My impression is that both sides in the argument are using the level of drunkness which supports their point.

Yes; I also suspect many of them don't even realize it -- simply, the typical example of a drunk person is someone who deliberately drinks in order to lower their inhibitions in the minds of the first group, but in the minds of the second group it's a passed-out person, due to the different experiences of the two groups and generalizing from one example.

(This is an example of a more general pattern, about which I've been thinking of writing a top-level post but kept putting that off.)

it's pretty common for people to drink to the point of incapacitation

I was going to say “is it?”, then I remembered that, according to this article (discussed on OB before BTW), I am from an “integrated” culture and you're from an “ambivalent” one.