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I would say that there is something specific about alcohol that increases violence actually. MDMA, Cannabis, and various other drugs also lower inhibitions but

I would say that there is something specific about alcohol that increases violence actually. MDMA, Cannabis, and various other drugs also lower inhibitions but I've never seen anyone on MDMA or Cannabis get violent or even come anywhere close to violence. Alcohol is an absolutely brain-warping drug and can create behaviors and new personalities which are light-years from how somebody was originally. I know this from personal experience seeing two close friends pass into alcoholic territory and become completely different people.

DoreenMichele 7y ago
That's anecdotal. I have my own anecdotal first-hand experience that contradicts yours. Battle Of The Personal Anecdotes never settles any internet arguments ever.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > I have my own anecdotal first-hand experience that contradicts yours. Leaving aside reliability concerns of anecdote in associating cause and effect, an anecdote could can suffice to say that alcohol does induce violence by means other than disinhibition (since if does so even once, this is true) but it could suffice (even, again, leaving aside reliability concerns) to say that it does not, because it not doing so in one particular case (or even a larger number of particular cases) does not support the argument that it cannot do so. All you can get from "it didn't happen this time" is "it doesn't always happen", not "it doesn't happen at all".
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    There can be many confounding factors in a particular instance. Correlation does not prove causation. I've had personal experience with thinking X caused Y and only realizing years later that there was some unaccounted for variable that I had been unaware of at the time.
    - dragonwriter 7y ago
      > There can be many confounding factors in a particular instance. Correlation does not prove causation. Yes, that is a source of reliability errors in associating cause with effect in anecdote, which is why I was discussing what was possible even in the semi-ideal case that such reliability errors were not a concern. Obviously, realistically, neither case can be made by anecdote, but anecdote can't even contradict one side of that discussion, because something not occurring in one case isn't inconsistent with it occurring sometimes, while something occurring even once is inconsistent with it never occurring.
      - DoreenMichele 7y ago
        If it's unreliable, it's unreliable. Setting up hypotheticals where you can rely on it so as to suggest that my unreliable anecdote is inferior to their unreliable anecdote is not a good faith tactic of debate.
- mattigames 7y ago
  MDMA had been used to treat PTSD unlike alcohol, that's not an anecdote, it's the direct positive effects tested in multiple experiments. Also the amount of crimes commited under drug influence (percentage wise) is higher on alcohol than marihuana and MDMA, that's also not anecdote is statistics that repeat time and time again in multiple nations.
- longwayoff 7y ago
  Please tell us your anecdote, or are you just trolling? Unfounded/hypothetical gatekeeping is just not required. Its perfectly valid for people to ask if anyone has seen any evidence to the contrary of their personal experience.

DoreenMichele 7y ago

That's anecdotal. I have my own anecdotal first-hand experience that contradicts yours. Battle Of The Personal Anecdotes never settles any internet arguments ever.

dragonwriter 7y ago
> I have my own anecdotal first-hand experience that contradicts yours. Leaving aside reliability concerns of anecdote in associating cause and effect, an anecdote could can suffice to say that alcohol does induce violence by means other than disinhibition (since if does so even once, this is true) but it could suffice (even, again, leaving aside reliability concerns) to say that it does not, because it not doing so in one particular case (or even a larger number of particular cases) does not support the argument that it cannot do so. All you can get from "it didn't happen this time" is "it doesn't always happen", not "it doesn't happen at all".
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  There can be many confounding factors in a particular instance. Correlation does not prove causation. I've had personal experience with thinking X caused Y and only realizing years later that there was some unaccounted for variable that I had been unaware of at the time.
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    > There can be many confounding factors in a particular instance. Correlation does not prove causation. Yes, that is a source of reliability errors in associating cause with effect in anecdote, which is why I was discussing what was possible even in the semi-ideal case that such reliability errors were not a concern. Obviously, realistically, neither case can be made by anecdote, but anecdote can't even contradict one side of that discussion, because something not occurring in one case isn't inconsistent with it occurring sometimes, while something occurring even once is inconsistent with it never occurring.
    - DoreenMichele 7y ago
      If it's unreliable, it's unreliable. Setting up hypotheticals where you can rely on it so as to suggest that my unreliable anecdote is inferior to their unreliable anecdote is not a good faith tactic of debate.
mattigames 7y ago
MDMA had been used to treat PTSD unlike alcohol, that's not an anecdote, it's the direct positive effects tested in multiple experiments. Also the amount of crimes commited under drug influence (percentage wise) is higher on alcohol than marihuana and MDMA, that's also not anecdote is statistics that repeat time and time again in multiple nations.
longwayoff 7y ago
Please tell us your anecdote, or are you just trolling? Unfounded/hypothetical gatekeeping is just not required. Its perfectly valid for people to ask if anyone has seen any evidence to the contrary of their personal experience.