Author Topic: What becomes of old 'friends'..  (Read 478987 times)

Offline Noldi400

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #510 on: March 11, 2013, 08:54:52 PM »
I'm repeating myself, I know, but I don't believe it's really possible to diagnose mental illness over the internet.

There are people I know personally who have very odd beliefs, are extremely distrustful of any government entity, and are just plain assholes*; none of them have mental health issues. I have to believe, too, that some of the trolls are just playing a part.

So, IMHO, labeling someone as mentally ill is just extremely speculative - as well as insulting to people who actually have mental health issues.

Just my $0.02 - ignore as necessary.


* Also rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.
  ;)
"The sane understand that human beings are incapable of sustaining conspiracies on a grand scale, because some of our most defining qualities as a species are... a tendency to panic, and an inability to keep our mouths shut." - Dean Koontz

Offline ka9q

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #511 on: March 11, 2013, 11:47:30 PM »
What a great movie.

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #512 on: March 12, 2013, 12:26:46 AM »
So, IMHO, labeling someone as mentally ill is just extremely speculative - as well as insulting to people who actually have mental health issues.

As it happens, I have mental health issues.  It's one of the reasons I'm so irritated at the knee-jerk assumption that all these people are mentally ill.  It's why in one case, it's action I knew the person took offline that convinced me of her mental illness.  However, I do honestly believe that certain online behaviour can show a strong indicator.  I don't believe most of it does.  Most of them are just idiots or jerks or trolls or whatever.  However, when you have someone who really does appear to literally and sincerely believe that everyone who disagrees with him is a paid NASA stooge, that does lead to certain presumptions.

But what do I know?  I also hated Blazing Saddles, the one time I bothered with it.  The only Mel Brooks movie I've ever actually liked was The Producers.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline raven

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #513 on: March 12, 2013, 01:20:59 AM »
I liked it well enough, though I liked Young Frankenstein better, I think.

Offline ineluki

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #514 on: March 12, 2013, 11:07:59 AM »
There are people I know personally who have very odd beliefs, are extremely distrustful of any government entity, and are just plain assholes*; none of them have mental health issues. I have to believe, too, that some of the trolls are just playing a part.

I know I'm not qualified to diagnose anyone, not even in the real world, but...

I have some doubt if someone who spends so much time and effort in his crusade like Dr. Socks is merely a trolling Ass.

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #515 on: March 12, 2013, 01:19:23 PM »
I have some doubt if someone who spends so much time and effort in his crusade like Dr. Socks is merely a trolling Ass.

Whereas I have no doubt that that's all he is.  Everyone has hobbies, after all, and I don't think this one takes as much effort as other, more "normal" hobbies I've seen.  It's weird, I grant you, but he's in my "just a jerk" category.  I believe that he's discovered that he likes making people angry, and the internet has provided him with an easy way of doing that.  One with essentially no consequences to him.  From what I know, it doesn't take much effort to do what he does, not really.  Time, yes, but not substantially more time than we spend just discussing things.  He gets a rise out of people and plays his little games, and that's all it takes.  Heck, there are probably people here who put more effort into research than he puts into coming up with new personalities.  Especially since he doesn't seem to put all that much effort into them.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline JayUtah

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #516 on: March 12, 2013, 04:58:45 PM »
And at CQ theloniusmonkey is doing the very Patrick-like thing of trying to recover from yet another colossal failure of understanding.  As is typical of him, he claims the thing he screwed up was something he "knew all along," but had just momentarily forgotten.  And he's trying to pump CQ members for more details -- "I welcome additional comments."  He has also tried a tortuous tap-dancing reformulation of basic concepts to bolster the idea that he is still "somehow" correct -- "well if you look at it this one way, heat is ... kind of ... energy."  Doesn't fix his problem, which is that energy is not universally heat.  And finally his latest post is that typical wall-o-text that basically just regurgitates stuff he's frantically Googled for, in a conversational homespun fashion, as if to say "See, I really kinda know what I'm talking about."

It's so hilarious to think that he doesn't realize everyone can tell it's him.  He sucks at creating new characters.  They all try to save face the same way.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline Abaddon

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #517 on: March 12, 2013, 06:21:35 PM »
I have some doubt if someone who spends so much time and effort in his crusade like Dr. Socks is merely a trolling Ass.

Whereas I have no doubt that that's all he is.  Everyone has hobbies, after all, and I don't think this one takes as much effort as other, more "normal" hobbies I've seen.  It's weird, I grant you, but he's in my "just a jerk" category.  I believe that he's discovered that he likes making people angry, and the internet has provided him with an easy way of doing that.  One with essentially no consequences to him.  From what I know, it doesn't take much effort to do what he does, not really.  Time, yes, but not substantially more time than we spend just discussing things.  He gets a rise out of people and plays his little games, and that's all it takes.  Heck, there are probably people here who put more effort into research than he puts into coming up with new personalities.  Especially since he doesn't seem to put all that much effort into them.
I disagree. From what I have found out, the guy seems to be going through a real breakdown.

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #518 on: March 12, 2013, 06:25:10 PM »
I disagree. From what I have found out, the guy seems to be going through a real breakdown.

Offline information, I take it?  And that would change my opinion, too.  However, based solely on what I have seen online, there's nothing clinical involved.  If you have more information, and if it indicates that there's a more serious problem involved, that's more evidence that online information should not be used for a diagnosis!
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Abaddon

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #519 on: March 12, 2013, 06:34:16 PM »
I disagree. From what I have found out, the guy seems to be going through a real breakdown.

Offline information, I take it?  And that would change my opinion, too.  However, based solely on what I have seen online, there's nothing clinical involved.  If you have more information, and if it indicates that there's a more serious problem involved, that's more evidence that online information should not be used for a diagnosis!
mmmk, I will take it to PM, rather than blast it publicly. OK by you?

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #520 on: March 12, 2013, 07:40:55 PM »
Absolutely.  My point was more, "If you know there's something serious going on, that's providing an evaluation with more than just his words on a screen.  Based on solely his words on the screen, I see nothing unusual."  While I have come to the belief based on just words on a screen in a single case, I do think it generally requires more than that.  I'm not saying you're wrong; I'm saying that what you are saying only confirms my broader point.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline raven

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #521 on: March 13, 2013, 03:17:52 AM »
Even if someone truly has mental illness, unless it is pertinent to the discussion at hand, I see no reason to bring it up or try ones hand at armchair (desktop?) diagnostic psychiatry. Not only is it generally off topic, it's discourteous to people who actually experience these issues.

Offline darren r

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #522 on: March 13, 2013, 01:23:57 PM »
It's also too easy to use it as a way to dismiss an HB's arguments. They may accuse us of being shills and sheep but we should be better than that.
" I went to the God D**n Moon!" Byng Gordon, 8th man on the Moon.

Offline gillianren

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #523 on: March 13, 2013, 01:32:53 PM »
My general belief is that it just isn't relevant.  My mental illness, for example, doesn't influence my own attitudes toward Apollo.  Heck, it's entirely possible that some of these people are mentally ill--but it's depression or something, and it has nothing to do with their attitudes toward Apollo.  Mental illness comes in a wide variety of appearances, and most of them wouldn't cause the things we see here.  To be honest, the only people I believe to be mentally ill with whom we've dealt, I have generally believed to be quite seriously ill, and it has made me regret that there is nothing that can be done for them.

This is my real problem with the speculation about about mental illness and conspiracy theorists.  It is seldom from a place of compassion.  It's usually mockery.  It's usually a reason to dismiss outright anything they say, as if the mentally ill never say anything of value.  And if they do remember that I am mentally ill, I'm not supposed to take it personally, because I'm not one of those people.  Certainly true, but it's not because I'm bipolar and they're something else, not that most of the people speculating even know enough to know what illness they're speculating about.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline raven

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Re: What becomes of old 'friends'..
« Reply #524 on: March 13, 2013, 02:14:39 PM »
It's also too easy to use it as a way to dismiss an HB's arguments. They may accuse us of being shills and sheep but we should be better than that.
Yes, this basic premise guides my words when it comes to dealing with conspiracy theorists. The truth does not need insults to support it.