In an Associated Content piece titled
Alcohol Is Not A Truth Serum: Mel Gibson and Alcoholism, Nanci Milan contends that the things people say when they are drinking are not necessarily their true beliefs. I should hope not. Do you know how many people I have professed love for while under the influence? On the other hand, alcohol does lower inhibitions so it could cause people to say things when drinking that they might not say otherwise and those things might actually be that person’s real feelings. So does Mel Gibson’s recent, drunken tirade mean he truly hates Jews or was it the alcohol talking? According to Gary L. Malone, M.D., addiction psychiatrist and medical director and chief of psychiatry at Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, probably. “When anyone drinks there is a neurological and psychological regression, and the higher the blood alcohol level, the more primitive and hostile the response that comes out,” he says. “Alcohol can’t make you think or feel things,” according to Malone. Doug Thorburn, Northridge, California-based addiction specialist counters that “For 90% of us, alcohol may be truth serum, but in alcoholics it changes the person.” He contends that there will be no way to know if Gibson is truly a bigot until he is sober for five to ten years. Alcoholism causes a buildup of poison in and damage to the neocortex of the brain which can result in deep behavioral changes, according to Thorburn.
Alcohol and alcoholism affects each person differently. Some folks become sad, some become happy, some become belligerent because of alcohol. On this occasion, at least, it appears that Gibson falls in with the last group. And belligerent people, even sober ones, often say things they may not truly believe. Clearly Gibson has a problem with alcohol. The fact that he was hiding his drinking the night he was pulled over is a classic sign of alcoholism. On this night Gibson chose to deal with the situation by becoming a mean drunk.
If we are to believe that alcohol causes a person to speak only the truth, why isn’t anyone expressing outrage that Gibson also called a female officer on the scene “sugar tits?” No one seems to be suggesting that remark indicates that Gibson is, at heart, a sexist pig. How is it that we can believe that the alcohol caused Gibson to expose his true anti-Semite beliefs but no one seems to believe that this charming man is truly a sexist?
Gibson has apologized and agreed to seek treatment of his alcoholism. In a country that has forgiven more than one President for misbehavior, it seems that we should at least give Gibson, a man with an addiction that can impair his judgment, the opportunity to prove himself.
