Personal Responsibility
The term personal responsibility gets thrown around a lot when talking about drinking and the debate over what the legal drinking age should be. These topics were brought up in an article I read in the New York Times this weekend. The story was about a college student in Indiana who died by drinking too much at a fraternity party. The fraternity where the death occurred was shut down by the university. Students interviewed were upset by the death, but were also upset that their social network was disbanded in this time of tragedy. One of the students interviewed brought up personal responsibility. I myself am a proponent of personal responsibility, but I wondered whether it’s appropriate to play the personal responsibility card when you’ve actively sought to create an environment that encourages people to act irresponsibly. Again, I completely understand where this student was coming from, but I think that you get into a very sticky ethical and legal arguement when you try to blame the individual exclusively. I wonder if I feel this way partly because I’m female. I think that girls tend to take more responsibility for making sure their girlfriends are safe at a party – do you agree?
