The Impact of Alcohol - Book Report/Review Example

“The Famous Sushi Pants Story” by Tucker Max Tucker max, born September 27, 1975, in Atlanta, Georgia, (Wikipedia, 2014) has written numerous books, many #1 NY bestsellers, and a website that contains a number of short stories recounting his excessive drinking, exploits and sexual encounters. His books and website, which was only launched as a result of a bet, have become hugely popular. Max maintains these somewhat amusing accounts of his life are genuine. One of his books, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, (Max, 2006), a best seller, was also made into a film. He has many fans and followers; however, there are many critics and negative comments made claiming that the stories are not true (McBeefwell, 2006). The stories are entertaining, highlighting his views about women, excessive consumption of alcohol and drinking games, which lead to him insulting people, and embarrassing sexual encounters. Whether the stories are true or overly exaggerated perhaps is irrelevant, as one of his stories, which is in his popular publication and on the website is the “famous sushi pants story” (Max, 2006), and which recognizes and emphasizes on a familiar sequence of events individuals follow during a night out drinking alcohol, and commonly defined as binge drinking (Measham & Brain, 2005). Binge drinking is when an individual takes six or more standard drinks in one given period (WHO, 1994). Binge drinking is a common drinking behaviour in Ireland (SLAN, 2007). The impact of alcohol relies on the amount taken, although alcohol is a depressant it can have a stimulating effect. Some common effects following consumption include a sense of dis-inhibition, social freedom, and excitement, the proverbial ‘Dutch courage’, and a warm feeling of enjoyment. However, at higher doses alcohol can affect the cerebellum, which results in poor balance and slurred speech (Drinkaware, 2014). The ‘Sushi Pants Story’ is one of a young man's shamelessness. Morality is rarely discussed. However, moments during the story the author has inscribed remarks, “remembering past encounters with the law, and realising there is no one around to bail me out of the county lock up, I summon up every bit of adrenalin in my body to sober up, I apologise again” (p.6). There appears to be disapprobation or at least of an egressing consciousness that there is something "wrong" with this behaviour. Additionally, there is a way in which this story records the pain and sorrow of a young man whose life while in certain aspects is in good order, in other ways has careened out of control. Reading about the author getting sick from excessive drunkenness, raises the question that something is terribly wrong, and why this keeps happening? Does he need help? Tucker decides to bring out a portable alcohol breathalyser on his night out. This is a device tailored to make it fast and easy to test the level of alcohol in peoples' blood, blood alcohol content (BAC). It was initially made to help police and those who wanted to find methods of keeping their drunken friends from driving while intoxicated. There are mixed messages in Tucker's stories he is excellent at writing, telling stories and picking up women. Making it seem as though all this is good. However, someone puking into the shrubbery from excessive alcohol consumption is rather acutely sad, no matter whom it is. The extent of humiliation experienced is quite extreme; however, it does demonstrate to some degree how, unfortunately, common this experience is for some people. The story also highlights the author's talent of mocking and verbal cruelty towards others. However, he also does recognise that his sarcasm does not always go unnoticed, which leads to further self-loathing as the object of his sarcasm often ignores him and/or turns their attention elsewhere, leaving him feeling quite low as he appears to enjoy being the centre of consideration. This is seen in, “two girls call me close-minded, and I tell them that they are so open-minded that their brains leaked out”. (p. 3.) The story perhaps highlights Tucker’s need to drink for Dutch courage, or drown out his sorrows. He states on p.1 that he was already feeling depressed prior to meeting his colleagues, which lead him to ordering the highly charged alcoholic drink. In addition, his agenda in bringing along the alcohol breathalyser was not to keep track of his alcohol consumption in order to drive home, or to inform any of his colleagues, but to gain much needed attention from others. Tucker, seems to thrive on being the centre of attention, and gets extremely annoyed when interest is diverted from him. There is also an indication that Tucker appeared to believe that he could keep control of his actions regardless of how much he drank, and the concept of controlled loss of control. This concept was discussed in the Measham and Brain paper (2005) on ‘Binge’ Drinking. A tool by means of a questionnaire was piloted, in 2004, on a number of individuals who were drinking in certain bars in Manchester. Individuals were questioned around they perceived that they would be able to measure how intoxicated they were at certain parts of the evening, Respondents were questioned early in the evening, and later that evening after consuming more alcohol. However, the results could in one way be invalid as it was acknowledged that questioning individuals under the effect of alcohol may contaminate the data. However, individuals did underestimate their level of intoxication, which does raise the issue of many individuals having the notion that they are in command of their actions after significant alcohol consumption. Tucker did receive attention, but this was short-lived and quite negative and proceeded to add to his sense of low self-worth as it became a challenge to beat anyone who attempted to beat his score. Tucker took huge personal insult to anyone whom he perceived was winning him. The more alcohol that Tucker drank, the less in control he became to make sensible and safe decisions. Tucker’s ‘challenger, was described as bigger in stature, maybe had eaten beforehand, may not have had such lack of self-esteem issues, had perhaps ‘paced’ and had drunk more slowly than that of Tucker. These factors may have influenced the alcohol appearing to have a lesser effect and his achieving a higher reading on the breathalyser than Tucker. The attention that Tucker received was detrimental, and people were more interested in the breathalyser than him. The individuals, who were interested and involved in the challenge, were probably laughing at him and his lack of control. People were interested in encouraging him to drink alcohol, had total disregard of Tucker's wellbeing or safety, or were interested in how high over the limit they could blow. Reading this story raises a question of whether people realise that a person does not have to be lawfully drunk to be considerably marred while driving, or making logical decisions. The breathalyser is not much of a safety device but more of a means to mock you on how drunk a person is as lawfully allowed to and then drive. Most of the stories come from Tucker’s life during his 20s. Some from when he was still a student and the last appeared as the book was being prepared for publishing, together with a farfetched promotional advancement given by the audio-visual mass media. Max is brought up in an affluent, refined family "stricken by" multiple marriages. He admits that his feelings had been so hurt that, by the time, he was in his early 20s, and even questioned whether he had any emotions left (Max, 2014). The process of brain change during adolescence is hugely important, and furthermore may explain why substance by teenagers seems to be much more harmful than similar levels of drug or alcohol use by people in their 20’s, (Piaget & Inhelder, 1972). Evidently, something is terribly wrong with Tucker. His friends fully support this behaviour, and if they can get him out there insulting other people and drinking excessively, they will be quite happy with him. Teenagers, value the views and opinions of their peers, and they are likely to engage in behaviours which are endorsed and approved of by their friends (Hibell et al, 2011); however, this is not just confined to adolescence as adults can attach too much weight to the views and opinions of others. Tucker is either a heavy drinker or an alcoholic. It is clear that he is past just missing binge drinking and hangovers, and could perhaps be officially diagnosed of abusing alcohol, which is someone who is not only misusing alcohol, but continues to do so despite causing significant harm to his life criminal charges. At the beginning of The Famous ‘Sushi Pants’ Story, Tucker talks about Red Bull. According to Tucker, he thought that Red Bull was the most destructive innovation of the past five decades. Red Bull, a stimulant, and well-known energy drink are legally marketed within and outside of the USA. Notably, Red bull is used as an important feature and appears in more than one story by Tucker. One of the themes in the book is Tucker's sexual behaviour. Alcohol is associated with risk behaviours. One such behaviour is promiscuity. Although, promiscuity is often discussed, it is usually females that are talked about in a negative way. However, there have been numerous ‘fly on the wall’ and real life television programmes, highlighting the exploits of both Men and Women, after they have been drinking or partying abroad Ibiza uncovered 1998 and many later similar popular television shows. In Ireland, ‘Tallafornia’, filmed a group of young men and women who lived in the same house, the fly on the wall programme mainly centred around their exploits when they frequented bars and clubs in Ireland, and subsequent bed hopping, relationships starting and ending, arguments and fights, and just about anything acceptable. Although it appears that perhaps the individuals ‘played’ up to the camera, there was also a sense that the people in these programmes, became acclimatized to the filming, and furthermore, felt it was acceptable to behave in any way they wanted. When he was a younger man, he discovered how to connect with people in bars while drunk. He became good at analysing women when he was out at bars and intoxicated, and then spending the night with them. A New craze affecting Ireland at the moment is Nek nomination, which comprises of individuals being encouraged to take up huge amounts of alcohol in the shortest possible time. This leads to individuals becoming involved with a number of risk taking and dangerous activities, and drinking games, which can lead to serious consequences and death (Beccaria & Sande, 2003). Although for many drinking is believed a ‘rite of passage’, and expected activity, marking point in a youngster’s life, whereby he crosses from child to adult. In many western countries, alcohol is served at many gatherings such as weddings, christenings and particularly accepted as a right as it is deemed legal for someone celebrating their 18th year of birth. However in some cultures such as Italy and Norway for instance, this ‘coming of age’ is more publically celebrated by means of festivals aimed at highlighting the transition point separating youth to adult, (Beccaria & Sande, 2003). A Comparison of Ireland and other EU countries shows that there are differences between the patterns of drinking and not the amount of drinking. Although the consumption of alcohol in Ireland is lower than some of the neighbouring European nations, it may be high on numerous occasions when compared to other EU countries (SLAN, 2007; Ramstetd & Hope, 2005). Measham & Brain cited work from Graham et al. (1998:661), reporting that UK is the only country where individuals can visibly display and act out their drunkenness. There has been much debate around allowing the serving of alcohol and extension of opening hours in pubs and bars within the UK. In the premise of increasing the opportunity for individuals to recognise that there is no need to attempt to consume so much alcohol in a short period, binge drinking and the consequences of individuals becoming ill and / or causing chaos would be reduced. However, those who are against this idea believe that it may more likely encourage alcohol consumption. And feel later opening hours would allow people to continue to drink long beyond what they are capable of because there would be nothing to restrict them or make the decision that they need to stop drinking that they are unable to make (Measham & Brain, 2005). The later opening of these establishments which Tucker went out to, appeared to have longer opening hours, or may not even close. Perhaps if they had closed earlier, Tucker may not have got into the state he did. Although, deciding to drink is an individual choice, for Tucker, and many he was incapable of making that choice. The story continues, reading about how Tucker, disappointed and annoyed that his challenger has beat him with his score, and not feeling or looking as intoxicated as Tucker, and also suffering from the humiliating and negative comments he was receiving from the onlookers, Tucker decides to make and decision which is not perhaps sensible, he continues to drink shots in order to increase his BAC. After 3 hours of drinking, and losing count of how many alcohol drinks Tucker has consumed he reaches his goal of 0.20 on the breathalyser, his fame is short lived, and to Tuckers disgust he is beaten by his challenger who drinks to shots in quick succession without any apparent effect and scores 0.24 on the breathalyser. Tucker is annoyed and humiliated and this fuels him to continue drinking and resorts to eat sushi, perhaps his realistic rationale was that if he ate he would be able to outwit his opponent. However, his decision to leave the bar and pursue food, proved not to be the most sensible of ideas. His food choice and manner he consumed did not help or ‘soak’ up the alcohol he had consumed, and contributed to him vomiting quite violently, at this point, Tucker had removed his trousers at the suggestion of someone where he had sought his food. He left the building quite quickly, having no regard for the women he reported saying he pushed into, on his way out the door to go and vomit, also when he returned for his items he found his breathalyser, but did not notice that his trousers, phone and wallet were missing, and he did not discover this until he woke the following morning, trouserless, dehydrated and still over the limit for driving. IN the few short hours that Tucker had been out, he had managed to get extremely drunk to the extent of passing out and vomiting, both could have proved fatal, he had lost his phone, wallet and trousers, had extremely humiliated him and furthermore had a close encounter with the police. Also, Tucker still under the legal limit for driving still had total disrespect for this and drove home. Tucker appears to have the concept that he can go out, drink an excessive amount of alcohol on the premise and belief that he will be able to function adequately, and will have a controlled loss of control. He believes that he will be able to establish when he has drunk enough, make a rational decision and make the decision to stop drinking before he gets too intoxicated to function and be at serious risk of harming himself and/or those around him. Being too intoxicated can lead to addiction and disease. Benjamin Rush, an American physician, declared excessive alcohol use as a disease (Levine, 1978). Additionally, Rush prescribed total abstinence as a cure. Notably, interventions around alcohol use followed and promoted by AA and those that believe in the disease model of addiction encourage total abstinence. Benjamin Rush, an American physician, declared excessive alcohol use as disease, prescribing total abstinence as a cure. The belief that excessive alcohol use is a progressive disease and consumption of even small amounts of alcohol could lead to loss of control and eventual painful death (White, 2000). However, much later research by Rosenberg et al (1992) has focussed on the controversial concept of controlled drinking, as an alternative to total abstinence. Controlled drinking interventions stress the notion that a hazardous pattern of excessive alcohol consumption can be changed to a relatively modest pattern that does not cause negative consequences. However, as a general rule the interventions do not claim that everyone is capable of sustaining a safe pattern of drinking. Some researchers reported that the more problematic the person's alcohol use the less likely they would be able to control their drinking, (Orford & Keddie, 1986). However, later reviews had disputed this, maintaining that the severity of alcohol problem is irrelevant and has no influence to whether the intervention is successful (Walters, 2000). References: Beccaria. F. Sanda. A. 2003. Drinking Games And Rite of life Projects, A social comparison of the meaning and functions of young people’s use of alcohol during the rite of passage to adulthood in Italy and Norway. Young: Sage Publications, London. Drinkaware,2014.http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/media/143553/alcohol%20and%20the%20body%20infographic%202.pdf. Accessed 1th February 2014. Hibell, B, Guttormisson, U, Ahlström, et al. The 2011 ESPAD Report: substance use among students in 36 European countries. Stockholm: Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN): 2012. Lexicon of psychiatric and mental health terms, 2nd ed. Geneva, World Health Organization, 1994. Levine, H.G. (1978). The Discovery of Addiction: Changing Conceptions of Habitual Drunkenness in America, Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39(1): 143-174 Max. T. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_Max accessed 13th February, 2014. Max. T. 2006. I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell. Tucker Max Stories, Citadel Press. United States. Max, T. (2014, January). The Famous “Sushi Pants” Story. Retrieved February 2014, from http://www.tuckermax.com/stories/the-famous-sushi-pants-story/ McBeefwell, C. (2006, October 20). Tucker Max Is A Douchebag: Another Tucker Max Story Exposed As A Fabrication. Retrieved February 2014, from http://tuckermaxdoucebag.blogspot.com/2006/10/another-tucker-max-story-exposed-as.html Measham. F. Brain. K. 2005. ‘Binge’ drinking, British alcohol policy and new culture of intoxication. Crime Media Culture. 1:262. Orford J, Keddie A. 1986. Abstinence or controlled drinking in clinical practice: Indications at initial assessment. Addict Behav; 11:17-86. Piajet. J, Inhelder. B. 1972. The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence: An essay on the construction on formal operational structures. Oxford: Routledge. Ramstetd. M. Hope. A. 2005. The Irish drinking habits of 2002: drinking and drinking-related harm in a European comparative perspective. Journal of Substance Use, 10 (5). pp. 273-283. Rosenberge, H., Melville, J., Levell., D., & Hodge, J. E. (1992). A ten-year follow-up survey of acceptability of controlled drinking in Britain. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 53, 441-446. SLAN,2007 (Survey of Lifestyle Attitudes and Nutrition) https://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/slan_wellbeing_report.pdf accessed 12th February 2014 Walters G.D. 2000. Behavioural self-control training for problem drinkers: A meta-analysis of randomized control studies. Behav Ther; 31:135-149. White, W. (2000). The Rebirth of the Disease Concept of Alcoholism in the 20th Century. Counselor 1 (2): 62–66. . Read More