Does drunkenness expose a person for who they really are?
 

It may have some truth to it. I don't speak for anyone else, but drunkenness liberates me from social constraint, being drunk makes me (and most others) feel like I can say what I want. Does drunkenness expose someone at their most primordial of thoughts?

^ Was you, or was you not drunk when youse posted this?

:D

:laughing:

I cut out some of the more retarded sentences to make my point more coherent. But yes, I was (and am) drunk when I made this point :)

I kinda noticed when someone is drunk they are either a "happy drunk" or "angry drunk." I kinda divide drunks into these two groups, but they are only that way when their drunk. A happy drunk could be a moody person irl who is quite and pensive, but when drunk is relax and happy and talkytive.

As long as no one loses an eye, it's all in good fun!

:D

That's what I'm trying to get at though, does alcohol cut down societal established norms, and expose people as elfless or predatorial in nature? What distinguishes a happy drunk from an ******* drunk? Does an ******* drunk think they can blame it all on the alcohol the morning after, so they have a fallback, so they feel like they can say whatever they like?

in vino veritas, in wine there is truth.

It is no great mystery that when someone consumes alcohol, their concious thought and perspective is tainted, and thus opening up their true thoughts and feelings that one would usually keep to themselves.
I've always thought about the effects of alcohol alike an amplifier, the more you drink, the more volume gets added to your character; making you louder, more obnoxious and more prone to sharing hidden traits and feelings.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, only I'm getting at how genuine are those thoughts truly?

I guess I view them as a person at their most primordial, ignorant of societal constraints. So a drunk ******* makes for a real life *******s, and a nice drunk makes for a nice person?

I believe the thoughts are almost entirely genuine. Even if they're deeprooted in the subconscious one may not be aware of them, or perhaps it's just an outpouring of a particular emotion, i.e. pent-up anger, self loathing, depression even down to lust.

That may explain why certain people act negatively with alcohol, a build of suppressed emotion which is no longer under self management.
If you act kindly, honestly and within the law whilst drunk I can't see there being much case for you being an ******* whilst sober.

I don't it has to do with social norms. Maybe it just unravels the psychological safe-gaurds people create for themselves to operate in society without being hassled. Maybe the happy drunk wants to be happy when sober but creates certain behaviour modifactions to safe-guard themselves from others.

I like to think that as well, even though there's a point of partiality holding me back since most people that know me personally classify me as a nice and selfless drunk. I'm not the kind to start fights or take advantage of women, and this would encourage that train of thought in my mind.


But this is of course where it falls upon science to prove whether alcohol exposes us for our biological selves? How can we be sure if we don't have an untainted case example to compare against? We don't, except pure speculation. Everyone is exposed to the moralities and normalities of society on some level, so it's hard to extract what's 'natural' from what's been influenced by the environment.

That sounds to me like conforming to social norms. If you have a perpetual fear of being judged, you will do your best to learn what is considered socially acceptable, and try to follow that line of acceptability pretty rigorously to avoid people having a negative feeling about you. Only intoxication let's down that guard you've used to integrate yourself into society.

I hope not because I fall asleep when I'm drunk.

Perhaps a little bit, but I think the most important thing to keep in mind about inebriation is that it lowers inhibitions. So yes, while someone might say something they wouldn't have said sober, a drunk person is also liable to do completely idiotic things they wouldn't have done sober, such as throwing bikes into the local canal. Does this mean that person harbors a secret desire to throw all bikes into canals while sober? Likely not. Furthermore, I've known blackout drunk people to flat-out lie and speak with all the conviction they could muster. No, I do not think alcohol is a truth serum. In fact, I take things that are said and done under the influence with a bigger grain of salt than I would in sober circumstances.

In my experience it just makes me stupid. I find no appeal in it as I don't have much control over what I do, and I don't think it is my true self.

It's me, but with a big chunk of my brain gone.

You can obviously imagine that I don't drink much.

I agree with Manky. There's no reason why you would suddenly say something drunk which you would never say sobre, unless there's some deep-seated and hidden desire to have said it at some point. So, someone who has fancied a girl, lets say, for months but never plucked up the courage might be emboldened (or to use Burning Down's favourite phrase, embiggened!) to say what's in their heart (or their pants, more likely!) and someone who's resented another person will be more likely to tell them to their face when drunk.

The thing is, I feel, we all have these impulses but our brains, when clear of alcohol, tell us not to be so stupid; you can't say that. It puts forward various reasons, such as you'll get your teeth knocked out or she'll laugh at you, or what will other people say? Alcohol lulls your brain to sleep, shows it some dirty pictures and keeps it occupied while you are then free to express yourself in a way you would never do otherwise.

But those feelings are there. They have to be. Even in the most basic root level, if you were to for instance make a play for a girl you've never even seen before, or take offence to someone's tone, the genetic memory is at work there, and your caveman self is waking up and climbing out his cave and he does NOT like to be disturbed, and is not shy about showing it!

Having said all this, I have been drunk precisely twice in my life. I can thankfully say both times I was what would be described as "a happy drunk", though these days if I drink too much I just fall asleep. I have certainly noticed the behaviour of others when drunk though, and I think that supports the arguement,

Hey! Did you spill my pint??!!! :bringit: :beer: :laughing:

No.
At least, the answer isn't quite so black and white.
Does alcohol decrease inhibitions? Sure. Does that mean we sometimes think or do things that we normally wouldn't when we're drunk? Yes.
But we don't just think and do the things we "really" want to when we're drunk. In other words, being drunk changes your personality as well. So, the things we're often uninhibited in doing while we're drunk are often things we wouldn't even find fun or cool sober.
It seems like the "real" us when we tell someone off that we've secretly hated for a while. But it's not the "real" us when we say we love strangers or make any of the plethora of bad decisions I know I've made drunk.
Does being drunk expose someone for who they really are? Not really, it just shows what they act like when they're drunk.

^This. To use a small personal example, I have an extremely short attention span when I'm drunk and get pretty much no enjoyment out of movies as a result. But I don't think that's "the real me". The real me loves movies and has no problem whatsoever stilling still and being absorbed in one.

I see what you're saying on one hand, but then again I can't relate cause I've never done anything as stupid and selfish as throwing bikes in a canal while drunk. But with something like that you have to explore why someone would do that, even if they were drunk?

I would guess it evokes some statement of freedom and the thrill of doing something you're not supposed to be doing, while ignoring society's teaching of do unto others..., not to mention cause and effect. Hard to say how much that defines a person though, and why they do stupid acts like that and other people don't.

Alcohol magnifies ones personality. So, if you're an ******* when your sober, you're a bigger ******* when you're drunk.

I've studied this theory, and even after many, many, many, many, many, many years, it still holds up.

That's pretty much where I stand on the issue.

But he says "with a bigger grain of salt than being sober", bigger grain of salt being what exactly?

I guess it's kind of a philosophical question, since it gets to the matter of what makes you you.

Bane, RVCA and Jans hit the nail for me.

The simple fact that getting drunk changes you in different ways signifies to me that it cannot be your natural state/expose who a person is, as it has been altered by a substance.

Yes I would agree that it gives you courage (for lack of a better word) to do/admit something you wouldn't normally do, but I feel as though your natural character is the reason why you wouldn't do such things in the first place.

Being drunk will reduce your inhibitions, not reveal your entire personality.

If I'm happy with my day/current situation and company, I'm a happy drunk.
If I'm not happy with my company, then if I drink a bit more to become an angry drunk, but I've recognised when that happens and make sure I regulate it.

I find small talk boring, sometimes I'll take a stupid polarised stand on something I feel is unimportant and I don't reaally care about....like rugby vs football "ah football, pussies play it and racists watch it" I'll just take the least popular opinion and run with it. Which can rub some people up the wrong way...but I don't care because I'm drunk. Either way I get louder, and I've been told for people who don't know me it can be intimidating sometimes because they don't realise I don't actually think that.

It's less about where you stand on mundane **** like football vs. rugby, and more about primal instincts like I said.

For example: maybe the scenario you gave me is indication that you love looking for a good debate, you like being intellectually stimulated?

Or maybe it's an indication I'm a dick.

Your inhibitions are part of you, part of who you really are. Drunkeness reduces inhibitions and co-ordination, does that mean falling over part of what my body really is too? No it just means one part of my body isn't working as well as it could be, possibly resulting in faceplants.

Is that years, or beers? :beer:

Right, I think we're kinda in agreement, I just poorly worded my title (forgive me in my drunken stupor :beer:)

The idea of who the real 'you' is can be defined either way, I was putting forth the idea that alcohol reveals someone at their most biological, close to ignorant of all the experience they have gathered throughout life and that has influenced them in ways that is more fit for society.


So you would say someone who is an introvert sober, but talkative drunk is truly an introvert by nature, or the opposite?

Say someone only gets violent when drunk. They swear off drink and never hurt a fly from then on. Are they a "truly" a violent person?

Drunkeness makes your brain not work that well. Including inhibitions, reasoning, coordination and risk assesment.

It can show some aspects of a person I agree, but I'd say it's more dependent on mood.

Otherwise we're all loud confident idiots who hug and shout a lot. Although I am talking about drunkeness, not just being tipsy.