I'm glad you explained your opinion in such a detailed way, and that people are giving such insightful thoughts on all views. It helps us all to understand what people are thinking about alcohol, an area which happens to be very fuzzy to me.
I found your post because today was my 21st birthday party and my friends ordered a drink for me. It was very syrupy and sweet to cover up the alcohol because they knew I did not like its taste or smell. I will say I was scared at first which is understandable because I don't have a lot of experience or exposure to alcohol and alcohol is so hyped up as something that will dramatically change you. It's a big topic. Look at prohibition. There's also something going on with my taste buds and olfactory glands to make me have a repulsion towards the taste and smell of alcohol, like taking Robitussin. Everyone is different. In middle school science class, we were given a strip of paper with a certain chemical on it and everyone licked their paper at the same time. Some of us ran out to wash our mouths out because the paper tasted disgusting, while others just sat there wondering what was going on; they couldn't taste anything at all.
So I was really hesitant to drink it. Yes, I was a bit nervous, but I've eaten stinky tofu and durian before so taking a sip of this drink was definitely doable in comparison. I stirred the drink for a several minutes and finally took a sip, evaluating the taste in my mouth. I could taste pineapple, watermelon, and other tropical fruit syrups, and an almost carbonated tickle on my tongue. No taste of the alcohol (rum), although it was probably there but just covered up by the globs of syrup. I've had rum cake before and could distinctly taste the rum in that.
I thought that was the end, but it was not. Everyone expected me to finish the drink, which I understand because they know it will make me looser and more able to "enjoy" things. The thought was coming from a good place (for the most part). I took a couple more sips throughout the night but could not justify any reasons to finish it instead of getting a free cup of water, and the reasons were the following:
- taste
- trust
- drama
- indifference
- embarrassment
If I don't like the taste of alcohol, I will not drink something that is trying to mask it. That's sneaky. I did not trust everyone around me to keep things I say to them a secret and to respect my intimate, most private feelings. Who knows if they will use them against me later. There was a girl there trying to fish for secrets out of me and to get me to diss her in public, and drama is more likely to ensue if I consume alcohol. Who likes drama. I am already pretty uninhibited for things I like to do, like cracking stupid jokes and dancing in public and so don't see the need for alcohol's inhibition-lowering effects. Indifference. Finally, I like having self-control at all times and would be embarrassed to be seen stumbling around or being incoherent.
The main discomfort at the party and what many inexperienced drinkers may have felt was that one guy grew impatient with me, thinking I was too scared to drink. Have you seen the scene from Back to the Future where McFly goes, "nobody calls me a chicken." That pretty much sums it up. A lot of us feel a lack of understanding, that people write us off as chickens, which is upsetting! What we really wish is for people to pat us on the back and let us do whatever we want. That's what we do.