Monday, April 21, 2014
"Spring Break" = "Debauchery Central"?
As a teen I never took part in anything resembling 'Spring Break' here in the USA. I've read reports about it since coming to this country, but I'd never paid them much attention. I was therefore horrified to read this description of it in Taki's Magazine. I'm not going to reprint any of it here, because it's frankly disgusting; but the author goes into detail about the sexual debauchery and risks to the health and future of the participants. Much of it is emphatically NSFW.
I can hardly believe that such goings-on are the norm. I accept that they may happen in some places, and with some groups, but I simply can't understand how they could be the norm. If they were, surely such details would have hit the mainstream media long ago? Surely fathers would have taken up shotguns and handcuffs to confine their kids at home and prevent them from going on Spring Break at all?
I'd be grateful if readers who know more about the subject than I do would please let us know the truth. Take a look at the article, then let us know whether what it describes is the norm, or the extreme. Thanks.
Peter
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8 comments:
.....surely such details would have hit the mainstream media long ago?
You already know the answer to this - to the mainstream media this is perfectly normal behavior, not worth noting.
Kids today (yeah, even college kids) think that having alcohol in your system is an excuse for becoming an animal. And later have an excuse saying 'Its not my fault - I didn't know what I was doing.' Just plain - dumb.
I live near South Padre Island, extreme south Texas, bordering Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico. Pretty popular, not Daytona popular but still a well attended site. Used to be a rite of passage crossing the border to Matamorros and get drunk in Mexico. No Bueno now, drug cartel violence cut that behavior out drastically. Risk of kidnappings just isn't worth it. Crossing the border is risky.
Parents who raised their kids 'right' - you aren't immune. College kids want to blow off some steam and sometimes, stuff gets real. You know your kids - talk to them about this. Nothing wrong with a little fun, but know the limits.
I graduated in 2010 and never even heard of any such behavior among my cohorts, though the understanding that students at some other schools did participate in those activities was present. I spent my most enjoyable spring break in the lab shooting tiny model spaceships with a giant laser.
This may just be a result of being at a very stringent technical institute, where we had to spend more time studying than debauching ourselves.
It's made the mainstream media:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/weekinreview/19marsh.html
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1888317,00.html
It was a thing when I went to uni in the 80's. I never quite understood it myself, why pay exorbitant hotel rates to cram too many people into a room to go somewhere overcrowded, but then I didn't drink at the time and I thought promiscuity was stupid.
Just a sign of the times. Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing on us.
Seems about right to me. Fully in line with the acts and style of "ex girlfriend" porn. The new normal is stuff most of us wouldn't have ever SEEN 30 years ago, and you get it with a coy smile now.
For at least a couple of decades you could buy the "Girls gone Wild" videos, which were mostly shot during spring break and Mardi Gras. They left out a lot to keep their R rating....
Maybe where I'm from, Kansas, but most of the kids my daughter goes to college with just want to head home or are going to some conference related to their majors.
All communities have their party crowd. The issue here is the parents, they give/gave their children money instead of moral guidance. And what does it say about the family when a kid would rather go some where to get messed-up than go home.
Spring break is a modern Bacchanalia. Taki's is not exaggerating what goes on during this time. However... I would not describe it as normal, as most students go home for spring break. The spring break celebrants are a minority, so far.
Alas, the kinderchin are adults, and don't need permission to participate. Mine got told that if they went, there would be no more family support for them at a minimum. They stayed home.
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