

 

There's a reason it runs in families. Every single person I know who is sober has a parent or sibling with the exact same disease. My dad never drank around me, but his behavior was that of an alcoholic white-knuckling his sobriety. So the behavior of those around you, in addition to the fact that science shows that a genetic disposition accounts for around 50% of your risk of developing alcoholism, both combine to increase the likelihood of it. This is not based on what you do when you're a kid, in my opinion, although what you do as a kid is a smaller version of what you end up doing. I think you have a different idea of causation vs correlation here, which I understand, I just think differently.

[_Kyle_]

(@Scott) i'm not afraid of you and I will beat your ass 

[_Kyle_]

M!ke that's the most retarded thing i've read in this thread. Jesus. 

[Ghent]

I agree Mike. Even when I know I'm going to be drinking all night, I am very careful with the amount I consume. If I start at 8pm, knowing I will be going until 4am, I'm going to start extremely slowly. Some people can't do that. They have one beer and want to start slamming shots. It's that relationship that will get you into trouble. 

 

I use alcohol to have fun. Never to solve problems.

 

And I'm not sure I buy the chemical talk Beth. How much and how often did you drink when you were having your problems? 

[M!ke]

There's a reason it runs in families. Every single person I know who is sober has a parent or sibling with the exact same disease. My dad never drank around me, but his behavior was that of an alcoholic white-knuckling his sobriety. So the behavior of those around you, in addition to the fact that science shows that a genetic disposition accounts for around 50% of your risk of developing alcoholism, both combine to increase the likelihood of it. This is not based on what you do when you're a kid, in my opinion, although what you do as a kid is a smaller version of what you end up doing. I think you have a different idea of causation vs correlation here, which I understand, I just think differently.

 

Playing the genetic card is just a way for addicts to feel justified.  Everyone is just as prone to addiction as everyone else, it all just depends on how you handled your alcohol from the getgo.  People that are fat and claim they are because obesity runs in their genes are full of BS.  I strongly believe that if your whole life, you ate healthy and exercised regularly, then there is no way you'd be obese.  

[Ghent]

I am clearly genetically prone to being an alcoholic? Why have I had no problems with alcohol if it's in my genes and chemistry? My 80 year old grandparents drink heavily every wednesday and saturday nights lol, I wouldn't say they're alcoholics, despite alcohol playing major roles in their lives. 

[Jane]

Read the rest of my post.  You can control it, if when you start drinking as a "kid" you don't over indulge.  I know plenty of alcoholics who when they started, didn't think anything of it, and binged, drinking all the time, they thought, because they were so young that they were invincible.  Its no wonder at all that these same people are now addicts to alcohol.   Its not nearly the same as once you're addicted.  You have control for sure, but its not nearly as simple, because they didn't start off with the right mindset from the getgo.

 

I read your entire post.

 

What are you trying to say with that bold part? That makes no sense to me. Elaborate.

[M!ke]

I read your entire post.

 

What are you trying to say with that bold part? That makes no sense to me. Elaborate.

 

What I'm saying is that once you are addicted to something, it is possible to stop being addicted to it, but it is so much harder to do than if you when you were younger you exhibited discipline (plenty of former cigarette smokers can attest to this).  You always have a choice, the choice just becomes so much harder once you're so far deep that you are addicted.

[Ghent]

It's no different than becoming addicted to nicotine (which I am). I made that choice to become addicted and continually make that choice when I quit and start again. It's not genetics, it's not being prone to addiction, it's me choosing to use tobacco.

[_Kyle_]

Who told you this Mike?

[Jane]

What I'm saying is that once you are addicted to something, it is possible to stop being addicted to it, but it is so much harder to do than if you when you were younger you exhibited discipline (plenty of former cigarette smokers can attest to this).  You always have a choice, the choice just becomes so much harder once you're so far deep that you are addicted.

 

I still don't get what you mean with that.

 

Yes sure it's possible to get out of an addiction, but whether someone is able to is influenced by many factors.

 

Many addictions develop gradually, I would be careful with that choice argument. Many addicts I talked to like to tell themselves they have a choice and keep doing what they do when they have no choice anymore.