It's a joke but like with many jokes the bigger the grain of truth the better. Another classic is "Having fun without alcohol is pretense." These are typically said when, for example, planning an evening out with friends or gathering at someone's place and the question of "Ok, shall we drink something, too, then?" comes up.
More often than not the collective conclusion is that of why not have a few beers since we're going to have some fun time anyway--probably motivated by the fear of not actually having fun without those beers. And then inevitably some of the participants stretch the meaning of "few" and you can witness something like this act by a Swedish guy who captures something of the essence of Finnish drunkenness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAl9OyGYxOg
Note that we can't generalize from this. Many Finnish people are decent with regard to the consumption of alcohol and many citizens of numerous other countries often drink too much. But there is a certain difference between Finland and many nations. What is common in Finland—or first frowned upon but immediately dismissed as "I'll do it too"—is generally considered a very undesirable way to embarrass yourself in many other countries.
More often than not the collective conclusion is that of why not have a few beers since we're going to have some fun time anyway--probably motivated by the fear of not actually having fun without those beers. And then inevitably some of the participants stretch the meaning of "few" and you can witness something like this act by a Swedish guy who captures something of the essence of Finnish drunkenness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAl9OyGYxOg
Note that we can't generalize from this. Many Finnish people are decent with regard to the consumption of alcohol and many citizens of numerous other countries often drink too much. But there is a certain difference between Finland and many nations. What is common in Finland—or first frowned upon but immediately dismissed as "I'll do it too"—is generally considered a very undesirable way to embarrass yourself in many other countries.