Unpopular Opinion

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257

If your first thought is what you're conditioned to think, maybe you can't access your "defining" thoughts when you're drunk. (lemmy.world)

submitted 23 hours ago by Okokimup@lemmy.world to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world

55 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I was reading about Mel Gibson's anti-semitic rants, and his apology about being drunk* when I remembered this meme. I agree with the meme, that our brains tend to feed us what we've heard from our environment, but our conscious mind overrides that with our processed thoughts.

People use "he didn't mean it, he was drunk/high" as an excuse for racist/misogynist/whateverist comments. The response is typically "you don't become racist when drunk, you just drop your inhibitions and reveal who you are."

But if you agree with the First Thought meme, what if being impaired isn't revealing what you really think, but is preventing you from thinking at all, and just getting stuck on your conditioned response?

*Gibson is just an example. This post is not about litigating whether he personally is racist, but about this sort of behavior in general.

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[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Can people choose to have beliefs?

Uh... Yeah. All beliefs are chosen. Just because you wouldn't find a gun a convincing argument doesn't mean you can't choose to believe in the FSM (may you be blessed by his noodley appendages). You'd just have to work at it a bit, find evidence to support your views, and ignore any and all evidence counter to your views.

[–] Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

People raised in a cult can have beliefs they did not choose, but were forced upon them.