Check your consciences

[MSTRS:Me]

I mean the (male at least) brain isn't mature enough when it comes to impulse control.
Average age, I believe, is 25 before the frontal lobes are 'mature'.

Yes, I know there are plenty of so-called sensible, mature 18/19 year olds, so it is a difficult question just where to strike the 'adult' age. I wonder whether our predecessors didn't have it right at 21?

[oneofsix]

most countries go for 18/19 and thats when we send them off to war.

[MSTRS:Me]

most countries go for 18/19 and thats when we send them off to war.

When they are young enough to still have difficulty with the notion of their own mortality and possess an attitude of 'proving' themselves...

[Scuba_Steve]

That didn't come through...you mean 'what is socially acceptable' or 'societal norm' perhaps?

probably a better way to put it , but I did mean to include all i.e. socially restricted, parentally restricted, legally restricted & retardedly restricted etc

[Scuba_Steve]

The age thing has a lot to do with todays problems involving younger teenagers with poorly developed minds... sure, we have all the problems we've historically had but dropping the drinking age sure added a whole new dimension to them

And I bet FAS has gone up proportionally too.

all I'm saying is it aint age alone infact it's probably a lesser factor in the equation the only prob is they tend to be part of the equation. But like most other things there aint no silver bullet or one-for-all fix.
Make it a more normal part of life rather than upping the age problems will go down BUT we will always have trouble makers, retards & drunks

[98tls]

Dealing with people in my job you could almost say the opposite.

Alcohol seems to exacerbate whatever social problems and inadequacies people have.

Dropping the 'drinking age' was a MAJOR error in me experience and should be reveresed. (and no, I don't want to hear stories of "Well I got booze easy-as when I was 18" or whatever), the fact is offending and convictions of thoe under 20 went up after the drop in the 'drinking age' and 14 -17 year olds got into strife that a generation ago few would have got into.

Wait until the unsmackables get to drinking,i dont envy you T,plenty of them tell there parents to get fucked now imagine there response when being told what to do by a copper when there full of piss.They lower the drinking age and remove many parents of being able to teach right from wrongYou really do have to wonder at the wisdom of these pricks running the show,make that sideshow.

[fuknKIWI]

Man, I had to read what you wrote 3 times to understand what you're trying to say. Where do sentences start and finish? Are you drunk at the moment? Am I drunk at the moment?

You MUST be drunk I got it in one...but then I know him...& where he's coming from

[fuknKIWI]

Wait until the unsmackables get to drinking,

Aye we're dooomed... we're all dooomed (Scottish accent)

[Coldrider]

Wait until the unsmackables get to drinking,i dont envy you T,plenty of them tell there parents to get fucked now imagine there response when being told what to do by a copper when there full of piss.They lower the drinking age and remove many parents of being able to teach right from wrongYou really do have to wonder at the wisdom of these pricks runnung the show,make that sideshow.

Exactly, however the 'corporal punsihment free' mob are already out there on the piss, and the 'unsmackables' are buying piss at 16 years old.

[Paul in NZ]

I suppose in a democratic ‘western’ society there is a case to argue for making all things freely accessible and leaving it up to the individual to take responsibility for the safe use of all. Often this gets lumped under the ideals of ‘personal responsibility’.

However I don’t think this really works. I think that personal responsibility is an obligation to oneself. It is our individual duty to ensure good character and behaviour irrespective of how we were brought up and what kind of conditioning we received. Controls on things like alcohol seem to go against this – indeed why stop there, make narcotics legal and taken to the extreme – why bother with traffic laws? Surely people can make their own minds up what’s right and what’s wrong? Take the notion to an absurd length and surely you need to take responsibility for building your own road to ride the bike you built (from metal you smelted) and running on a fuel you made… Um – not really practical so for the greater good, we pool our resources and build cooperative societies.

The problem is that personal responsibility gets hijacked by anarchists wearing the suit of libertarianism. Our society is a representative democracy and we are expected to abide by the decisions (laws) made by those we elect. One of the compromises we make is that we surrender certain of our freedoms for the greater good of our society. It’s a good idea but like all ideas it has some flaws – the biggest being the fallibility of human beings to live up to any kind of ideal.

So – what’s my point? My point is this. We, as a society are entitled to make decisions regarding limits and restrictions based on providing a balanced and fair society. This allows us to achieve a decent life for all rather than one where just a few do well by exploiting weaker souls. We are also allowed to restrict the activities of others to cause harm to our society.

There has to come a time where we can debate access to alcohol and move to redress some of the issues it causes. Its not just us – its becoming a very big problem in a great many places.

[oldrider]

The judge has ask general NZ to check their consciences, I have and sorry but tis not my fault!
My kids know to drink sensibly and that means getting drunk id dangerous. They know not to drive after drinking. I don't agree with NZs current direction on drinking, I think we need more education and less regulation.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crim...-in-two-deaths

A Judge asks "us" to check our consciences, "pot kettle black situation in their (Judges) case", considering their recent displays of stupidity in letting dangerous criminals loose into the community!