Originally published at: Chinese influencer dies shortly after live-streaming himself downing bottles of potent liquor in challenge | Boing Boing
…
1 Like
I know that Maotai is primo stuff that costs like 200 USD per bottle, but the bottle it comes in really looks like drain cleaner.
Also, alcohol is no joke.
9 Likes
Isn’t TikTok the Chinese equivalent of TikTok? 
Also I don’t believe all these boasts about cleaning engine parts and such with it. Isopropyl alcohol, automotive degreasers, and acetone are a lot cheaper than high end booze. People love to say stuff like that about booze but it’s never true.
17 Likes
It tastes like drain cleaner too.
Though in all fairness, people mistake how it’s meant to be drunk. It’s a clear liquor but not a neutral spirit like vodka, soju or shochu. It has a very distinct and strong taste. It might work well in cocktails but it requires some creativity and a strong tongue to figure out what works.
4 Likes
This, sort of. But I can see that circumstances might be different for some people.
First, you can be in a place where baijiu is readily accessible, but isopropyl alcohol is not (a garage could be such a place), so trying it on some engine part may be as simple as pouring your drink over it. Next, like anywhere, you can probably get counterfeit baijiu for much cheaper than the stuff in the fancy bottles, so it’s easier to have around. And while we North Americans are used to governments taxing the crap out of drinking ethanol, we don’t know if that’s also true where the baijiu was used as a degreaser. For all we know the super cheap rotgut baijiu might cost the same as a bottle of isopropyl.
Maybe, but it takes special effort to make alcohol safe to drink. No matter where you live, that special effort will cost more. Wood alcohol, methanol, or grain alcohol is always going to be cheaper and more plentiful than carefully-distilled-so-as-to-not-kill-you drinking alcohol. At least, that’s what I choose to believe until shown evidence to the contrary.
Strong alcohol has such a bravado culture around it that everyone “has a friend who put it in their car once” or other such stunts that wouldn’t actually work anyway but people think it would and the urban legends proliferate.
10 Likes
“Dear Hustler,
I always thought these stories were made up, but the other day I pulled into a garage, and…”
Anyway, sorry, I don’t mean to be flippant about a young man killing himself for social media likes. It’s sad.
9 Likes
I don’t know how the whole influencer ecology works, but if they’re competing at deadly stunts for prizes, then the real money is elsewhere.
6 Likes
This documentary explains everything pretty well.
1 Like
In the states, industrial grade alcohol is nasty stuff because the sellers are required to render it unfit for human consumption if they want to avoid a punitive alcohol duty. The drinkable stuff costs more, but no one forced them to put in methanol.
3 Likes
Came here to say just that, but V.C. (once again) said it better.
Wikipedia gives baijiu as 35-65%, nothing out of the ordinary: I’ve drank (in moderation!) comparable pure malts (Caol Ila 63%).
The LD50 for ethanol is about 300 g for a 75 kg person (or about 50 500 g for a 75 kg rat).
In a 700 ml bottle, there is at least one LD50. With three bottles the odds of not having the chance to drink a fourth ever are quite high.
8 Likes
This is apparently what his audience wanted. Not sure why else “influencer” seems to be a job that consists almost entirely of doing stupid dangerous stunts and mean pranks. I never see people who post their cute cat videos or educational step-by-steps or music projects described as “influencers”.
5 Likes
Is it basically like Everclear?
1 Like
No, much much worse. Everclear has no unique taste except the alcohol. It’s heavily filtered out to remove trace flavors of its source material. Essentially vodka concentrate.
Maotai and its entire class of drinks (baiju) have a strong flavor to them.
Like fermented cabbage flavored vodka.
4 Likes
Cause of Death: Severe Self-influence
2 Likes
What a sad waste of a life. I do wish he’d thought this through and done the sensible thing; cheating. It is a clear drink; drain the bottles and refill them with the water, maybe with something in there to make it taste unpleasant, to get an authentic reaction of the stream.
5 Likes
2 Likes
Feels like that post needs this
2 Likes
Influencers are not known for being the safest folk around. When you live for your “likes”, boundaries will be pushed.
1 Like
So he died under the influence.
I really can’t help myself.
2 Likes
