Friday, July 22, 2011

Combatwords, July 22, 2011: Insanity

Combatwords, July 22, 2011: Insanity

If you tell me that psychosis, neurosis or any flavor of insanity is a mere social construct, I’m going to ask who diagnosed you crazy and why you have a problem with shrinks. We want to be outsiders, but not too far outside. You don’t want to be too much of a conformist, but if you’re too much of a weirdo, you’re not going to get the boy/girl/gold/glory and might as well eat corn chips until you’re the size of a fridge. Insanity might be a social construct, but what are you suggesting—that you’re outside society? That you eat dinner in the morning and make conversation with ghosts? I’ve got news for you—that’s basically insanity. I mean sure, personally, I’d just call you eccentric; but I’m not a judge on American Idol and I’m not your therapist either. And these freaks are on the lookout for any abnormal behavior (BF Skinner won), so if you can’t wear your best ‘I’m normal’ hat, you’d best expect trouble.

I can’t even remember if I’ve done this topic before, but I selected it because it seems like the in-thing lately is to get 5150’ed and involuntarily spend your money on a nuthouse. I have a friend who mentioned that she once wanted to kill herself to her shrink—so the therapist of course locked her up right then and there. So this is the opposite vector—if you go around talking about how uncomfortable this rotten world makes you feel, get ready for more rottenness. In her case, she couldn’t even talk about how rotten she USED to feel. Even those who are paid to professionally deal with insanity don’t want to hear it. So don’t tell me it’s ‘only’ a social construct. Maybe insanity is an analytic concept, but what are you going to do? Fight a mental health institution? That’s sounding pretty nutty to me.

Combat Expiration: 12am PST 7/25/2011

Critique Expiration: 12am PST, 7/27/2011

Bonuses/Penalties: +2 if posted by 7pm PST, 7/22/2011; +1 if posted by 2am PST, 7/23/2011. -1 if posted by 6am PST, 7/27/2011; -2 if posted by 12pm PST, 7/27/2011

The Rules: http://combatwords.blogspot.com/2010/07/official-rules-for-combatwords-updated.html




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