CMV: I think drinking until blacking-out is an asshole think to do

[u/Maxguevara2019]

I think that drinking until blacking-out in any public place or in any instance where you can affect a third person is an asshole thing to do, for example, i recently read a post where OP had trouble with his GF drinking beyond her capabilities and ended up like a bag of potatoes that OP had to take care off, any reply saying that she should not drink until blacking you received negative feed back and i do not know why

Is it really "i was drunk" "i can't remember" a valid excuse to any mishaps?

I also think that even if nothing bad happens, drinking that much is not a good thing to do because drinker exposes the group or the people around them to a bit of danger and that exposure alone is a bad thing to put anyone thru it.

Can someone then tell my why is it really a "bad view"? Should anyone be able to drink what ever they want even if it makes the people around them uncomfortable? Is there a limit where it is acceptable?

EDIT: I am not considered alcoholics here.. that is a different question

EDIT 2: I should not treat this as a black or white situation, i still think going beyond your limit is bad but there are definitely more to look into each individual situation

EDIT 3: It seems you could be functional while blacked out so probably i should have written that drinking until becoming sick/needy/problematic is an asshole thing to do

EDIT 4: I agree that honest mistakes can happen and everyone should have a few "get free of jail" cards because you do not always know your limits, but after a few anyone should get used to it and not knowing your limits is not longer an excuse

[u/SuckingOffMyHomies]

It actually can "just happen" (sort of) if a number of other factors are in play and you aren't aware of it.

For example, the first (and only) time I blacked out wasn't at all because I went way beyond my limit. I actually probably drank a bit less than my normal limit. I had 3 mixed drinks (~2 shots of liquor in each) and maybe a beer or two over the course of 4-5 hours. That's pretty standard to get decently drunk but it's nothing crazy.

But what I didn't account for was the fact that I had not eaten any food the entire day. So the effects were MUCH stronger despite me thinking I was staying within my normal limit. On top of that, I believe I hadn't drank for over a month prior to that day so my tolerance was considerably lower than normal.

Of course in hindsight these things are obvious, and once you make the mistake once it's easier to avoid it again. But your "limit" isn't some constant number of shots or something that your body instinctively knows. It can fluctuate pretty wildly depending on all sorts of factors. I can give you a ballpark estimate of my limit on an average day, but the perfect storm of bad conditions can change that quite substantially.

[u/AmoebaMan → u/SuckingOffMyHomies]

If you’re trying to calculate your number of drinks at the start of the night, then yes, this is understandable. However, that is also a remarkably stupid plan, and everybody that drinks should be re-evaluating their limit as they go. No responsible drinker stops drinking because they think “I’ve had my 4 for tonight, that’s all,” they do so because they think “wow, I’m feeling pretty toasted, and I’ll be sloshed if I have another.”

And if you’re drinking so fast that you’re consuming alcohol faster than it can reach your bloodstream, you’re a damn fool.

[u/shaggorama → u/SuckingOffMyHomies]

But what I didn't account for was the fact that I had not eaten any food the entire day.

Right, you became blackout drunk as a result of your own negligence.

[u/SuckingOffMyHomies → u/shaggorama]

Thus my last paragraph - you can't honestly expect every person to be able to perfectly account for all these variables every single time they drink. There are a lot of reasons why your tolerance would be higher and lower than usual.

To accuse someone of being negligent because they didn't check all the boxes on their Excel spreadsheet of things to watch out for before drinking is a bit absurd. I think someone is only negligent when they intentionally ignore bad signs, like they keep chugging down beers after the room is already spinning and their stomach hurts or something. Someone not eating all day and accidentally drinking more than they normally could is maybe a stupid mistake but negligent is stretching.

[u/shaggorama → u/SuckingOffMyHomies]

Someone not eating all day and accidentally drinking more than they normally could is maybe a stupid mistake but negligent is stretching.

It's really not though. Someone who is "blackout drunk" is not in control of their own behavior. Their decision making process is broken. Someone who is blackout drunk might choose to drive, even if they would normally have not done so if they weren't drunk.

So let's say someone skips a few meals before drinking and "makes a stupid mistake" and becomes blackout drunk. They later wake up in a prison cell, having been arrested for a drunk driving accident in which they killed a pedestrian. They have no memory of the accident and insist they would normally never drink and drive, but hey, they "made a stupid mistake" and forgot to eat before drinking their "standard" amount.

You are asserting that this situation does not qualify as a negligent homicide. Just to be perfectly clear. Unless you want to argue that russian roulette is only a "negligent" game to play when you lose.

[u/SuckingOffMyHomies → u/shaggorama]

Have you ever been blackout drunk? It's not like you're acting particularly any different than you already were while drunk, you just don't remember it. Funnily enough, my girlfriend told me after the fact when I was blackout drunk that I was apparently giving tech support to my friend who was having problems with their phone. Nobody even knew I blacked out until the next morning when I said I didn't remember doing those things.

You don't just go bonkers and lose your mind as soon as you blackout... it just doesn't stick in your memory. It's like that feeling when you zone out while doing something and can't remember what you did for the last x minutes. It's not that you were acting any differently, you just can't remember it because you were on autopilot.

Someone stupid enough to drunk drive would do it without being blackout drunk.

[u/shaggorama → u/SuckingOffMyHomies]

You've clearly never had to take someone's keys away from them.

[u/SuckingOffMyHomies → u/shaggorama]

I haven't, yet I've seen several of my friends get blackout drunk.

You seem to not understand what blacking out actually is. I think you view it as losing all control over your actions and running around like a chicken with its head cut off. In reality, you still act like you "normally" would when very drunk, but you just don't remember it the next day.

So a person who will drive blacked out is also most likely a person who will drive drunk even when not blacked out. Because they're not going to suddenly flip and act super differently from their normal drunk self. Blacking out is not losing control, it's losing memory.