# El Presidente... ¡de ignorancia! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 8, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370 "2010-12-08T02:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370/61 "2010-12-16T17:30:07Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > […] my point here, which is that claiming that alcohol \*makes \*people violent is inaccurate […] Just ignoring the marijuana issue entirely for a moment, are you seriously claiming what it seems – viz. that being in a state of intoxication due to alcohol does not increase the likeliness of violent behavior in certain individuals? It doesn’t have to happen _every time_, and it doesn’t have to be the only factor, for alcohol charitably to be said to be one “cause” of aggression. > [@National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism](#): > > Alcohol may encourage aggression or violence by disrupting normal brain function. According to the disinhibition hypothesis, for example, alcohol weakens brain mechanisms that normally restrain impulsive behaviors, including inappropriate aggression (5). By impairing information processing, alcohol can also lead a person to misjudge social cues, thereby overreacting to a perceived threat (6). Simultaneously, a narrowing of attention may lead to an inaccurate assessment of the future risks of acting on an immediate violent impulse (7). [link](http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa38.htm) (Going back to the subject of marijuana, it is an exaggeration to say that it _doesn’t_ sometimes lead to aggressive behavior. The evidence on that is mixed.) ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370/62 "2010-12-16T17:52:55Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’ve said a number of times, which you choose to ignore because it fucks with your argument, that alcohol tends to make people who are already prone to violence more violent. Absolutely. But it \*doesn’t \*automatically turn everybody into crazy violent loud drunk drivers, which is the completely retarded argument that some pothead upthread was positing. Did you even bother to read _ **what I was replying to** _, or did you just get your panties in a wad and jump straight in without looking? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370/63 "2010-12-16T18:05:53Z")
Uh-oh. Now Paranoid Randroid is bringing the heat. Better dial up the pedantic meter. You have two of us to contend with now. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370/64 "2010-12-16T18:20:54Z")
Sigh. I’ll take that as your way of saying, “No, SFG, I never actually bothered to go read the retarded post you were replying to.” So here, I’ll quote it for your lazy ass. > [@dumbroad](#): > > A group of friends get together to party. Someone breaks out a bag of weed and everyone gets high. They sit on the couch and possibly play video games, listen to music, get out instruments and play music, sketch, write, have some pretty thoughtful discussions, or maybe cook up some great concoctions . Not so bad, eh? I really don’t see any harm in that. > > Then, we can compare that to the other option that oh so many people choose: > > A group of friends get together to party. Someone breaks out a few bottles of liquor and a case of beer. They get drunk. Now, most drunks get loud, obnoxious, hostile, argumentative, and it usually ends up in a fight. Or, they decide to go out to the bar because they ran out of alcohol since they’re not thinking correctly because they’re FUCKED UP. Hmm…drinking + driving. Sounds like a much better idea than smoking weed, huh? So, after drinking even MORE, they decide to make their way back to the house. Crash, boom, people die. [del] **retardedtwat** [/del] sorry, **dumbroad** apparently thinks that these two drugs somehow magically act on people, so that if the pot smokers were getting drunk they’d turn into destructive assholes, and if the drinkers were getting high they’d be peaceful, creative hippies. \*That’s \*fucking retarded, and \*that’s \*what I was addressing. Do you get it now, or do you need me to explain it slower, with diagrams? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370/65 "2010-12-16T18:33:43Z")
Who gives a shit what dumbroads little skit was. You said: “If you’re going to accept violent drunks as an argument against alcohol and in favor of marijuana, then you also have to accept lazy, do-nothing potheads as an argument against marijuana and for alcohol.” To which I replid: “Fine.” Next thing I know, I’m up to my neck in lazy Mexicans, violent Blacks, a healthy dose of umbrage and enough self-righteous indignation to choke a donkey. All because I addressed you directly – a habit which I’m in the process of reconsidering if this is the level of shit I’m to expect from you. Wash the sand out of your pussy, will you? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370/66 "2010-12-16T18:45:55Z")
The point is that _neither of those stereotypes exist_–or rather, the stereotypes are not the direct result of nothing but the drugs themselves. The violent people were violent before they drank; the lazy people were lazy before they used pot. Drinking does not \*make \*you violent, anymore than being Black does; using pot does not \*make \*you lazy, any more than being Mexican does. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/el-presidente-de-ignorancia/563370.md?page=3)