Thursday, September 27, 2007

It could be worse, you could be a model.

Of all the injustices in the world, one you're least likely to hear about is how much harder it is for middle-class teens to go out drinking than it is for their fabulously wealthy and/or famous peers. For all the talk of a 21-year-old drinking age, it's normal to see pictures of underage socialites, actors or models in America holding a glass of not-milk at a party. This is sophistication. Meanwhile college freshmen must detag every Facebook photo in which they are even possibly drinking a beer. For the plebes, there are potential employers to worry about.

I was wrong. It's actually unfair to the rich, beautiful, and famous that they are permitted alcohol prior to 21, the age at which scientists agree the human body can at last tolerate liquor. It is far better to be 20, carded, and spending the evening with your sober friends at a Starbucks, till its 10:30 PM closure. (Of course, if the underage were not exposed to photos of their more glamorous peers drinking, they would never consider doing so in the first place). Similarly, isn't it terrible that models are permitted to smoke in restaurants? It's bad enough that they have to go around being better-looking than everyone else and receiving glares from us civilians waddling through Union Square West, that they are above the law, that they go to fabulous parties at an age when other kids go at most to a Rated R movie. It's tragic, really. Of course the real tragedy is that no amount of decadent behavior or dieting will make anyone other than a Latvian 10-year-old resemble the women pictured in Guy Trebay's article.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gee, it is such a big injustice. Really up there with what is going on in Myanmar these days, or Guantanamo.

Pobre cita.

Anonymous said...

I don't mean to be as cynical as your first commenter, but, he does have a point.

Since serving alcohol to minors is against the law, then there is no injustice in not being able to break the law.

The injustice is in someone breaking the law and getting away with it.

And frankly, drinking coffee and remaining in control are sophisticated. Drinking beers or mixed drinks and being out of control are merely crude partying. It means you don't have the mental strength or interests necessary to function as an adult without drugs.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

I don't especially like pointing out when posts are meant to be sarcastic, but...

And yet there is something ridiculous about a law that makes behavior nearly all college students participate in, even at unfun UChicago, illegal until at least junior year. There is nothing 'crude' or 'out of control' about having one or two drinks at age 18. Illegal, yes, but I'm not sure it should be.