SObEr AlieN? (OPINION PIECE)

Alien:
Extraterrestrial being
Somebody who does not belong to or does not feel accepted by a group or society
Outsider
Outside somebody’s normal or previous experience and seeming strange

With the exception to the “extraterrestrial being” part we can all relate. Whether we feel like an alien most of the time or only on infrequent occasions, feeling alienated is not an alien condition to us Rhodents. This established, the problem surfaces in the way we cope with our alienation. Too many of us rely on the notorious drinking culture we are introduced to in o-week to make things ‘alright’.

As I peruse the Journ 1 blog entries I’m not surprised to see how many revolve around the subject of alcohol. The theme we were asked to work under for the creation of our blogs was “surviving first year”. The conclusion one has to come to is that alcohol is a central means first years are using to ‘survive’. Now, is this such a terrible thing? I don’t want to go into a lackluster lecture concerning the dangers of alcohol but I do want to comment on the way students, in particular, are reaching a point of complete social dependence on this substance.

In the profile blog entitled ‘Surviving First Year’ Christine Spence is described as desperately trying to fit in during o-week. She alerts us to the initial superficiality of her friendships. Only during a “drunken night” did they have their first consequential exchange (or what many students refer to as a DMC: deep, meaningful conversation). It was alcohol that allowed them to ‘connect’. Another first year profile sites Kezia Swanepoel as feeling like an “awkward turtle” as she tried “fervently to blend” in. Unsurprisingly the very next thing the journalist alerts us to is Kezia’s binge-drinking habit.

The problem with relying on alcohol to feel comfortable and ‘fit in’ is that one cannot be permanently inebriated. We have to, at some point, interact with people in a state of sober consciousness. The alcohol route is acceptable and appropriate in most relaxed social settings but what happens during a normal day? Using alcohol as a crutch in this way compromises our everyday interactions. We do not acquire social skills, or only very minimally, without some wine in us. The result is that inter personal relationships are becoming more and more difficult to navigate when sober. I personally find it difficult to speak to some people without a substantial amount of alcohol thinning my blood. Are we becoming socially retarded? It seems as though we are removing ourselves further and further from reality into a false way of life. I do realise alcohol is not used in this way by all students so I will make it clear that this does not apply to everyone. But the blog profiles, although by no means an indication of statistical research, display a worrying trend applicable to many if not most of us.

More than an attack on student life I am expressing what I suppose can be referred to as disappointment in the way people of today interact. When we can only bond as people through a mind altering substance, what does that say about the direction in which humanity is stumbling?