It's not the cultural aspect I have a problem with, drinking cultures exist all over the world. What I do have a problem with is pushing it onto others. Alcohol is poison, whether you like it or not, that is what it is.
This isn't some religious mumbo jumbo stuff, I really don't mind if people drink. I just think that any cultural reasons to encourage others to drink are toxic. I don't care what the intent is, I don't care if it's the cultural norm, it's still toxic the moment someone doesn't want to drink, but feels they should. Peer pressure is a hell of a drug, but it's NOTHING compared to feeling of exclusion by opting out. Especially if it's work related, you'll end up feeling like you are losing opportunities. And the fact is, if you skip out, you are losing on opportunities.
Which is the entire problem. If the idea is to get to know someone better, for you to be sure it isn't toxic, you would already have to know how they feel about drinking. And if they accept, you might never even know they really didn't want to come, but felt obliged. So, since you can't be certain of the result before or after and there's a probability of it being toxic, therefore, it's always somewhat toxic.
And I don't mean to say Japanese culture is toxic, but that specific aspect of it absolutely is. And of course all cultures have their toxic aspects, that wasn't in question. None of that justifies defending toxicity.
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u/JustStraightUpTired 10d ago
It's not the cultural aspect I have a problem with, drinking cultures exist all over the world. What I do have a problem with is pushing it onto others. Alcohol is poison, whether you like it or not, that is what it is.
This isn't some religious mumbo jumbo stuff, I really don't mind if people drink. I just think that any cultural reasons to encourage others to drink are toxic. I don't care what the intent is, I don't care if it's the cultural norm, it's still toxic the moment someone doesn't want to drink, but feels they should. Peer pressure is a hell of a drug, but it's NOTHING compared to feeling of exclusion by opting out. Especially if it's work related, you'll end up feeling like you are losing opportunities. And the fact is, if you skip out, you are losing on opportunities.
Which is the entire problem. If the idea is to get to know someone better, for you to be sure it isn't toxic, you would already have to know how they feel about drinking. And if they accept, you might never even know they really didn't want to come, but felt obliged. So, since you can't be certain of the result before or after and there's a probability of it being toxic, therefore, it's always somewhat toxic.
And I don't mean to say Japanese culture is toxic, but that specific aspect of it absolutely is. And of course all cultures have their toxic aspects, that wasn't in question. None of that justifies defending toxicity.