"I'm Not an Alcoholic... I'm Australian!"

Orange is the New Black is a cool show. I have binge watched the entire first two seasons and I am absolutely devastated that I have to wait for a possible third season. But there is one character on there that pulls at my annoyance levels.

Pete Harper. Pete the Australian. Pete the constantly drunk Aussie husband who ups and leaves after having a child because he cannot commit. Pete the bloke who suddenly runs and hides in Antarctica because life became all too much when baby formula came into the mixture of beer and life. 

I know a lot of religiously drunk Australians. I am a social drunk, which means that if I do not have a barbecue - yes, laugh all you want at this stereotype - in sight, then I cannot really drink beer, unless I am in the midst of others wherein I become the class clown outside of class. In that scenario, I drink a whole lot less than normal because when I become tipsy, I need not drink any more unless there is anyone around willing to roll me back home. 

But the main point is that I do not understand why this Pete character is portrayed as an alcoholic. Is it a coincidence? Or is it the resurfacing of the classical Australian stereotype that we are all alcoholics? The intriguing thing that brought on my annoyance was what he said, pictured in the above scene: "I'm not an alcoholic... I'm Australian!" Does this mean that it is normal for all Australians to drink so much that onlookers would mistake them for alcoholics? It is rather annoying that amidst his nearing abandonment, he feels the need to explain his actions as purely part of his alleged cultural background. He feels the need to explain his constant mollycoddling of a beer bottle rather than his child.

The still above also shows him as a person in denial, the way his hands are outstretched, one holding a beer, the way he is looking at Larry trying to conjure up a sense of similitude. But no, Larry is American and he can handle his drinking, which is why he has his beer on the table behind him. He has practiced attached parenting with Pete's child rather than attached alcoholism due to cultural constraints.

I wonder what all foreigners think of Australians from these constant portrayals. I look at these stereotypes and imagine bald, overweight men down at the local pub drinking, drowning their daily hard work out, but I certainly cannot imagine Pete the Australian Alcoholic doing it rough in America. There is an inaccuracy in that due to the fact that I know more Australians who would rather join Bear Grylls in drinking their own urine rather than drinking a drop of beer.