TO THE EDITOR:
The media and politicians have been making a big deal about Four Loko of late; things have come to a head, and the FDA may ban Four Loko this week. The claim is kids cannot handle megadoses of alcohol and caffeine responsibly when they are masked by flavors resembling Dimetapp more than Diesel.
The editorial yesterday (“Live and let Loko”), as well as the majority of UNC’s “party people,” seem to find this assertion lifted from the pages of Orwell’s “1984.” They find it condescending, overly and overtly paternalistic, and frankly, kind of a buzzkill.
These people are kidding themselves. We know people who drink Four Loko, all of whom are well aware that Four Loko offers a categorically different buzz from conventional alcohol. Regardless of their sober sensibility — or perhaps, because of it — on nights they drink Four Loko, they inevitably drink to excess.
It is a question of practicality. Since Four Lokos are laughably inexpensive, it is easy to delude yourself into thinking that $6 is a reasonable price to pay for a reasonable night of drinking. That’s two cans worth, and two cans of anything spread over a night of debauchery is par for the course, right? Wrong.
Once you crack open the second one, you are bound to finish it, and then it is bound to finish you. Everyone knows this is true.
Old people are, frustratingly, usually right. It is especially frustrating when they are right, but for the wrong reasons.
Drew Millard
Senior
Communications
Kevin Munger
Junior
Math and Economics
