Lower Legal Drinking Age Essay Example for Free

Lower Legal Drinking Age Essay The United States has a long history with alcohol consumption. For better and sometimes worse, alcohol has been a popular aid in many social gatherings and events involving Americans. Currently however, only those above the age of 21 years are allowed to enjoy the privilege of drinking alcoholic beverages. This occurred in 1984 with the passing of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act within the Federal Highway Act bill (US Congress, 1984). The bill said that a 10 percent decrease of highway funding would take place in states that failed to raise the drinking age to 21 (US Congress, 1984). All states complied with the bill very shortly after it’s passing because the crucial need for highway funding. Nevertheless, this passage has been controversial since its inception in 1984. Data compiled in favor of increasing the drinking age is just a controversial and strongly contested. Therefore, the drinking age should be lowered back to 18 years old, because too much liability is placed on bars, liquor stores, and social hosts, little evidence points to adverse health affects due to moderate minor alcohol consumption, and finally all rights and privileges of adulthood are given at age 18 in the United States except for alcohol consumption. First, the liability placed on bars, liquor stores, and social hosts has become a great burden in the alcohol industry. Vendors selling alcohol are required to properly identify the age of the buyer. However, this can be very complicated in the technological age that exists today. Fake identification has become a huge black market business as well as using the identification of those with a similar appearance. Minors are using fake identification to buy booze more than ever. Vendors should not be held accountable if these various forms of fake identification truly dupe them. A law review done on fake identification, also argues that placing all the liability on alcohol vendors is a lot to ask (Murray). Computers and the Internet have grown to an exponential use of fake IDs (Murray). Bar owners and liquor stores are turning away huge portions of their business just to comply with the law (Murray). It is not fair for the government to hold these vendors accountable and hurt their busin ess. By lowering the drinking age back to 18, the biggest group of underage drinkers would be targeted. 18 to 20 year olds are the largest population of underage drinkers because they are college-aged students. They are the most likely to attempt to use fake identification. By lowering the drinking age to make these ages legal, the use of fake identification will decrease dramatically. Furthermore, it is not fair to hold vendors liable for the actions of intoxicated minors if fake identification is used to purchase the alcohol. Two cases examine this issue. First, in the case of Berg Vs. Zummo, the plantiff sued the minor defendant for damages caused during his intoxication (Berg Vs. Zummo). The case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Louisiana. The decision reached held that the bar was first and foremost responsible for serving the minor alcohol (Berg Vs. Zummo). It also declared some liability on the minor for his reckless actions. However, by lowering the drinking age to 18 year s of age, the liability would be solely held by the intoxicated person in this case and not the establishment furnishing the alcohol. Thus lowering the drinking age further protects vendors in this regard. In another case, employees at a military base were held liable for serving alcohol to underage servicemen (US v. Dotson). The case of the United States of America v. Dotson Et. Al. upheld that vendors of alcohol are liable for serving to minors (US v. Dotson). Again, if the drinking age were lowered to 18, the liability in this case would have been avoided. All servicemen are age 18 and older. This brings up another important point. Those able to serve in our military and potentially die for their country should be able to consume alcohol. The rights and privileges of adulthood are given to all those aged 18 including servicemen and women. It is unfair to prevent them from drinking alcohol when they put their lives on the line for this country. Although many people find alcohol as a valuable remedy after a long day of work, alcohol can potentially lead to addiction problems as well as other adverse health effects. A major point to note in the matter at hand is that not all individuals binge drink, or drink excessively during frequent times. The consumption of at least five drinks or more in only a two hour sitting is excessive, yet unrealistic to think that those who do drink alcoholic beverages, consume them so frequently. Drinking alcohol with companions is a social activity that can potentially be healthy for those involved. Although there is a lot of negativity on the subject of underage drinking, there are also many benefits from consuming small to moderate amounts of alcohol, even at the age of eighteen. Health benefits that can potentially be attained by indulging in casual drinking include reduced risk of developing heart disease, lowered risk for stroke, reduced risk of heart attack, lowered risk of gallstones, and reduced risk for diabetes (Mayo). It is evident that many years of excessive alcohol abuse can cause serious neurological damage as well as other harmful health affects, yet there is still a lack of evidence that fully verifies how alcohol kills brain cells. Conversely, there has been scientific research and studies to demonstrate how it is somewhat beneficial to one’s own health. Scientific medical research has actually confirmed that the moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with better cognitive skills and memory than is abstaining from alcohol (Hanson). Moderate can also help the brain function better into old age. While alcohol impairs one part of the brain, another part of the brain that is involved in learning is actually aided by alcohol according to new research (Morikawa). Neurobiologist Hitoshi Morikawa of the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at The University of Texas in Austin says that consuming alcohol primes specific areas of the brain to improve learning and enhance memory. People commonly think of dopamine as a happy transmitter, or a pleasure transmitter, but more accurately its a learning transmitter, Morikawa says. It strengthens those synapses that are active when dopamine is released (Morikawa). The key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle while also being able to socialize with the consumption of alcoholic beverages is moderation. â€Å"The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that if you choose to drink alcohol you do so only in moderation – up to one drink a day for women or two drinks a day for men† (Mayo). With that in mind, the overall number of people that are actually consuming alcohol is in decline. Here at the University of Evansville, over 91% of surveyed students believe that the average student uses alcohol once a week or more, but only 21% of the surveyed students reported using alcohol that frequently. Teenagers across the United States are drinking less and less as well. In the thirty-six year history of the federal government’s annual Monitoring the Future Survey, consuming alcohol by middle and high school students has reached its lowest level (Hanson). For many young people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, drinking is a staple of their weekend activities and life in general. These constant users and potential abusers of alcohol find access to alcohol in a variety of ways despite the United States’ legal drinking age being twenty-one. Much of society views underage drinking with a meager â€Å"out of sight, out of mind† approach. Unfortunately, the reality is that binge drinking does take place and is more prevalent on college campuses and with young people as a whole. A growing number of college officials are disputing the effectiveness of current drinking laws, arguing they have failed. These college officials feel instead of preventing students from drinking, the current drinking laws are facilitating underground underage drinking in an unsafe environment with dangerous extremes as the consequences. One college official trying to bring forth a change and lower the national drinking age is John M. McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College in Vermont. His proposal is for the United States to decrease the drinking age to eighteen but implement â€Å"drinking licenses† after completion of a rigorous alcohol education program. However, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) still opposes the lowering of the drinking age because they feel it would increase the number of young drinkers getting behind the wheels of their vehicles; in turn, increasing the number of harsh crashes and also fatalities. McCardell argues that the drinking age has very little to do with the amount of people who drink and drive and says if it were the case, a smarter option would be to increase the driving age to twenty-one (Giaimo). McCardell founded â€Å"Choose Responsibility† in 1997. It is a nonprofit organization devoted to lowering the national drinking age and researching the effects the current law places on minors. McCardell feels his proposal will minimize the amount of abusive drinking that has become so prevalent in the past twenty years by acknowledging that eighteen year olds are adults in the eyes of the law in almost every other respect. McCardell has seen a reported increase in binge drinking by his students due to alcohol use being pushed into hiding. Two recent studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown young binge drinkers are increasing their consumption of hard liquor as their main source of alcohol since hard liquor is much easier to smuggle and remains much more inconspicuous in comparison to beer. Not to mention hard liquor being much easier to get intoxicated from compared to beer or wine. McCardell is logical enough to recognize the reality of alcohol in the lives of many people under the age of twenty-one. He feels lowering the drinking age would encourage more responsible drinking among this age group (Giaimo). Another instance where the drinking age being lowered is in consideration is the state of Alaska. Currently, Alaska state Republican Representative Bob Lynn is proposing a bill that would allow people in the military under the age of twenty-one to legally drink in the state. While Lynn does not support drinking as a habit, he does feel that if someone is old enough to die for our country then they should be treated as adults in every aspect. However, a federal government mandate passed in 1984 requires all states to adhere to the national drinking age of twenty-one or forfeit ten percent of their highway funding from the federal government. For Alaska, this would mean losing $50 million of their current $495.3 million in 2010. Obviously, this proposal is going to be much debated with the risk of losing that much federal funding as an option. Work Cited Alcohol Use: If You Drink, Keep It Moderate. Mayo Clinic (2011) Web. 19 March 2011. Berg v. Zummo, 763 So. 2d 57, 2000 (La. App. 4 Circ 2001). Chakraburtty, Amal. Teens and Alcohol. WebMD (2010) Web. 18 Feb 2011. Clark, Stephen. Alaska to Consider Lowering Drinking Age for U.S. Fox News (2011) Web. 31 March 2011. Giaimo, Mellisa. Alcohol Laws: Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered? . ABC News (2007) Web. 18 Feb 2011. Hanson, David J. Does Alcohol Kill Brain Cells? Alcohol Problems and Solutions Web. 19 March 2011. Morikawa, Hitoshi. Alcohol Aids Learning Part of the Brain. United Press International (2011) Web. 13 April 2011. Murray, Christopher J. Fake IDs: Can Bar Owners Sue If They Get Fooled? Marquette Law Review (2005) Web. 18 Feb 2011. United States of America v. Dotson, 615 F. 3d 1162 (U.S. App 2010) United States of America. National Minimum Drinking Age. Washington DC, 1984. Web. 18 Feb 2011.

Innocence in Daisy Miller, My Antonia, and the Great Gatsby Essay

Innocence in Daisy Miller by Henry James, My Antonia by Willa Cather and the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is not as easy as it seems to distinguish who is innocent and who is not. Innocence is a cultural concept which is usually confusing. An act that is naà ¯ve and normal in one society can be a public disgrace in another. Then a question comes to mind: What is innocence? Challenging the norms of a society makes a person totally wicked? What spoils or preserves innocence? The word innocence is ambiguous. It has double vision because people put different masks on their faces for different occasions. Innocence is also one of the themes that can be focused on three American novels: Daisy Miller by Henry James, My Antonia by Willa Cather and the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These three books help the reader to see the other side of the medallion and they suggest that it is our prejudices and cultural differences which shape our view of others. To start with James' novella Daisy Miller, the reliability of the narrator can be discussed. Winterbourne, an American but a Europeanised man is told to be an "extremely amiable fellow, universally liked." Everything looks alright with him. There seems to be no way to discuss his honesty, his innocence can be discussed because he does not really try to help Daisy. He is only affected by her in a physical way. If he had a chance of flirting with Daisy, he would not miss that chance also he would not marry her. He regards her as an innocent, fresh, and young lady but also he thinks that he is common and unsophisticated Winterbourne is not together with Daisy all the time. This is why his reliability as a source can be discussed. He is confused by her and t... ... illusions. They live in a broken paradise. Their life is full of corruption, moral decadence, hypocrisy, abusive power of money and shattered dream. Theirs is a demoralized civilization. But their honesty and innocence are not only corrupted by inner forces but also by the environmental factors. They live in a time of excess. They are a lost generation and they are afraid of poverty and worship to success as Fitzgerald says. To conclude James and Cather's novel characters have similar qualities. The females do not look moderate but they have a pure heart. Fitzgerald, who criticizes the corruption of American dream -not the dream itself- satirically presents seemingly respectable but actually spoiled and lost characters. These three novels tell the reader not to judge people just by appearance and they allow people to gain a new perspective on human behavior.

Pygmalion Review

Lauren Conn 06/07/2012 Writer’s Workshop Bill Rubenstein Pygmalion Movie Review Based off of Shaw’s 1913 stage comedy, Pygmalion is the story of two mismatched lovers Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. The story centers on Henry Higgins’ mission to change Eliza Doolittle from a street vendor to a lady. It would be frivolous to comment on the treatment of women, as we are forced to take into account the period in which this play was written. Pygmalion is just another reflection of the objectification of women during those times, a representation on how women can be â€Å"changed† to the whim of man and the society man governs.Nevertheless, my intent is not to apply modern value judgments to non-contemporary fiction. I have dissected the play and made an attempt to understand the context in which it was written and presented. All I came to find was a story about a young woman who lost her identity. Henry Higgins is a wealthy phonetics professor who makes a b et with his friend Col. Pickering that he can transform Eliza Doolittle, an uncouth Cockney flower girl, into a lady in three months. Henry compares her to a â€Å"squashed cabbage leaf†.During her lessons she’s put through ridiculous tasks to perfect her elocution, such as speaking with marbles in her mouth. Higgins seems relentless, an example being when Eliza swallows a marble and he states, â€Å"That’s alright, we have plenty more. † Eliza’s first test comes when she takes tea with Henry’s mother – during which becomes a blunder when Eliza rambles about her father’s drinking and the whereabouts of her deceased aunt’s straw hat. Throughout these odd experiments one has to question why Doolittle proceeds to let Higgins treat her as he does.One can be Freudian and claim that it is her drunkard father, who holds no more regard to her than an inanimate object, in which provides evidence enough to Eliza’s decrepit state of self-worth. By the end of these trials Doolittle becomes a success, a lady – but not without losing the essence of who she is. By becoming a lady, Eliza has thrown herself into a state of limbo. She is no longer a Cockney flower girl, but calling herself a lady would be a lie. Instead, Eliza has been transformed into a shell – a canvas to which Higgins painted the portrait.Shaw makes a vain attempt into transforming Eliza into a self-empowered woman by the end of this. We are expected to believe that at some point, the hapless street vendor surpasses Higgins – the master professor. In a way, this almost seems like Shaw’s justification to Eliza’s harsh treatment. For me personally, I was not swayed. I did not believe in her strength by the end of Pygmalion. To me, Eliza’s self-empowered identity as a new â€Å"phonetics† master is just a mask to hide the lack of identity within.

Interracial Relationships - 1553 Words

America has had a long history of racism. This fact is more easily understood if racism is understood for what it really is. It is more than just personal hatred. Racism is the â€Å"belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics† (What is Racism). The 21st century has brought a lot of changes to the American society. Nevertheless, racism still exists owing to the truth that it is still impossible to persuade the hearts of mankind in terms of racism, which leads to many people wondering how and when black and white racism will end in America. Many solutions have been suggested, and one of the various solutions is black†¦show more content†¦Either definition that the reader chooses to agree on, the deviating definition is a relationship between two different people. There have been many arguments on whether an interracial relationship is able to work or function properly in relation to a relationship that involves individuals with the same race or cultural background as each other. The populations that believe such relationship will not end well refer to scenarios such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Jessie Walmisley. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was one of Britain’s most outstanding and celebrated composers. He was born to a white mother and black father. Coleridge-Taylor married Jessie Walmisley, in 1899. She was a pianist and a classmate of Samuel’s in high school. Jessie’s family was extremely opposed to the marriage and they did all in their power to prevent it. Samuel and his family were targets of abuse from groups of local youths who would repeatedly shower him with insulting comments about the color of his skin. His daughter later recalled ‘†when he saw them approaching along the street he held my hand more ti ghtly, gripping it until it almost hurt† (Living Interracial: Coleridge-Taylor and Jessie Walmisley). On September 1, 1912, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor died of pneumonia complicated by exhaustion. Some say if Samuel was not to be in such relationship, he would still be alive. A more well-known scenario would be the story of SammyShow MoreRelated Interracial Relationships Essay1062 Words   |  5 Pagessocietal problems. One increasing problem facing America under the guise of racism is the topic of interracial relationships. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;amp;#61505;In 1960 there were about 150,000 interracial marriages compared with 1.5 million in 1990amp;#61504;(IIA). nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Being a part of an interracial relationship in our racist society can be very difficult. There are many reasons for this. I wonamp;#61501;tRead More Interracial Relationships Essay1738 Words   |  7 PagesWhy do people stare at interracial couples and feel betrayed by the person of the same race? How must the couple feel when people stare at them everywhere they go? In June of 1958, a white man and a half African-American and half American-Indian woman, both native citizens of Virginia, wed in South America. Not long after the marriage the couple returned back to the state of Virginia where they decided to establish a happy family. In October of 1958 the couple received an indictment charge, statingRead More Interracial Relationships Essay2004 Words   |  9 PagesInterracial Relationships For centuries human beings have been on a quest for love. As time has passed, this search has lead to mixing of races and resulted in interracial relationships, both long-term couples and casual dating. An interracial relationship is defined by the Webster dictionary as intimacies between two people of different races. â€Å"I had no idea when I immigrated to the U.S in 1996, I would fall in love with a black girl,† said Dirk Schwartz. Immigration has boosted theRead MoreSocietal Intolerance of Interracial Relationships2000 Words   |  8 PagesSocietal intolerance of interracial relationships. Societal intolerance of interracial relationships can contribute to stressors for the partners. Some segments of society still view such unions as something of an anomaly that does not readily fit into the racial stratification system. Such ambivalence in society creates a similar ambivalence for the inter- racial couple themselves, because those beliefs could be internalized (Motoyoshi, 1990). According to Pope (1986), interracial couples, and especiallyRead MoreMigratory Implications Of Media On Interracial Relationships1641 Words   |  7 Pages Migratory Implications in Media on Interracial Relationships James M. Oscher Jr. University of Nevada – Las Vegas â€Æ' Migratory Implications in Media on Interracial Relationships Just over 50 years ago the United States Supreme Court overturned and nationalized the ruling on interracial marriage. Since then there has been an ever increasing amount of interracial marriages, along with interracial relationships. Since then there also has been a greater increase in the public being exposed toRead MoreInterracial Relationships Sex and Marriage Essay976 Words   |  4 Pagesare still people that are bigots who view interracial relationships and marriage as undesirable. However, the view is contentious given that the law that allows interracial relationships and marriages was enacted in 1960. Before then, it was prohibited and against the law to have a relationship with someone from a different race let alone getting married to them. Basing this context from the film Jungle Fever that tries to describe a non-healthy relationship between races, we learn how people viewedRead MoreInterracial Relationships in America Essay examples960 Words   |  4 PagesAccord ing to the U. S. Census Reports, interracial marriages have more than tripled between 1980 and today. There are currently 1.6 million interracial marriages in the United States, and that figure is continuing to grow (Duru, 2012). Statistics show that over 70% of American society has no problem with mixed race relationships, and 40% of Americans have already dated someone of another ethnicity. For the most part relationships between people of different races are no different from the interactionsRead More effects of interracial relationship on children Essay624 Words   |  3 Pages Effect of Interracial relationships and the child nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Interracial marriages can include the union between Asians, Hispanics, Blacks, Whites, and any other groups. However, when people talk about race relations, the focus is on Blacks and Whites. No matter what type of ethnic groups are involved in these type of relationshipsRead MoreThe Debate of Interracial Marriages and the Unseen Barriers of Relationships1716 Words   |  7 PagesThe Debate of Interracial Marriages and the Unseen Barriers of Relationships 1 For decades, interracial relationships have been a deep seated conflict among many people and families in our history. Not only in the United States, but many countries around the world have debated and banned such acts. Although it has now been found to be unconstitutional based on the violation of the fourteenth amendment, societal perceptions, norms, and hate groups have still managed to persist. We as a countryRead MoreInterracial Marriages and Same Sex Relationships Essay2249 Words   |  9 PagesInterracial couples as well as same sex couples face many of the same controversial problems and dilemmas, however, not many differences could be seen between the values of these couples regardless of their generations. The two different groups of individuals being interviewed were a selected group of interracial couples of an older age group ranging from 60 – 33, and a group of same sex couples the ages of 25 – 19. The relationship that was being studied was the relatio nship values between individuals