Does alcohol bring out the "real you"?

[jackietreehorn8]

So, there's two schools of thought on this. Someone gets hammered and does or says something they would never have done or said while sober.

A. That the real "inner him" coming out. Alcohol strips away the inhibitions and leaves nothing but the truth. When Mel Gibson gets drunk and goes on an anti-Jew tirade, this is because he truly does hate Jews...sobriety and the filter that comes with it keeps him from constantly saying it, but get him liquored up and you'll find out his true feelings.

B. What people say when under the influence should be taken with a grain of salt. We all know alcohol affects our judgement, so why listen to anybody who's drunk, they're obviously not in their right mind? My boss has called me the best employee he's ever had and my wife has called me the biggest asshole she's ever met (those are examples)...they don't really mean those things, do they?


So what do you think? Should more or less credence be given to the things people say and do when they are drunk?

 

[BulldogWrestler]

yeah sorta, sex crazed maniac with swagger

 

[Plutoburn]

Alcohol may chemically exaggerate one aspect of your personality but it doesn't mean there is only a single state of you just as H2O can exist as in gas, liquid, or solid state, doesn't mean water is the real H2O.

 

[HuntersCreed]

It's a case by case basis. Me pretty much.

 

[machine85]

Think it just exaggerates some aspects of your personality and lowers your inhibitions so you might be more sex-crazed or aggressive in public. If you think that's bringing out "the real you" then so be it. I personally dont think its reliable one way or the other.

 

[EZRA27]

Alcohol removes the filters one uses to ensure they prescribe to societal norms.

I always say money doesn't change people it just makes them more of who they are... The same can be said for alcohol.

Alcohol provides a peak at one's true self.

 

[Phreaxer]

It turns me into a lover. I love on everyone when I'm drunk. Within limits of course, I've never done anything to offend or disrespect my wife, but I have told random people that I love them. haha

 

[Konquest]

I don't think alcohol reveals inner truths or some "alter ego", I think it simply magnifies the emotions of the drinker within the context of the drinking situation. If I were at a giant party with all my friends celebrating a happy occasion, booze would make me happier. If I were drinking alone to drown sorrows, booze would make me sadder. I know that's pretty simplistic, but it's what I've observed in myself and others...

 

[Lamb Of God]

I wouldn't say the true me, just a lot less inhibited version of me.

 

[JonesBones]

Yes, it rips away the persona. The persona being:

"a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual".

 

[RSmith47]

I've always thought it was a fairly reliable way to see how people feel about you. My happy friends get happier when they drink and my not so happy friends get mean or emotional when they drink. I've got one buddy that drinks and only wants to fight his friends. When he sobers up and you try and talk to him, he kind of skirts around the question but he rarely apologizes for his actions. I think he just doesn't like people in general but would feel lonely if he didn't have any friends. Cool as shit sober, can't control his actions drunk. It's like Jekyl and Hyde with this guy.

 

[Irenaeus]

No. The restraints you put upon yourself (whether consciously or not) is as much a part of the real you as the rest. It removes parts of you letting other parts flourish.

You might have an inner douchebag, but that isn't neccesarily the essence of your existence.

I'm not very much different from who I'm usually am when drunk. A little louder and with serisously imparied motor skills, but that's about it.

 

[SowingSeason]

Mmmmmm. It just takes away the filters and barricades I put up.

I guess that's the real me.

I'm an asshole.

 

[JonesBones]

No. The restraints you put upon yourself (whether consciously or not) is as much a part of the real you as the rest. It removes parts of you letting other parts flourish.

You might have an inner douchebag, but that isn't neccesarily the essence of your existence.

I'm not very much different from who I'm usually am when drunk. A little louder and with serisously imparied motor skills, but that's about it.

It's part of the fake you. These acts and attitudes must have origins. If you act totally normal when sober but turn into a violent sociopath like that idiot from TUF when drunk, you are not a well adjusted individual. These feelings are always there but can no longer be hidden when drunk.

 

[RSmith47]

No. The restraints you put upon yourself (whether consciously or not) is as much a part of the real you as the rest. It removes parts of you letting other parts flourish.

You might have an inner douchebag, but that isn't neccesarily the essence of your existence.

I'm not very much different from who I'm usually am when drunk. A little louder and with serisously imparied motor skills, but that's about it.

Solid post right there. We all have an inner douche bag when it comes to judging certain types or people or whatever. We just don't go parading it around in public for people to see.

I'm not all that different when I'm drunk either. I may be funnier and more annoying over all since I'm not afraid to say jokes that I would think twice about saying if I was sober. More hit and miss I guess you could say. Either way I'm still all "there" no matter how drunk I am. I can turn off the goofy shit in an instance if I have to. I just can't turn off the impaired motor skills.

 

[Linkuei]

I believe it's more B than A.

 

[jackietreehorn8]

It's part of the fake you. These acts and attitudes must have origins. If you act totally normal when sober but turn into a violent sociopath like that idiot from TUF when drunk, you are not a well adjusted individual. These feelings are always there but can no longer be hidden when drunk.

Ok, but say I do have a small kernel of sociopath in me that ONLY comes out when I'm drunk. I guess it's fair to say that's part of the "real me", but since it's no issue for me to suppress it when I'm sober, which part is actually "fake?" The sociopath is the part that needs help (alcohol) to come out, the chill guy is just there, 96% of the time. So maybe it's the alcohol that brings about some "fake" aspect of people's personalities that doesn't exist in the absence of that substance?

 

[CrazyN8]

Part of what you are is how you think. Alcohol really inhibits your ability to think clearly by slowing down your neurotransmitters, so I would say it just makes you act the way you would if you were stupid. That's whys ignorance is bliss. But it's not the real you, it's the real stupid version of you.

 

[triangle killer]

Let me bang bro!!!!!!

 

[mesomorph]

No.

Ecstacy brings out the real me.
The real me really likes to hug things.