Fraternities, college and drinking games
Anyone else ever in a fraternity, or have a serious spike in drinking in college? I joined a fraternity my freshman year of uni, (20 years ago now), and the drinking rituals were downright frightening.
The initiation process was horrible. Twelve of us lined up in a row - and the the two guys on the end were given full bottles of Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort. On the word "go", we had to pass the bottles from one end to the other, down the line, and they had to be empty by the time they reached the other ends. The idea was "don't f*$ck your brother" and make sure you drank your share. This was done while other members cheered and jeered. We also participated in "slam-offfs" with beer versus other fraternity members, a contest of sorts to prove our loyalty. One kid got so drunk that he slipped and cracked his head outside - when he went to the hospital, everyone was concerned....not that he'd be okay, but that he'd "tell on us" and the fraternity would be in trouble. I was just 18 years old at the time and had barely touched a drink in high school - and this was the way I was introduced to drinking. Older guys who could drink the most were also considered the coolest guys in the house, and were given awesome nicknames and got all the laughs.
While I can't blame my alcoholism on these experiences, I definitely think the seed of addiction was planted on fertile ground here. I'd recommend young people to stay away from joining these types of clubs or organizations - sure I made some good buddies, but looking back it most certainly wasn't worth it. The way I viewed drinking became very skewed from these first social drinking experiments.