‘With Wine Truth.’
I have a hard time seeing alcohol as an excuse for behavior – Alcohol doesn’t create, it magnifies… People often blame it on the alcohol – or say, “but i was drunk.” As though it wasn’t really them. i think… and hope that a good honest man will never cheat on his girlfriend no matter how drunk he is (or hit her for that matter).
The Church has (at least in the past) labelled the Drink as sin. Mistake – it’s not the drink. But this notion has infiltrated our system, and today people still feel like they have a perfect right to pass on the blame. In belgium people drink like crazy… it is as though a good time doesn’t exist without alcohol. If you aren’t playing the PART or ROLE of a drunk – THEN apparently you are no fun. It’s just the system here. Get wasted. So that nobody can have access to the real you. alcohol is the most successful excuse… but it is about time that it gets exposed as a fake… or not?
Having said this however i started to think that it is our inhibitions that make us different to each other. If we are all basically (in the real sense of the word) the same – it it only our inhibitions that make us unique. We get along better when we are drunk because our uniqueness gets watered down, we become ‘the same’ – Our defenses drop (mostly because of what i mentioned above – the Excuse)
Alcohol depresses the system… just like being really tired. it doesn’t make you dumb… I guess i am saying two opposite things here. 1. The real you gets exposed as you drink… due to inhibitions dropping – alcohol magnifies, doesn’t create (it doesn’t put ideas in your head)… 2. AND that the real you is a compilation of your inhibitions upon your nature (whether you believe it to be fallen or not) so that as you drink you become more and more basic/natural… more and more like everyone else around you. ‘fun.’
So what do you think… in your experience? whether you’ve been drunk or just observed…
I can’t make up my mind… we are social constructs (which mostly consists of inhibiting… don’t do this don’t do that, this isn’t polite, this isn’t appropriate in this context etc etc). So does alcohol expose truth or does it remove Truth?
6 responses so far ↓
josue // September 15, 2008 at 9:20 am |
I’d go with expose. That’s why businessmen take each other out “for drinks”. Secrets start flowing freely and trust is created because you’ve seen each other as you really are – without inhibitions.
Nate // September 15, 2008 at 7:42 pm |
I will also agree with expose. It is as if it floats to the surface that which is inside. Also known as liquid courage, it depressed the defenses and frees one to chase that which has floated up. Not surprisingly then what rises to the surface is often desired pleasures. It creates the need for experiences in which the joy invoked from them is not sustainable beyond the act itself. (Other than to humourously reflect on.) I have known others who have had incredibly worshipful music experiences after over indulging in the vino. Could a magnifying glass be suitable comparitor?
Dominick // September 18, 2008 at 3:09 am |
I think I mostly agree. What you said, Pierre, about our inhibitions being what make us different from one another, is interesting. Sure, alcohol brings out our deeper desires, but there are different kinds of drunks. There’s the sad drunk, the talkative drunk, the violent drunk, and fun drunk, right? And I think that there are important parts in people that get lost in the drink, which might be part of the motivation for getting drunk in the first place. It might not be inhibition alone: it may be something darker or something else people don’t want to face.
You think?
Zultan // September 20, 2008 at 11:06 am |
Hegel would tell us to synthesize. Nate i think i mention alcohol magnifying, not creating… and i really believe this to be true, as you suggest. which goes along with what josh said. dominick when you talk about different drunks – would you put this inline with ‘magnification’ of character? your second point is what makes me wonder – how much is lost of a person in vino? apparently people drink to forget – but we ARE our memories, no? (Of personal Identity – David Hume). to drink to forget what has become a part of us… and apparently an influential part of us – removes…
Perhaps vino only exposes the surface?… and removes the depth? – could this be a synthesis?
Garrett // September 30, 2008 at 8:16 pm |
I think that the matter is much like humor. Behind every joke there is a certain amount of truth, and we use humor to lessen the blow sometimes of something that we are trying to get across to another person. I would suggest that when we drink and those bits of truth become evident it isn’t so much a magnification of what we are, or the truth in those things that we say, but more of a revealing of something that we have been covering up. So in a man’s heart when he does drink, and then cheats on or abuses a woman, it is a testament to the character that he has always had but is revealed. So I’m not exactly sure if I would call it magnification, or a revealing of character, maybe I’m suggesting that the two words are interchangeable, depending on how you see it. However in response to what Zultan says, I would say almost the opposite, that vino exposes the depth, and removes the surface. It removes that perception we build up in front of ourselves for societal appearance and when vino extracts that shield, we see our true nature, and intentions.
Zultan // September 30, 2008 at 10:30 pm |
ultimately what you are saying Garrett, is that alcohol exposes ‘truth.’ “revealing something we have been covering” or magnification of self or exposure – same idea…
but i still think that alcohol is often used to numb something deep inside… depression, insecurity, passion, anger – consuming emotions, depth. no? or would you consider this surface?
You put your guard down when you’re drunk… but never all the way down. . . hence surface being exposed.
however – i like the reversal as well, i think there is truth there… in both actually… ergo trying to synthesize