I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
I just went out to get a bite to eat with some friends in Georgetown. I was scandalized by the drunkenness in the streets. Scandalized! I'm not exactly a joyless martinet, or so I like to think, but what on earth is wrong with the youth of our nation's capitol? It's the anniversary of September 11, and they were all out there auditioning for roles in Sodom and Gomorrah: The Musical. They were not just a little bit drunk, they were a lot drunk, so much so that any reasonable person's first thought would be that they were in danger of seriously injuring themselves or getting arrested. The women in particular looked to be on a collision course with a giant breakfast of regret in the morning.
Has anyone else noticed that young people these days seem to have a real problem holding their liquor? Isn't anyone warning these women that it's just not safe to get so drunk that you can barely stand up, especially on the streets of a city with a notoriously high crime rate? Hasn't anyone told them that it's just unattractive, too? And on tonight, of all nights, which one might think an appropriate evening to at least make a pretense of sobriety and dignity?
Young people: You need to get that under control. Respectable people don't do that in public.
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Jul '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Ooo, Ooo, Ooo!
"Sodom and Gomorrah, the Musical"?
Claire, you don't happen to know the casting director, do you?
I'll have my head-shot updated Monday morning!
(And by the way, Peter would be perfect for the Pillar of Salt).
Jun '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
There are lots of broken families in America, and broken families tend to create broken individuals. And modern society provides lots of ways to fall and break--both families and individuals.
May '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Claire, you're starting to sound like 20-year-old me!
May '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
A classless age with precious few morals and hardly any values worth mentioning, either. Sorry to say, Claire, it is not just in Georgetown. Thank you for pointing it out, though; maybe shining some light on such behavior will elicit a modicum of shame.
Jul '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Well, it's a proximity thing, Claire.
The closer to Obama you get, the drunker you need to be.
Sources tell me that the White House staff can't even crawl after 11:00 a.m.
And Bo staggers around the premises with a tightly-rolled hundred-dollar-bill protruding from his adorable snout, mumbling, "Hey, you wanna do a a coupl'a lines?"
Aug '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
What respectable people? We've replaced manners with political correctness, duty with contractual obligations, and dignity with situational morality. The last time "respect" was used non-ironically in pop culture, it was by Tony Soprano.
We may individually remember the idea of respect, or even institutionally in some cases (notably the Armed Forces). But as a general culture, we've forgotten that "being respectable" is the default state persons should strive for, and not a rhetorical starting point of a cynical search for hypocrisy.
Jul '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Dr. Berlinski, you're absolutely right. Drinking amongst young people is totally out of control, especially in a college/entry-level town like DC. When I lived on U St., just steps from Adams Morgan, there was the same nonsense going on every weekend, and sometimes weekdays too, right outside my apartment.
But this has been a problem for some time. Do you think your shock is more due to being out of the country so long, specifically spending the last few years in Turkey, which even as one of the most liberal Muslim countries is still very straight-laced compared to Saturday night antics in Georgetown?
May '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
I swear we are now in the 2nd age of Hogarth.
I have found the same thing in England, (especially the provincial towns), and also in Australia. The people drink to get drunk, not just to relax and enjoy themselves. I must be getting old, but even in my days of Martini crawls around home, I was never this offensive and shameles in my cups. My home town of Melbourne liberalised drinking laws which went ok for about 10yrs; lots of sidewalk cafe's with a glass of wine. Now the streets are full of vicious violence and extreme drunkenness of large number of people. I no longer feel safe walking around after dark due to the amount of drinking to get drunk culture that predominates here.
I have never seen this extreme drunkenness tinged with aggression in many European cities, unless there were groups of mainly English speaking drunks marauding thru the streets. But then those Swedes on the ferrys tend to go overboard as well, once they are free of the $20 beers of Stockhom.
Edited on Sep 12, 2010 at 1:03amAug '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
That would certainly never happen in Stalinist Russia.
May '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
I bet the 9/11 anniversary barely crossed any of their minds. It is a non-event and this was just another Saturday night.
Jul '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Welcome to my world, Claire. The district that I patrol contains the city's most popular bars and nightspots. It's a rare night when I don't have to intervene in someone's massive failure of judgment.
Other times, I am merely a frustrated witness. Earlier this week, I was outside a bar that was hosting a fraternity-sorority mixer. When it let out, the inebriated flooded the sidewalks, including two girls who were so drunk they had to lean on one another in order to walk. Meanwhile, a nearby passenger van sat empty and idling. The van is subsidized by the college, and it is intended to give students free rides home late at night, off campus or on, no questions asked. No one got in. I stood in the middle of the street, pointing at it and plaintively calling out, "Free van!"
But they ignored me as they staggered away from the well-trafficked bar area and toward the dark and empty side streets, like limping gazelles in a nature documentary, waiting for the predators to come.
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Yes, of course it is. I think I've seen one very publicly drunk person in my neighborhood in Istanbul, ever, the sweet neighborhood lush. (Let's leave the resort towns out of the discussion--people get really drunk there.) I'd just forgotten what a problem America has with alcohol. Northern Europe, too. Southern Europe is different--the French and the Italians, for example, manage to integrate alcohol into their lives without putting on disgraceful spectacles like that.
Wilson, while I do understand that your comment was dry, so to speak, Russia is in fact collectively dying of alcoholism now. We might wish to acknowledge that the world's tyrants, killjoys and tub-thumpers are kind of right about the demonic evils of alcohol. Not that I know what to do about the problem, which seems insoluble.
Aug '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
P.S.
With all due respect, why did you go to Georgetown on a Saturday night and expect anything different?
Look, I subscribe to the idea that our culture is experiencing a disastrous moral decline, but excessive drinking has been a problem for ages. Sure, I wish that the kiddos didn't overindulge and I agree that they ought not be acting like that. Still, something about your post seemed more like a personal vent and less like a serious contribution to the intelligent discourse I expect for my three dollars and seventeen cents, or whatever it is, a month.
Aug '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Russia is most certainly dying of collective alcoholism and it isn't the least bit surprising. I blame the Bolsheviks..."Hey, I have an idea! Let's try some social engineering in a society that already has a predisposition to drinking, tear down all traditional institutions, provide people with an improvised (and arbitrary) system of morality, destroy all economic opportunity, and see how that works!"
On a related note, if you tear down a fence, you will almost always discover why it was built in the first place. <Take note proponents of gay marriage>
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Fair enough, Wilson. To compensate you for the poor quality of your customer service today, shall we have a serious talk about the two stealth clauses of the 26-clause referendum on the Turkish Constitution that's scheduled to take place today? Because I have been trying--and failing--to get people here to think about that. It's quite important to America. But unfortunately, on the anniversary of September 11, it seemed most of Washington was too drunk to give the matter much consideration. Since you're sober and up for it, let's have a serious discussion; I for one would welcome it. So, what do you think--at this time tomorrow, will Turkey still be a democracy in any meaningful sense?
Aug '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
Well played, Claire. Well played.
Let me get back to you on that one.
Aug '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
On this I am obviously anxious to learn from you. Correct me if I am wrong...So the judicial is the last branch of opposition against an overreaching executive power grab and the stealth clauses of this referendum are designed to undermine it. Right?
What sense do you have about the outcome of the referendum? How far down the line is Turkey? That is to say, will the votes be counted fairly or are they going to Iran this thing? The Kurds are planning to boycott and anyone who doesn't participate will be fined? Doesn't this call into question the legitimacy of the referendum? Is it substantial/enforceable enough of a penalty to matter?
I am definitely worried about Turkey's trajectory in light of recent events.
Jun '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
To shallow up and get back on the thread, I think this is relevant
Jun '10
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
I would be a hypocrite to criticize the lack of sobriety in contemporary youth culture. I rather suspect that if most of us look back to our college days, we would have to admit that we were not exactly paragons of sobriety and chastity. I certainly wasn't.
What concerns me today is something much more pernicious. I've heard it said too many times to believe it an anomaly that "growing up is old-fashioned," or similar statements that are a variation on the theme. We have a class of youth who simply reject the need to accept adult responsibilities. They live at home rent free and spend their meager earnings on what in my day would have been considered luxury goods. The condign punishment arrives for the parents when these spoiled brats summarily drop off the grandkids at home and expect mom and dad to raise the next generation. I've seen it happen too many times to believe it's not a trend.
This is the sort of slide into decadence that needs to be arrested. And it's not just here. I'm told that European and Japanese youths are following a similar pattern.
Re: I Will Talk to You in the Morning, When You Sober Up
What you speak to is even more pernicious than you think. Living at home is no longer a "choice" for a lot of our college grads. They literally can't find jobs. Because our economy is being systematically destroyed by Washington. If there is any parallel to Europe its that socialism has killed all economic growth.
And speaking of Europe...if you want to see enebriated kids scraped off the street, try London. I thought it was media hype until my teenaged daughter and I had to step over some sodden chaps trying to ply their female friend off the tarmac the first night we took a stroll.
Americans aren't cornering the market on moral degradation. We just do it better... like the two Los Angeles kids three days ago who decided after some bar hopping decided to sleep on a Metrolink track and ended up in scattered pieces. Toxicology is out whether they were drunk, or just stupid. Tragic still.