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saw this screenshot from twitter on tumblr earlier this morning. this is a terrifying mentality. this kind of thinking can't be as prevalent as the echo chambers makes them seem, right?
in reply to Charlie Stross

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Another Angry Woman

@cstross I think at least part of the issue is a US thing - they are culturally *weird* about drinking, even the ones who aren't otherwise especially puritan.

I remember fan discourse years ago about how Gillian Anderson's character in The Fall must be an alcoholic because she drank *two* glasses of wine

@Charlie Stross
in reply to Another Angry Woman

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Charlie Stross

@stavvers It's also really weird how American bars always have giant-ass TV screens showing sports (with the volume turned up, but different channels on each) OR dance-floor levels of loud music, or sometimes both. There's no concept of quiet social drinking, apart from that one weird Trappist monk themed bar on Manhattan.
@Another Angry Woman
in reply to Charlie Stross

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Another Angry Woman

@cstross In NYC, me and my gf stopped for one (1) beer, sitting on a table outside and the servers looked at us like we'd grown extra limbs for not wanting to sit at the noisy bar and only drinking one beer before going off to enjoy our day.
@Charlie Stross
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Oggie

@cstross @stavvers
I think there's a very strong cultural conditioning, explicitly for men but it extends somewhat to women, that prevents non-idle conversation, or companionable silence, and both of these things feed into it.

If you're drunk, you can be emotional- show feelings, possibly step outside of standard 'bounds'. If you have TVs showing sports, you can deflect actual emotions onto emotional engagement via proxy.

So providing booze and displaced emotions...welp.

@Another Angry Woman @Charlie Stross
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sidb has moved to mstdn.social

@cstross @stavvers In Texas, we have a category of bar called an “icehouse”. It’s basically a giant mixed dirt/lawn/patio area covered in picnic tables, varied seating, trees, maybe horeshoes, a fire pit, or a food truck. You go to a central open-sided bar building to replenish. There will be reasonable (not super loud) music and often some tvs, but they’re both local within the bigger area. Mostly it’s friend groups milling around being social.
@Another Angry Woman @Charlie Stross
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Steinar Bang

@stavvers @cstross I thought "drink to get real fucked up or not at all" was a (northern) scandi thing...? (the Danes are thought to be more civilized around alcohol than the rest of us... that's why "northern")

(and Norway copied the US's prohibition. Didn't work out real well here either)

@Another Angry Woman @Charlie Stross
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Albert Semple, Poet

@cstross
I think there's something generational going on there too. Being a non drinking young person is much more common now - 26% (source - theguardian.com/society/2022/j…)

So maybe the reluctance to make that a defining character trait is to make the characters relatable to the maximum number of readers.

Gen Z for zero tolerance: why British youth are turning off booze

Alcohol consumption among 16- to 24-year-olds is falling. So what is behind this new temperance?
Barbara Ellen (The Guardian)
@Charlie Stross
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