Posted on 08/06/2006 4:40:59 AM PDT by Pharmboy
DID Mel Gibson mean it?
Did he mean it when he said, according to a sheriff’s report of his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, that “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world”? Or when he asked the arresting deputy, “Are you a Jew?”
snip...
So where, exactly, did those words come from? ...snip...Was this alcohol-fueled soliloquy an ugly insight into Mr. Gibson’s character — in other words, in vino veritas? Or was it just the tequila talking?
Science, as it happens, has been hard at work trying to understand ...if...alcohol can make people do, and say, stupid things. But does it make people say things that they do not believe at all, snip...
Experts generally suggest that the answer is “Nope.”
When asked where those vicious words came from, Dr. Kevin J. Corcoran, a psychology researcher who has studied the effects of alcohol on perception and judgment, replied, simply, “his mouth.”
Dr. Corcoran said comments do not spring from nothing; for example, Dr. Corcoran said, he himself would not make anti-Semitic statements under the influence of alcohol.
“I say other outrageous things when I’m drunk,” he said.
He added that Mr. Gibson “may not fully believe” his statements about Jews, “but they were waiting to be delivered,” once his inhibitions were lowered and he was subjected to the stress of being pulled over by the police.
snip...
Alcohol suppresses the prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum, said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who declined to comment specifically on the Gibson case.
snip.. The prefrontal cortex “is normally making an assessment of the appropriateness of your acts,” she said, modulating desires and urges. After a couple of drinks, Dr. Volkow said, suppressing such impulses becomes much harder.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ping...(hic)...
Thank God! - another Mel Gibson thread. I was having withdrawal over here.
Thanks again!
Usually, it's the wife doing the talking...
*ducks*
In the future post in a less blurry font, willya?
"Responding to Cavuto's suggestion that alcohol is a "truth serum," (Jackie) Mason said: "You've got to be a moron; you gotta be the phoniest, wretched fraud in the world to claim that it's a 'truth serum.' If it's your family or your friends and they say something in a drunken state, you say, 'Hey, he was drunk,' and you forget about it. In a drunken state, you might bang your head against the wall; does that mean you really want to break your head? You might go into a car ... I want to ask you a question: Did you ever notice how people beg a guy not to drink when he's drunk and he drives anyway because he doesn't even know he's drunk and he doesn't even know he shouldn't be driving and he doesn't even know that 10 seconds later, he's dead?" --
Well said........
Alcohol allows some deep-seated thoughts to be exposed at times ............. BUT nearly as often the bull that is spewed when a person is wasted......... is JUST THAT ....... total BULL!
Take it from a real pro.
;-)
...... not if you're diligent enough to keep drinking.
;-)
.......... like a fart.
Er, you were saying...
Nope...this is about what alchol can or cannot do. For me the key point here was the professor saying that the perpertrators (here, coincidentally, Mel) may very well NOT believe what they said under the influence. So, in an important way this is a defense of Mel. If it were merely another bash and trash story I would NOT have posted it.
If I may say so (I see flames coming)......... oh, never mind.
It's really too hard to explain correctly in a short time, and I must go outside and work.
Which means, of course, you aren't at home.
End of story.
Good summary. Yes...that is indeed an important part of the story and why I posted it.
When the booze goes in the truth comes out.
In my younger days whenever I drank to excess about the only lie I could ever maintain was that of course I would still respect her in the morning. Any other fib was too much work.
(:-D
Supposedly I speak German.
So, when I was really drunk years ago, and was telling the hippie girls at my table that I was a member of the American Nazi Party (Is there such a thing?), that was true? That's what they thought conservatives were, so I gave them what they wanted.
Gibson is a depressed drunk who has been called a Jew hater pretty consistently for a few years now. He also has to try to smooth over the comments of his kook father. I think it was a matter of "You want a f____ing anti-semite, I'll show you a f___ing anti-semite!!!" Anyone who has been around a few drunks can easily see this as quite plausible. I don't think these "experts" have ever been in a bar.
Please see number 10 above...
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