Iain Murray has a thoughtful piece about the drinking culture in the UK on his blog. [Links dead] The thrust of the piece is a discussion of the reasons behind a trend for young Brits to go out with the intention of getting drunk, rather than an intention to socialise.
Iain comes to an interesting conclusion:
Whatever the debate about relative crime levels, I am not sure that many people with extensive experience of both countries would argue with the proposition that the UK is a more disorderly country than the US. The more I think about it, the more I am sure that this shift in attitude to drinking is a symptom of increasing disregard for the societal rules of order -- manners, as Wilberforce would have put it.There are some other reasons for this trend, not least the move away from tenanted pubs towards the large managed bar chains after the Beer Orders of 1989. (These have since been revoked. Legislation designed to break the hold of the large breweries over the pub trade result in nothing more than a transfer of power to the large pub operating chains. (I used to write for The Publican newspaper, incidentally)) Ever notice that the big, city centre pubs seem to have loads of seats, yet when you try and sit down, you can't find one free? Have you ever noticed that you drink more while standing up? There is a distinct connection between these facts.
Still, Iain has highlighted something my wife and I have whiled away many hour discussing. When did the British get so anti-social. Once the stereotype of Brits abroad was of painfully polite, post-Imperial types. Now we have the sex'n'lager image that has replaced the football hooligans of a decade ago. Frankly, it's reaching the point where I'm ashamed to call myself British. Once my reaction to the story of the British family arrested in Greece would have been outrage at the way they were treated. Now it's suspicion about the way they were behaving.
The problem hit home to me early last year as my wife, my mother-in-law and I caught a taxi home from a party in a Bristol city centre hotel. The taxi passed through the main drinking area, and people were literally throwing themselves on the bonnet of the car to try and force it to stop and pick them up. The whole square was a mass of drunkenness, vomit and semi-nakedness. Frankly, I was scared. The taxi driver told us, with deep resignation in his voice, that this was a normal Saturday night for him. Brave man. Last night, my mother-in-law's car was pelted with stones as she drove home, thrown by youths who had decided that the best way to celebrate the heatwave was to spend the day drinking themselves stupid.
It appears that, increasingly, the most important right in British society is the right to have fun exactly the way you want to have it, and the hang the consequences to anyone else. The recent brouhaha about the parties on Newquay beach is yet another example of this.
The rights of the individual are important. It's a pity too many people are just too stupid to realise that you have to protect the rights of others as you exercise your own right to enjoy yourself. It's common courtesy. It's politeness. It's society.
Except that respecting others is respecting *their* individual rights. I'd rather worry about that instead of who or what "society" is, wants, or needs this week.
Well, yes. You're just repeating my point. :-)
That's not at all what I got from your post, but however you meant it.
I do find that slightly bizarre, as I didn't at any point talk about what society wants or needs. I did give a definition of society - a structure designed to allow people to enjoy their freedom, while respecting the rights of others - but I didn't talk about it as if it was something that had its own needs.
Do you think that the word "society" is more loaded for you than for me?