The Drunk Excuse

I have simply heard the words ‘but I was drunk’ too many times. I would say most people have, at one time or another, drunk far too much and done or said something they regret as a consequence. At some point do we have to take responsibility for our drunken antics? The excuse that ‘I was drunk’ has become a blanket excuse, which everyone seems to accept. We all make mistakes, some whilst drunk, but can we really blame alcohol for our poor judgements? It’s almost an unwritten code, if you ever do anything wrong whilst drunk it’s undoubtedly down to the drinking. Surely some accountability needs to go to you for excessive consumption in the first place. We just don’t want to admit it; it’s easier to blame the guise of alcohol for our bad judgements.

I’ll be honest - I’ve had my fair share of regrettable drunken experiences. When I first turned 18 the floodgates of alcohol were well and truly opened. The aim of a night out seemed to be to ‘get as drunk’, ‘plastered’, ‘bladdered’ or completely ‘smashed’ by drinking as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Messy nights were frequent and regrets in abundance. But there comes a point where you realize getting ‘that’ drunk is not good- throwing up, hooking up with questionable randoms and emptying the contents of your wallet, as well as losing your dignity along the way are just some of the negative outcomes. Some people I know have yet to reach this point. I recently made the mistake of going out sober, finding out my usually fun drunk friends are really just rambling, unfunny fools who repeat themselves and are unable to hold a decent conversation. Why had I not noticed this before? Because I am usually in the same induced state.

Yes, getting drunk will impair your judgement, and there is likelihood you may do something stupid. It would seem people's knowledge of the effects of excessive drinking doesn’t really make a difference in some people’s pursuit to ‘get off their face’. I have friends who continually drunk, do stupid things and expect the 'but I was drunk' excuse to eradicate them of all responsibility for their actions. You may not be able to remember throwing up, but I certainly remember having to clean it up. I understand that no-one sets out to become a drunken state dependent on their friend’s care at the end of the night, but some people seem to continually get to this bleak level of intoxication. Having, on a few occasions, drunk until I achieved the pointless state of sickness; I have great sympathy for anyone who reaches the ‘sick drunk stage’ and don’t mind helping a friend out. That said, there should be limits.

Another phrase which I have frequently heard is that ‘people say what they really feel when they are drunk’ - this is one example showing that we don’t believe alcohol is the sole root cause for people’s drunken actions. Alcohol is not a truth serum but it does cause people to lose their inhibitions and a gives them reason to act differently to how they would normally. Yet there are levels of drunken antics. Don’t hold a grudge about stupid little things but you can’t completely disregard someone’s behaviour purely because they had a little too much to drink.

The ‘but I was drunk’ guise seems to wear thinner the older we get. You can no longer blame your naivety and should take responsibility for your behaviour. My tolerance of drunken people is slowly diminishing. Don’t get me wrong, I still drink, but I don’t set out to get ‘hammered’ at the start of a night. As much as we would all love to believe that everything we did when drunk was completely out of our personal control, it simply isn’t true - you are the person who decided to get that drunk in the first place and your drunken actions are still your actions. A part of the universal acceptance of the catchphrase excuse is that so many people have done things they regret when drunk; they hope the notion that the alcohol is responsible will absolve them of any accountability as well- people in glass houses and all that.

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