*deep breath*

[x_rahne]

I apologize for being sarcastic about the New Years celebration and the results thereof. Obviously this is something the professors here approve of, whether you are 21 (I would have said 18, but apparently 'tis different here) or not, so there was no need to worry about if they knew. And worrying's no excuse for being unpleasant.

Last night was very educational. I'd known many people have a lot of different ideas as to what's right and what's wrong, but I'd not thought about people thinking it's more fun to do things because they're wrong or illegal. I think this is something I should have realized sooner; it seems to explain quite a lot.

Comments

[x-rogue.livejournal.com]

The question of what's wrong is a pretty complex one, Rahne. What's illegal is not always immoral or unethical.

The drinking laws, as an example, are waived in the home of a parent or guardian in most places. Why is that? Because the unsupervised consumption of alcohol can present a danger to those who are unfamiliar with its effects and repeated consumption can cause addiction. It is not unethical for a person to drink when underage, it is illegal for them to do so without the proper supervision and unethical for someone to provide them with alcohol without caring for them properly; the law exists to protect the otherwise unprotected, from themselves and from others who might take advantage of their state.

I do not believe that anyone here takes pleasure in doing things that are blatantly unethical or immoral. Instead, the pleasure comes from contravening rules and laws that defy common sense. It is a natural urge, really, and it has many positive effects. You may think that restricting the consumption of alcohol from those capable of managing it well is harmless. You may be right. But restricting where a person of colour may sit or whether a woman may hold a driver's license, those are also laws that contravene the reality of the situation, and they have existed, and they have been broken until their lack of sense was made clear to all and sundry.

Ethics, law, and morals are all relative concepts. To challenge them is natural and commendable. Is drinking vodka and throwing up when you're not 21 yet wise? What about smoking cigarettes? No. It's silly. It's also a rite of passage of sorts. To contravene the arbitrary restrictions of one's society and to challenge what does not fit with what understands to be reality, those are good things, ultimately, and they keep society healthy. I think, overall, that the students of this school experiment and act out safely and sanely. They're not always right, and sometimes they're downright stupid, even me, but it is a part of growing up and finding out where we stand on things, even on the use of intoxicants.

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

What's illegal is not always immoral or unethical.

That much is true.

I do not believe that anyone here takes pleasure in doing things that are blatantly unethical or immoral.

I believe that you're mistaken. But then I'm very sure that you define "blatantly unethical or immoral" differently from how I do, and there's not much point arguing with you over either that or whether it's a good thing to break rules just to break them.

[x-colossus.livejournal.com]

Well said.

[x-pete.livejournal.com]

Approve of? No.
Have a leg to stand on in the matter? No.
Think I can stop it? No.

Would prefer that if kids are going to drink, they do it in a place where there are responsible adults nearby in case anything too stupid should happen? Yes.

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

I see, sir.

[x-blink.livejournal.com]

I don't know if there is anything I can say to help you understand, I know there is nothing I can say to make you agree.

However, I can try. I get tired of being the "good girl" all the time, but overall, I'm too responsible to do anything TOO bad. I've never been arrested or anything like that. But sometimes cutting loose, like I did last night, is fun. Getting around the rules or pushing bounderies is fun and enlightening.

It's also not for everyone and I would never force you or anyone else to do something they were not comfortable with. To be honest...I was mad last night, which was the ONLY reason I got drunk. To piss people off.

I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon, hangovers are no fun...and neither are roommates who won't speak to me. Okay?

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure I still don't understand. You hardly had to get drunk for there to be anybody drunk, and I doubt you really had to get drunk to post what you did. Obviously being in my own right mind didn't stop me from saying things I oughtn't to you this morning.

I wouldn't speak to you because I didn't trust myself not to say more things I shouldn't or say things that were otherwise all right how I shouldn't.

I don't understand wanting to drink alcohol in the first place, with the way it smells. I'm told it's better than the water in some places (though not here -- and not back home -- I suppose it must have been in Ephesus, but that instruction was really a puzzle for a while) and I know that Mr. Logan likes it even though he can smell things better than I can even in wolf form, so I suppose 'tis just me. (But then some things smell like food when I'm a wolf that... really don't other times, so perhaps something like that.) But still... I know I'm tempted to do wrong things quite often, and obviously losing my temper's one of them, but somehow getting drunk seems about as alluring as eating soap.

And Jamie had a point about the school-sponsored vigilanteism, as far as rules go, I suppose....

[x-blink.livejournal.com]

I doubt you really had to get drunk to post what you did

no...I did. kinda. I tried to post poite replies many many times, but could never makes the words come out right. I did not get drunk to post, but I did post while I was drunk and expressed my feelings accordingly.

I wouldn't speak to you because I didn't trust myself not to say more things I shouldn't or say things that were otherwise all right how I shouldn't.

Thanks for calming down and posting about it later...we should really talk though. I mean...this has obviously affected you a lot more than I had anticipated and I don't know why. I meant to make you mad...but this goes beyond what I had intended.

I don't understand wanting to drink alcohol in the first place, with the way it smells.

vodka really doesn't have a taste at all unless it is flavored (chocolate vodka is terrible!) and many mixed drinks don't taste like they have alcohol in them (which makes them dangerous). I don't like beer or wine very much, they taste too alcohol-y.

[x-rahne.livejournal.com]

You (and Marie, I suppose) talk as if I should be ashamed of having morals or thinking other people should have them. I know perfectly well I can't make other people behave themselves, and I'm used to most of what people do here, I think, but I will not be ashamed of what I believe is right.

I think

[x-tarot.livejournal.com]

That I can perhaps at least explain the alcohol - well, wine at least.

It enhances the flavour of food, and in some cases, tastes good. I do not at all care for drunkenness, it seems silly to want to lose control of your facilities, but drinking itself is not, to me, at all wrong, although I suppose that is in part due to being used to drinking with dinner. It was somewhat of a shock to find that that is not a custom here.