Vermont to consider lowering drinking age

*Adds nothing to the discussion*

I began drinking at 17!
I stole my dad's whisky.

 

I can. It is not "manifestly" ridiculous.
Care to take it on?

I'll ask you first to be sure and not to be described as "utter rubbish"



Edit: Taunt. Read your last lines again.
They are as contradictory as contradictory gets, with the added flavour of flawed understanding.

 

Oh my, your very first reply is useless.
Revise it and get back to me.
If I use this as a premise, or even try to say anything remotely sensible as a response, we're going nowhere.

Be sure to learn logic by then.





My advice: state the point you're trying to make, without trying to sound smart.
Whatever the hell the skills are which people apply when drinking and/or voting should also clearly be stated.

 

The same cognitive skills go into deciding which way to flip the lever and whether to pick up that shot glass, yep.

 

That's very wrong.
I expected more of you.

You should know that the cognitive skills go into deciding whether to pick up the shot glass or the pint of beer.

Voting requires no such skill!

Silly woman.

 

No, but could you not say the same underlying rationale which says that person A can be trusted to vote, enter into a contract, serve jail time for an offense, serve in the armed forces and purchase cigarettes (the latter I'm assuming?) would also be the same one that says a person can legally drink in a responsible social setting?

i.e. that we have decided for whatever reason 18 = adulthood and therefore, as the song once said, Anything Goes!?

ES

 

You could say that, but then you wouldn't be winning any JC arguments.

Silly Australian.
Go drink some beer.

 

I happen to know laws.
Drinking laws are in no way related to self control.

Drinking laws (at least here) are all aimed at stopping public trouble.
That's all. If you get drunk out of your head and stay out of trouble, the law has nothing against you. Challenge me on this, please, if it is difficult to understand.

Laws don't give a damn about the individual or whether he is "competent" to drink or not.

 

Self control has nothing to do with the issue at hand.
You can drink, have full control of yourself and still be above the legal limit for, say, driving.

Staying out of trouble, in context of what I said, would be: not driving.


-Removed- Baiting makes the baby angels cry.

Edit: If you want to play on words, please define your views of self control and I'll be glad to say whether or not they apply to laws.

 

Thank God I'm not an American; land of the free my ass.

ES

 

Jello, we invaded Iraq and then said "oops." If you can't hurt someone with a vote, I don't know what you can hurt them with.

The idea is that, at some point, we all become adults and can do adult things. In the U.S., that somewhat-arbitrary point has been placed at age 18. Hell, you can buy a gun at 18. That might be more dangerous than either having a vote or a beer. Or even both.

It does not make sense to claim that either:

A) drinking alcohol is somehow different and more complicated than other adult activities

or

B) that the human capacity for decision-making develops later with regard to whether to drink.

 

But challenging people who can fight back is what the JC is all about
I want people to fight back! And I urge them to!


I only do it when I know they can.

Jello: I wasn't being "mean" to you and I think you know it.
Ophelia: You're a girl. So there.

I'll go away now

 

They raised the selling age of Beer in Germany.. to 18 years.

 

Personally I'd say the problem lies with the asinine laws in the US on drinking, but that's just me. I find it odd that you have this concept of almost-adulthood, and that you'll allow people to do just about anything but buy a beer in a bar at 19. It's one of those things that makes me glad I'm not a Yank.

ES

 

To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.

 

In Australia, I'm indifferent.

ES

 

How about we solve things with licenses? To be able to drive a car, you have to show a basic understanding of car safety and traffic laws, as well as demonstrate your ability to drive.

How about a alcohol license, where you can buy alcohol from say, the age of 16, but only if you pass a test demonstrating that you are aware of the short- and long-term effects of alcohol consumption, as well as the relevant laws?

Come to think of it, a military license wouldn't be too bad an idea either. Give a test to make sure kids actually understand what signing up for the military means for their lives, as well as how the military works and what their legal rights are and will be.

 

Jedi_Keiran_Halcyon, I agree. An alcohol license, similar to a driver's license, might do some good. I hate that I am trusted with a car at 16 but not able to vote until 18- driving is certainly a good deal more dangerous, and I really don't like the arbitrary-ness of the laws on age.
I feel one of the problems with underage drinking is the kids who have had too much alcohol and are in medical danger, but either they or their drinking companions are scared of what will happen if caught. Lowering the age to 18 could help with this by making sure that college students will get medical help if needed without the legal issues. And the paradox of 'you're old enough to die for your country, but not old enough to drink' is true. I don't really think that's right; the two ages should be the same, whether 18 or 21. It seems like the American age laws are arbitrary and don't make much sense.

 

Being a teetotaler, I don't particularly personally care either way, however...

The legal age really doesn't mean all that much. Kids start drinking way before even 18 honestly.

What probably needs to change is the drinking CULTURE we have in this country. Cigarettes are slowly becoming socially unacceptable, marijuana is doing the opposite, and hard drugs are and probably always will be mostly relegated to the nasty fringes of society.

Alcohol is the most dangerous drug on the map at the moment. We need to de-acceptabalize it.

Then again, I heard that the reason the legal drinking age was 21 was because alcohol has negative effects on brain development, which continues until about the age of 21.