How crippling is alcohol?

[Conservationist]

One thing I've noticed about Hessians: they love their drink and drugs, like most rock-descended bohemian genres.

However, how much does this hold them back?

We're familiar with tales of metal bands who lost members because their alcohol or drug habits took precedence over the band. Almost everyone knows a fan or two who has wrecked a car driving drunk, lost a relationship or job for being stoned too much, and so on.

It's possible that reckless hedonism becomes a substitute for achievement, and that this creates a huge pool of people who are working the reverse of that -- because they can't achieve, they pursue reckless hedonism -- in turn, dragging the genre down toward more inclusive material.

[we hope you die]

It only takes a small amount of self control to not let alcohol get in the way of creativity, which any self respecting hessian should be able to manage. The problem is letting it get out of control after say, a successful album or when one has too much money to spare. Once you've indulged in it one too many times it becomes harder and harder to pull yourself out of it let alone put your mind to something useful or creative.

[Humanicide]

Its all about moderation. Moderation takes self control. Self control takes self esteem.

This is why losers just spend their days high and drunk, all the time. They dont know what else to do with themselves.

I say, let the idiots who have no self control suffer the consequences.

[uoyedisni]

Somewhat related article on moderate alcohol consumption and the 'Churchill Gene'.
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10751
Indeed, moderation is the wisest path.

[scourge]

Russia: excessive alcohol consumption led to more than half of all deaths for ages 15 to 54. That's basically like the attrition from a major war in their midst for several years now. Alcohol isn't the cause of death. Something else causes these people to go for the booze, but like school shootings, media sources, as if under orders, won't give us a hint.

[Jim Necroslaughter]

I would say that at the end of the day alcohol is a waste of time and pretty crippling.  I will have a few beers on an "important" day or to celebrate a victory, but I have seen many friends who drink every weekend and have turned into dullards.  I have drunk to excess several times in the past, and a sober life is the life for me.  The "drinking/party culture" where I live is out of control and it upsets me to see so many young people essentially "peak out" at age 20.  Maybe they would have peaked out anyway, but without alcohol I figure they have a fighting chance.  Alcohol can definitely become a substitute for achievement.  And it doesn't bother me so much that alcohol or drugs can result in deaths, but that it turns the living alcoholics or drug addicts into dullards or reckless hedonists, in which case they consume consume consume, but give nothing back.

[My AIDS, Your Arse]

I like to drink on occasion as much as the next self-respecting person, but some people just drink too much, like some of my closest friends. It's like they don't even know why they're drinking, and it's a pain.

[hard]

Alcohol is a decadence and the truly hard and noble types would naturally seek to transcend such a thing.  This is because the musicians seek as little material gain from their output as possible, part of what makes the art so heroic.  For this reason metal musicians who produce the highest quality outputs may be less prone to alcoholism.  A good example of this may be Varg Vikernes who does not appear to drink much if at all.

[Conservationist]

It could be the difference between masturbating once, and dehydrating yourself with an eight-hour masturbathon.

[istaros]

Alcohol's never crippled a soul. The fact some people use that particular tool to cripple themselves is caused by a fault in character - not in the maliciousness of an inanimate object.

[Forza Romana]

Well, in my case I enjoy a nice glass a wine once a day with my dinner meal. This does stem from my Italian tradition, so I never do let it take a hold of my senses. If there is indeed a day for celebration, I drink 2 to 3 glasses of wine and that's my limit. I also make sure that I have a free day after I drink to rest myself , that way I am capable of making sound judgements.

[chittyxvx]

I was quite a large drinker around three to four years ago, a state not helped by the environment where my friends all got together just to drink. I did have fun, other times I let myself go in a frenzy of drinking. It took a five day drinking binge of a large amount of alcohol to make me realise that I was wasting my life. The next day, after returning from the trip we were one I gave up alcohol, and have been completely sober since. The same friends at the time practically disowned me based on my new found position, one that one was not forced upon them at all, and set their life goals as to getting as drunk as they possible can each night.
Each time I run into these friends nowadays they're laying around wasting their lives, and are usually extremely drunk. I, on the other hand, have become far more healthier, have accomplished a lot more and am more in control of my life then I would have been had I continued to drink.
Thats not to say alcohol is a bad thing, its a persons choice and if they succumb to it, it is there own weakness. Its like any other drug. Once it becomes an addiction or your only goal in life is to do it as much as you can then you're no longer living your own life. You're wasting it and a slave.

[hard]

It could be the difference between masturbating once, and dehydrating yourself with an eight-hour masturbathon.

Masturbation is a very lowest common denominator activity.  A Ménage à trois on the otherhand is more praiseworthy because it involves interaction with other people making it far more challenging.  I support social eugenics in that those who can't perform at a certain level socially (picking up women for one thing) should be culled from the population to increase its health.  In fact in our apocalyptic age I already see that coming into effect and I find a sense of beauty in it.

Each time I run into these friends nowadays they're laying around wasting their lives, and are usually extremely drunk.

Wasting is probably it.  If you're hanging out with the same people doing the same non-challenging activities (drinking usually isn't) then your not developing at all.  Growing up I spent a lot of time with a few of the same people playing video games and watching films.  Was there any challenge or achievement involved?  Not really.  Sure enough after a few years our friendships quickly dissolved  - basically nothing gained making the time filler.  A tragedy for anyone.  It appears that while us few were doing video games and films, the friendships of quality were forged in trying social circumstances such as parties and odd events.
 
I have the feeling a lot of metalheads hang out with the same people doing the same non-challenging activities, drinking would probably be one of them.  Sure enough, filler.  Such a thing certainly wouldn't live up to the true nature of metal which seeks development through adversity.

[Umbrage]

I support social eugenics in that those who can't perform at a certain level socially (picking up women for one thing) should be culled from the population to increase its health.

"Sorry Nietzsche but Casanova says you gotta go..."

[Humanicide]

It could be the difference between masturbating once, and dehydrating yourself with an eight-hour masturbathon.

Masturbathon is now one of my favorite words. Hah.

Perhaps, with the way society is going, this wont be an unfeasible public event.