Position Paper on Drinking Alcohol in the Dormitories
Throughout history, humans have recognized alcohol as a good andpositive force in their lives; only within the last two centuries havecertain prohibitionist elements in America and Northern Europe sought tovilify this ancient drink and encourage the public to consider it as apoisonous and socially treacherous substance with which one must eitherabstain totally or become uncontrollably addicted. It is the position ofthis paper that this all or nothing approach does far more harm than good,and that the best approach to alcohol is not to prohibit it but toencourage its integration into a responsible and healthy lifestyle. Forthis reason, I believe that the US Air Force should not require totalabstinence (from alcohol) in the dormitories but should rather work toeducate young airmen on the appropriate and social responsive use of Alcohol can indeed be a negative and socially disruptive force ifpeople engage in problem drinking activities. Alcoholism is disruptive,there is no doubt of that. The idea behind prohibition of alcohol in thedorm is that limiting alcohol intake will limit the number of problemsarising from alcohol abuse. However, sociologically speaking this is not an
In conclusion, I believe that alcohol abuse would be minimized byencouraging responsible social drinking, while working to provide acultural environment in the military in which drunkenness and problemdrinking was considered dishonorable and strongly socially discouraged. Even in American-based cultureswhere drinking is both embraced as ritually and socially valuable and alsoviewed as evidence of maturity and masculinity (e. Our purpose is to educate, not punish people . Something like this might work with your airmen as well. Thesolitary drinker, so dominant an image in relation to alcohol in the UnitedStates, is virtually unknown in other countries. Also, the dorms might want tooffer alcohol in social settings and discourage it in private settings. They abuse itbecause they are not educated," (Kim) reported the MIT DormCon president. Accordingto a cultural case study in Drugs I: Society and Drugs, cultures wherealcohol is very new or very highly supervised, alcoholism is common; incultures where alcohol is established as part of the cultural fabric and"self-control, sociability, and `knowing how to hold one's liquor' arematters of manly pride" (Blum & Blum, 226) then alcoholism is very rare,and in ambivalent cultures, alcoholism is again common. " (Hilton, 519) How, one might ask, could a positive alcohol environment be createdon the military base' How could one be sure that allowing alcohol did notjust create a bunch of irresponsible, lonely drunks. "The higher per-drinker apparent consumptionlevels in the historically drier regions are accompanied by higher levelsof problems in the categories of belligerence, accidents, and trouble-with-the-police. I'veseen people uneducated about what alcohol can do to you.
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Acceptance Essays
