Drunk people caught on camera
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: New York
Posts: 984
Drunk people caught on camera
Hey everyone,
I haven't posted on this forum in awhile. I've been doing pretty well. A few slip ups since my February hospitalization, but nothing that lasted more than one day that I'd categorize as a relapse. Been sober 263 of the last 266 days. I even made it through a Mets run to the World Series without a drink and then seeing them lose in the World Series, also without having a drink.
Anyway, one huge benefit of sobriety is a lot more time to read articles and watch online videos I'd otherwise have been too drunk or hungover to read and/or remember.
Since this site is all about anonymity, I won't mention either of the two people I've seen recently by name, but my descriptions will be enough for you to find them, so I feel badly about that.
Two recent high profile (viral) videos have gone up. One of a drunken college student berating and then shoving a dining hall manager, and one of a drunken man punching/slapping an Uber driver after the driver told him to get out of his car.
My understanding is that the college student was expelled and the man in the Uber video was fired from his job. Both subsequently posted apology videos online.
In both cases, the behavior was clearly unacceptable and in the apologies, both mentioned how they cringed seeing it. I watched the full length videos of both incidents and honestly, couldn't help but see myself in their shoes. I feel horrible for both of them, and also feel just straight up lucky that I was never in that situation. I'd like to think I'd never behave like that, but I've woken up in my apartment before with no clue how I got home, meaning I'm sure some cab driver had to deal with me (I don't own a car since I live in New York City), and similarly with trying to get food while drunk at a number of late night restaurants.
I'm posting this since I feel incredibly conflicted about these two situations. On the one hand, the behavior is unacceptable and the public ridicule and loss of job/enrollment seem justified. On the other hand though, I know that I'm not a bad person, and that when I drank too much, I did bad things.
I hope that both of these individuals can put their lives back together. I'm lucky enough that none of my drunken nonsense was captured on cell phone video. And I know that if I keep staying sober, that won't be a problem I have to worry about. Just thinking about both videos now is making me cringe. It could have been me in one of those. And here I sit, getting ready for bed and ready for a nice relaxing Sunday without a hangover. I'll be going in to work on Monday with my employer having no idea the struggle I've had with alcohol.
Goodnight folks
I haven't posted on this forum in awhile. I've been doing pretty well. A few slip ups since my February hospitalization, but nothing that lasted more than one day that I'd categorize as a relapse. Been sober 263 of the last 266 days. I even made it through a Mets run to the World Series without a drink and then seeing them lose in the World Series, also without having a drink.
Anyway, one huge benefit of sobriety is a lot more time to read articles and watch online videos I'd otherwise have been too drunk or hungover to read and/or remember.
Since this site is all about anonymity, I won't mention either of the two people I've seen recently by name, but my descriptions will be enough for you to find them, so I feel badly about that.
Two recent high profile (viral) videos have gone up. One of a drunken college student berating and then shoving a dining hall manager, and one of a drunken man punching/slapping an Uber driver after the driver told him to get out of his car.
My understanding is that the college student was expelled and the man in the Uber video was fired from his job. Both subsequently posted apology videos online.
In both cases, the behavior was clearly unacceptable and in the apologies, both mentioned how they cringed seeing it. I watched the full length videos of both incidents and honestly, couldn't help but see myself in their shoes. I feel horrible for both of them, and also feel just straight up lucky that I was never in that situation. I'd like to think I'd never behave like that, but I've woken up in my apartment before with no clue how I got home, meaning I'm sure some cab driver had to deal with me (I don't own a car since I live in New York City), and similarly with trying to get food while drunk at a number of late night restaurants.
I'm posting this since I feel incredibly conflicted about these two situations. On the one hand, the behavior is unacceptable and the public ridicule and loss of job/enrollment seem justified. On the other hand though, I know that I'm not a bad person, and that when I drank too much, I did bad things.
I hope that both of these individuals can put their lives back together. I'm lucky enough that none of my drunken nonsense was captured on cell phone video. And I know that if I keep staying sober, that won't be a problem I have to worry about. Just thinking about both videos now is making me cringe. It could have been me in one of those. And here I sit, getting ready for bed and ready for a nice relaxing Sunday without a hangover. I'll be going in to work on Monday with my employer having no idea the struggle I've had with alcohol.
Goodnight folks
Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 4,251
I haven't seen the uber video, but I know about the dining hall video. I do try to avoid watching those as I am vehemently against internet shaming.
I feel very fortunate that none of my drunk shenanigans were caught on camera. Like you, I tend to think of myself as a good person. That said, I do know that when drunk I have done things wildly out of character.
In the end, we all make mistakes, drunk or not. What those folks (and others) did WAS offensive and wrong. I tend to disagree with your comment though, that the public ridicule is justified.
This is a really thoughtful article. I never really participated in the internet shaming stuff before reading this, but after reading this I absolutely never share, like or comment on anything remotely bashing someone else's poor choices. As you said, it could have been me in their shoes. 'Overnight, everything I loved was gone': the internet shaming of Lindsey Stone | Technology | The Guardian
Lastly I will repeat an Italian saying I have shared hundreds of times. "Male non fare, paura non avere" which translates to "don't do anything wrong and you have nothing to fear" Keep staying sober and being the good person you are, you don't have to worry about doing something stupid during a drunken bender.
I feel very fortunate that none of my drunk shenanigans were caught on camera. Like you, I tend to think of myself as a good person. That said, I do know that when drunk I have done things wildly out of character.
In the end, we all make mistakes, drunk or not. What those folks (and others) did WAS offensive and wrong. I tend to disagree with your comment though, that the public ridicule is justified.
This is a really thoughtful article. I never really participated in the internet shaming stuff before reading this, but after reading this I absolutely never share, like or comment on anything remotely bashing someone else's poor choices. As you said, it could have been me in their shoes. 'Overnight, everything I loved was gone': the internet shaming of Lindsey Stone | Technology | The Guardian
Lastly I will repeat an Italian saying I have shared hundreds of times. "Male non fare, paura non avere" which translates to "don't do anything wrong and you have nothing to fear" Keep staying sober and being the good person you are, you don't have to worry about doing something stupid during a drunken bender.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 669
Great post nymets86. I too am very grateful that any of my drunken episodes was not caught on video. Most of us do things that are totally out of our character when we are drunk. This post really made me think back and truly appreciate my sobriety.
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: US East Coast
Posts: 14,287
Hi Mets, good to see you here again and happy to hear you are continuing on your sober path. I reached 15 months yesterday (with 1 brief slip around 8 months).
I don't like or agree with public shaming. To me that seems like an unnecessary spectacle to which many respond with outrage and/or embarrassment. That could be any one of many people. Even normies get drunk, especially in college years and I don't like to see lives ruined. I do understand that without any consequences we might all still be drinking (ugh!). I certainly don't have any answers to the dilemmas posed by such behavior.
I don't like or agree with public shaming. To me that seems like an unnecessary spectacle to which many respond with outrage and/or embarrassment. That could be any one of many people. Even normies get drunk, especially in college years and I don't like to see lives ruined. I do understand that without any consequences we might all still be drinking (ugh!). I certainly don't have any answers to the dilemmas posed by such behavior.
Into the Void
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: California
Posts: 931
I shudder to think what would have happened if there were smart phone cameras during my college days. On the other hand, it might have changed the course of my life to abstinence much sooner....
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
