Just wanted to drop a line thanking you for letting me sit in as GM for the last two weeks at the California Larrikin Hash. It was a lot of fun to run the circle again after a long hiatus and to get back into the swing of things again.
I also wanted to open a dialogue on an issue I encountered running the circle over the last two weeks which is probably more an issue of the style of a given hash/GM than anything else, but which I think deserves some open discourse, despite the fact that my position might make me some enemies. Before I even start, I want to set the record straight and say that these are my opinions and do not reflect the attitude of the California Larrikin Hash nor its members.
I want to address the issue of drunk driving and the implications of drunk driving to the hash. I know that this is a huge can of worms, but it seems like it needs to be opened yet again in order to get people thinking about what they're doing, etc. First off, I hope that we all agree that:
If you aren't drunk/intoxicated/over-the-legal limit, regardless of whether you:
I bring all of this up because the issue of DUIs has come up yet again after, as GM, I've thrown beer on a hasher in the circle, for whatever reason. Part of the reason I bring this up is mere whingeing that hashers are getting away with murder in the circle while hiding behind the magic "you can't dump beer on me because I'll get a DUI and it's your fault" clause and I don't have a block of ice to otherwise sort them out. However, beyond the whingeing bit, I just want to say:
It's as simple as that. If you can't come to the hash and not have a beer, then don't whinge when you get a DUI that may or may not be because you reek of beer. No cop is going to smell you as you drive by, and don't give me some shit that the police are cracking down on people with ON-ON stickers on the backs of their cars. Its really simple, if you're not intoxicated, you can't get a DUI. If you are intoxicated and you're driving, then it's possible that you can get a DUI, and, while that chance may be raised if a cloud of beer stench comes out of the car when the officer asks you to wind down the window, you are still the one who chose to drive while intoxicated.
Yes, there are a variety of issues here that we could bring up regarding who is responsible for keeping track of how much you've drunk, making sure you're cut off if you've had too many down downs, keeping you from driving if you're intoxicated, etc. It still boils down to:
Ask for a water down-down, dump the beer over your head, dump the coca-cola over your head, get a proxy, car pool, take a cab and get your car in the morning, etc., I don't care, just don't drink and drive. We're responsible adults here. Ok, maybe not, but we are adults ( I think). Please act the part and stop trying to place the blame for your actions on other people.
- Fuk Stik, Hasher at Large
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