Miss Mango

I think that the censor most of us has tends to fall asleep on duty when we drink. I think for the most part, were speaking truthfully and we lack the tact to say it nicely or avoid saying it at all.

Punk.of.Ages

In my personal experience, I don't do anything I don't want to do when I'm drunk. It's simply a matter of not thinking about the consequences thoroughly before I do things.

Basically, anything I do drunk I do want to do. It just may not be the best idea to do what I want sometimes, and being drunk makes me forget that.

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"The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion..." - Henry Steel Commager

"Punk rock music is great music played by really bad, drunk musicians." -Fat Mike

Suave

For me it's a combination of yes and no. There are things that I say while drunk that are more open than I would if I were not, but at the same time I am a much better liar when I'm drunk, and I lie more often while drunk. Go figure.

Tact almost always takes a massive nosedive, though.

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"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - Albert Einstein

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." - Plato

surferlove007

I've been told I'm very polite when I'm drunk when one of my friends drove me home from a party last semester...I remember the evening fine, but I guess I was putting my manners on into high gear.
Although typically I fall asleep after I've hit the drunk point so my censor doesn't have too much to concern over.

Manic_Skafe

Miss Mango, is there something underlying here that you'd like to share? I wouldn't want to force you to be open but I'll certainly give you a nudge

Surely there's the lack of tact that comes along with getting drunk but alcohol only brings out the truth in people who have repressed their feelings and intentions so far down so that they don't have to face them.

Being drunk or sober doesn't change the fact that I'm rather insatiable - I'd just rather not be a cheating asshole who regularly has to peel himself off of random women who look like Nanny Mchphee.

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Prince

I am pretty open about my "true feelings" without the drink. Drinking doesn't make me more honest, it just makes me stumble about, laugh incessantly, and have a raging hard whiskey dick.

I would be comfortable with telling a friend how I feel about them without needing a drink to boost my courage.

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Jinn

Absolutely not. Some things enjoy more honesty, such as my feelings for others. Societal pressures (and what-have-you) prevent me from normally telling friends (male and female alike) that I do really value their friendship. In that respect, my "true feelings" are being presented.

On the flip-side, many people are more easily provoked when drunk, and will often react very harshly to a perceived "attack" with words they wouldn't normally use, expressing feelings they don't actually have.

I've heard things like "You're a fucking bitch and I hope you die" come out of ordinarily reserved, mild-mannered men. They obviously don't feel that way, but their reaction is much more strongly worded (and less truthful) than desired.

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Baraka_Guru

Alcohol impairs your judgement. You might say things you would not otherwise say while under the influence. These could be lies, and they could be truth. That is all.

Many alcoholics are chronic liars.

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Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
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vanblah

Part of what makes us human is the fact that we HAVE a filter for our thoughts and feelings.

Fatigue, stress, alcohol, drugs, brain damage and other mental disorders can interfere with that filter.

Does it mean the feelings are more genuine or less genuine? No. It just means the filter is not working properly at the moment and things said or heard should be taken with a grain of salt.

We filter our feelings so they don't interfere with the "grand scheme of things."

(The following is a fictitious account.)

ie. My wife leaves the cap off of the toothpaste and it drives me nuts. We've talked about it; but for some reason she doesn't always remember to put it on. Is it worth getting a divorce over? No. Do we argue when we get tired or drunk and I sometimes bring it up "maliciously?" Yes.

tooth

That's pretty much how I think of it. We normally filter our thoughts and the things we say for truth(percieved anyway) and understanding. When you drink, the filter gets fouled up, and the things that we think and say are not processed properly. So we wind up thinking, saying, and doing things that our filter would have normally caught.

snowy

There was an article about why humans binge drink in the NYTimes recently that goes well with this. You can read the whole article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/he...prod=permalink

The article mentions a study done about this very topic: Interesting, no?

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

QuasiMondo

Alcohol is the O.G. of truth serums.

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-From the Collector's Edition DVD of The Terminator

vanblah

Except when people are lying.

The_Jazz

I disagree with the OP. Alcohol isn't more or less likely to tell the truth or lie. It is more likely to allow you to do something that you were afraid to do. If you were afraid to reveal a hidden truth or feeling, then it MIGHT allow you to rip the cover off.

If you're a completely truthful person with nothing to hide, alcohol won't have that effect on you. If you aren't hiding anything important from the folks you are drinking with, then you won't have any reason to blurt out state secrets.

It's not like the CIA used to do shots and pound beers with captured KIA agents in West Berlin. If you don't want to tell something to someone, alcohol isn't going to loosen your lips. If you secretly want them to know, that's something different.

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Amaras

Whoa, this topic hits close to home.
I'm an alcoholic in rehab.
When I'm drinking, I'm a chronic liar.
The effects of alcohol DO LAST LONGER than the night
you are drinking, as TONS of studies have shown.
Never trust someone who is drunk, as some lie, some
don't.
The higher brain functions are repressed, therefore one
has fewer inhibitions, both to lie or tell an uncomfortable
truth.

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Love is a verb, not a noun.
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Manic_Skafe

With a screen name like that, I'd have never taken you for an alcoholic.

Congrats on being in rehab and good luck.

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"Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian

mixedmedia

I wouldn't say that the censor falls asleep, but I do tend to speak more frankly when I have been drinking. I will reveal more intimate things about myself, make more jokes, vocalize ideas, thoughts, observations that I might not otherwise.

More noticeably in mixed company than around people I know well (where I pretty much speak frankly constantly, lol).

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inBOIL

Alcohol can increase your willingness to express emotions that you're feeling at the time, which presents a skewed picture of your feelings. If someone whom you generally like makes a slightly insulting comment to you, your reaction may reflect all of your irritation at them, but none of your respect or admiration. This reveals some of your feelings while masking others.

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And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

World's King

I love you man.

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MSD

I tend to loosen up and say shit I wouldn't normally say when I'm drunk (although it doesn't help with approaching women, I'm just drunk, sloppy, and shy then.) This is one of the reasons I cut back on my drinking.

Hain

I never trust anything I hear/learn while drunk, but I do have an exceptional memory for the night before, even with plenty of Nepenthe, and will bring it up later if it still holds my interest when sober.

I find that I do things while inebriated that I would not normally do when sober. It is merely I do not weigh the consequences of my actions as I do while sober. I am sill thinking of all the things and consequences while drunk (as I can recall). Lucky for me I am smart enough to hide my keys and my friends' car keys before (and sometimes while) a night of drinking.