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August Staff Editorial: The Fate of the Fake
August 29, 2014
To be dead set on buying alcohol as a minor is bad enough. To use false forms of identification is to play an entirely different ball game.
Lately more than ever, it seems as though more and more people under the age of 21 are reaching out to contacts who can get them a fake ID, or a “fake” as young adults commonly call it.
In the past, when a minor sought the ability to purchase alcohol, it was most common to use a big brother or sister’s old driver license as one’s own. For this to happen, the older sibling had to pretend to lose his or her most recent form of identification when he or she received the updated one from the license bureau.
Most likely remembering how ecstatic they would have been if they were in their younger sibling’s shoes, the older sibling would secretly leave the license for the next brother or sister in line. Not only would the picture always resemble the new owner (at least slightly), but it didn’t feel as wrong because the recipient usually carried the same last name.
That said, today, it is apparently more convenient to pay someone to make a fake ID from scratch. The addresses on the ID exist. The name and face on the ID exist. However, the name on the card without a doubt does not match up with the address.
Interestingly enough, most minors aren’t afraid to have their very own names written on the fake ID’s. This is an unexpected fact, for if a store owner were to take away the license out of suspicion, he or she would be completely capable of phoning the police and giving them the exact name of the offender.
What’s going to happen next? No one can say for sure, but it is clear that things are going to worsen for the ones who are justified in buying alcohol but look younger than their age, which could not be more unfair.
Furthermore, what does this trend say about the current generation? Depressingly enough, the act of putting on a costume out of an attempt to get drunk sounds a lot like achieving the same goal by stealing money, or maybe be doing something even worse.