It’s 2 in the morning on a Friday and you get a call from one of your closest friends from back home. He/she sounds a little intoxicated and begins to pour his/her heart out to you over the phone, revealing that he’s/she’s liked you since the fifth grade. “Just another night in college,” you might think to yourself. We’ve all heard the phrase “drunken words are sober thoughts”, but is there any real truth behind it?
Ultimately, science says no. So far, scientists have only come to understand a small portion of our brain. From what they do understand, scientists have concluded that “alcohol affects the hippocampus (memory center), which is why we black out, the motor cortex, which is why we stumble, and the neofrontal cortex. . .[which] is the part of the brain most responsible for reasoning and judgement” (“A Drunk Mind Speaks a Sober Heart” 13). Although it can be argued that alcohol has the capacity to make one fearless and ignorant, “it does not simply tear down our inhibitions and let loose desires that were already there” (“A Drunk Mind Speaks a Sober Heart” 14).
Despite these arguments, I feel obligated to disagree with the idea that alcohol is in fact not a truth serum. In 2002, actor Mel Gibson —in a drunken haze— “reportedly said Jews were responsible for all the wars in the world” (CBS News), as well as other offensive and anti-Semitic remarks. Gibson, however, claimed that he was not anti-Semitic, bigoted, nor was he an alcoholic. Instead, he lead the public to believe that alcohol had poisoned his mind, leaving him with these nasty remarks.
Unfortunately for Mr. Gibson, alcohol does not have brainwashing capabilities. Vodka cannot force a person to hate a certain religion or race. Beer does not have the power to make someone fall madly in love with someone they’ve known for year. In Gibson’s case, I believe that in his mind he truly believed Jews were responsible for each major catastrophe he had listed, and, in every aspect of the word, is in fact an anti-Semite. For some, alcohol works as a megaphone from the brain to real world. Some have the bravery to release secrets in other (sober) situations would be better left unsaid. Others may feel more relaxed and comfortable when meeting new people. Regardless, I firmly agree with the idea that sober thoughts are drunken words, even if science thinks otherwise.
A quick side note: months after Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant, Gibson reportedly “checked himself into an undisclosed rehabilitation program” (CBS News).
Works Cited
“”A Drunk Mind Speaks A Sober Heart.” Really? | Big Think.” Big Think. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://bigthink.com/the-proverbial-skeptic/a-drunk-mind-speaks-a-sober-heart-really>.
“Is Alcohol A Truth Serum?.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-alcohol-a-truth-serum/>.
When individuals reach a certain point in being intoxicated they don’t really know what is going on or how they are acting. Most intoxicated individuals don’t realize what they say to others and their filter is usually altered which is why they speak the truth. Drunk words are sober thoughts is something I agree with because when you are drunk you don’t really care or even understand what you’re saying so you speak the truth in most cases. Here’s an article that addresses that drunken words really are sober thoughts http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2723630/Drunk-words-really-ARE-sober-thoughts-Alcohol-doesn-t-impair-ability-control-actions-just-makes-care-less.html
This is a really interesting blog post mostly because it’s so relatable. I like how you tied in the part about how scientists say that drunken people are more daring and will say things and do things that they normally wouldn’t do because I obviously agree with that statement but I also agree with what you said about not believing that the things that drunk people say have no truth behind them. I think we’ve all been in the situation where someone we know has said something completely crazy that they had been holding in for awhile. It’s not something uncommon and I definitely think that people get a lot more daring while they are intoxicated and are more willing to say the things that they’ve always wanted to but never had the courage to. Given this I would have to agree with you and disagree with scientists about whether or not alcohol is a “truth serum.” Maybe not literally, but the effects seem to speak for themselves.
I agree with this post because I’ve thought for a while now that the phrase “drunk words speak sober thoughts” is a societal way of using alcohol as a scapegoat. For example when someone does or says something stupid when they’re drunk, they most likely have thought about doing or saying it when they were sober but didn’t have the confidence or afraid they were going to be judged. However, when they’re drunk, they can always go back and use the excuse, “yeah but I was drunk. I wouldn’t do or say that sober.”
I also agree to an extent that “drunk words speak sober thoughts.” But as Julia said, I don’t know how one could test this either. The experiment in this case would be ridiculous; you would probably have to get people to take a lie detecter test ask them a series of questions and then get them intoxicated to some level and make them take it again. The experiment would be so inaccurate. There is no way you could really study if someones drunk words were sober thoughts. I hate when people give the excuse, “Oh it was because I was drunk.” I believe that you are to blame for your actions. You are responsible for knowing how much alcohol you can consume to still be functioning and coherent to what you are doing/saying. In many cases, people are more vulnerable to say things they normally wouldn’t when they drink because their brain is not in the right state of mind, but I think that alcohol is not to blame. Nicholas Clairmontsays, “So does a drunk mind speak a sober heart? No. When we drink, not even our hearts are sober.” Drunk people are prone to saying things they don’t mean and often don’t even remember the next day.
I agree with this post completely. I really do think that drunk words are sober thoughts. Most of the time people are to afraid to admit these thoughts while sober but while drunk people can’t control themselves. After a certain point of intoxication people don’t care what they do or what they say. Determining that point of intoxication for a lot of people is hard though. Some people may say something stupid or dumb which gets them in trouble and try to blame it on the alcohol. Overall, I really do think drunk words speak a sober mind.
In my opinion, the reasoning behind “drunk words are sober thoughts” is that when you have reached a certain level of intoxication you don’t know nor care what you are doing. You say things that you would never say when you are sober because when you are sober you have a filter on what you are saying. There is no science to test this it’s just the way alcohol works. If you are choosing to drink to the point of blacking out then you and only you are responsible for what you are saying not the alcohol. Yes the alcohol is the reason why you have reached this point of no return, but you are the one who chose to drink in the first place. In response to Julia’s comment, there was in fact a study done on this. They gave one third of the people from age 21 to 35 alcohol and the others received none. The results prove the people who were given alcohol reached a certain point where they just didn’t care anymore. Check out the study here.
I agree with your argument: “drunk words speak sober thoughts.” But how is one to test this? It would be unethical to purposely intoxicate someone for the sake of scientific experimentation. We are not able to purposely get people to consume alcohol until they are incoherent and then ask them questions, and then compare the answers to their sober answers. A lie detector would tell you whether or not that is there true feelings. But like I said, this is completely unethical and could never be a way of experimentation. Another point I would like to bring up: does the amount of alcohol consumed (the BAC) alter one’s ability to “tell the truth?” Does one person have to reach a certain point of incoherence before they start spewing their true feelings?