Craziness and Originality
I have found that there is a way to describe wherever you go as a bad thing.
If you have feelings, you are weak and unmanly. If you do not have feelings, you are a sociopath.
If you do not have emotional intelligence, you are a social retard. If you do, you are manipulative.
If you do not have money, you are a loser. If you have money, you are a hypocrite, a snob or a part of the Satanic New World Order conspiracy.
If you get hurt, it's your negativity or "life is not fair." If someone else gets hurt as a supposed consequence of your actions, you will get what you give.
If you have values, you are a fanatic or a Communist. If you do not have values, you are scum.
If you think well of yourself, you are narcissistic or vain. If you do not think well of yourself, you have low self-esteem.
If you disagree with any aspect of feminism, you are a misogynist. If you agree with any aspect of feminism, you are a pussywhipped idiot.
If you don't wear a social front, you are trash. If you do wear a social front, you are fake.
If you do not have style, you are uncool. If you do have style, you are pretentious.
If you are with a beautiful woman, you are shallow. If you are with an unattractive woman, you are a loser.
If you do not introspect, you are unconscious. If you do introspect, you are self-absorbed.
And so on and so forth.
I have of course been described as all of these things, all of which are mutually incompatible with one another.
I once knew of someone who said, "I am not crazy, everyone else is crazy." In fact I have empirical evidence that just about everyone is crazy, including him (he attempted to take part in a coup). And my proof is as follows:
The world believes all sorts of mutually incompatible things. Even if one group is sane, everyone else is crazy.
Now anyone who thinks differently from those around him will be seen by them as crazy. That is the nature of the beast. However it is the people who do just that, that come up with most original contributions; and to them is owed much of what we have - economically, politically, scientifically, technologically, culturally, what have you.
Not every crazy person is original; but anyone who is original will be regarded by someone as crazy. That, once again, is because the mind that comes up with original contributions is a mind that has to work in original ways. And the people whose minds work in set ways will never be accepting of such a mind.
Sometimes crazy really is just crazy. But there are other times when it is originality or creativity at work. My former wife, who does not have a mental illness, was described as crazy by a previous boyfriend, who did. She is a brilliant artist and excellent writer. And it is original people like that - whether or not they have a mental disorder - that come up with the most important contributions.
The world is crazy, and has been crazy for as long as we know. We however have to live in it. Probably the most important thing that can be done is to end the stigmatization of creative and original thinking and allow it to do its work of benefiting the species. This is in no way my original idea. But it is an idea of which people must be reminded time and again in history, as they tend to forget.
If you have feelings, you are weak and unmanly. If you do not have feelings, you are a sociopath.
If you do not have emotional intelligence, you are a social retard. If you do, you are manipulative.
If you do not have money, you are a loser. If you have money, you are a hypocrite, a snob or a part of the Satanic New World Order conspiracy.
If you get hurt, it's your negativity or "life is not fair." If someone else gets hurt as a supposed consequence of your actions, you will get what you give.
If you have values, you are a fanatic or a Communist. If you do not have values, you are scum.
If you think well of yourself, you are narcissistic or vain. If you do not think well of yourself, you have low self-esteem.
If you disagree with any aspect of feminism, you are a misogynist. If you agree with any aspect of feminism, you are a pussywhipped idiot.
If you don't wear a social front, you are trash. If you do wear a social front, you are fake.
If you do not have style, you are uncool. If you do have style, you are pretentious.
If you are with a beautiful woman, you are shallow. If you are with an unattractive woman, you are a loser.
If you do not introspect, you are unconscious. If you do introspect, you are self-absorbed.
And so on and so forth.
I have of course been described as all of these things, all of which are mutually incompatible with one another.
I once knew of someone who said, "I am not crazy, everyone else is crazy." In fact I have empirical evidence that just about everyone is crazy, including him (he attempted to take part in a coup). And my proof is as follows:
The world believes all sorts of mutually incompatible things. Even if one group is sane, everyone else is crazy.
Now anyone who thinks differently from those around him will be seen by them as crazy. That is the nature of the beast. However it is the people who do just that, that come up with most original contributions; and to them is owed much of what we have - economically, politically, scientifically, technologically, culturally, what have you.
Not every crazy person is original; but anyone who is original will be regarded by someone as crazy. That, once again, is because the mind that comes up with original contributions is a mind that has to work in original ways. And the people whose minds work in set ways will never be accepting of such a mind.
Sometimes crazy really is just crazy. But there are other times when it is originality or creativity at work. My former wife, who does not have a mental illness, was described as crazy by a previous boyfriend, who did. She is a brilliant artist and excellent writer. And it is original people like that - whether or not they have a mental disorder - that come up with the most important contributions.
The world is crazy, and has been crazy for as long as we know. We however have to live in it. Probably the most important thing that can be done is to end the stigmatization of creative and original thinking and allow it to do its work of benefiting the species. This is in no way my original idea. But it is an idea of which people must be reminded time and again in history, as they tend to forget.
posted by Ilya Shambat at 7:53 PM
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