Insanity - Real or False?
A question has always been lurking in the back of my mind constantly so I thought I would get it down and out of my head once and for all. Insane people, do they really know that they are insane or do they think that they are normal? I mean, at this very moment, I could be considered insane by others but sane by myself, but would I really know it? Do we all really know what is going on in our heads, or are we all just subject to our own little bias and nuttiness. I mean, the obvious extreme insanity is quite apparent when looked at in relation to the 'normal' people of society. You walk down the street, going to work, dressed in a suit and tie and there are nearly 50 people on the same block as you, dressed in shirts, ties, business skirts and other items of business wear and then all of a sudden you see a guy walking down the street with a rubber ducky under one arm and water wings on, ratty old bathrobe wearing one bunny slipper on one foot and one doggy slipper on the other, mumbling and talking to people about how he is the "2nd coming of Christ and that I am here to save your soul so pick up your crosses, follow me to the desert where the rich bounty of milk and honey flows and it is heaven, if not a little sticky". Obviously that lone individual must be insane and he might be spirited away to an asylum for 'his protection and safety' and then we, in our suits and ties, go about our day, going to the job, coming home, sleeping and doing the same thing again and again until we die. I think it was in 'Speed' that had a good point on this one...the main character said that 'you get up, put on a suit, go to work every day for a little pay and at the end they give you a gold watch....if that is not insanity, I dont know what is"
However, then if insanity is only in relation to the people that are around us and we measure the intensity of insanity by how far off they are from the people that are around them, then wouldn't it stand to reason that once the crazy person gets put into an insane asylum, where the majority of the population think they are Joan of Arc or Jesus, then wouldn't the guards and wardens be classed as insane and the insane be sane? If that is the case, should the insane people be set free or at least the guards and wardens be removed from the population and put back into their own little world like we did with the insane people?
Then there is the process of 'curing' the sick person. I remember a joke once that went something like this:
After 5 years of intence psychological therapy the doctors turns to the woman and says "you are finally cured and can lead a normal healthy life" at which point the woman looks at the doctor and then bursts into tears. The doctor, totally bewildered, asks "why are you crying? I told you that you were cured" and the lady, through the tears, looks at the doc and says "look at it from my point of view...5 years ago I was Joan of Arc...now, I am nobody"
so, if we are insane, why bother curing us? if we are insane and in danger of hurting ourselves, then who are the majority to judge? after all, it could be considered insanity lighting up a pack of cigarettes every day, sucking smoke into your lungs and increasing your chances of death, and yet smokers continually walk the world unhindered. If we care that someone is about to jump off the building cause they really think they can fly, then shouldn't we be concerned about the person that works 18 hours/day and tries to put themselves into an early grave with stress, work and frustration? is the deciding factor the usefullness or their destruction to society? the jumper is not going to help society in any way and, in fact, is going to be destructive to society cause public death lowers morale and makes people think of their own mortality and questions whether or not they are happy, not to mention if done wrongly can cause damage to personal property (jumping off a building and cracking the sidewalk, landing on a car, landing on a person, or jumping in front of a train and causing damage to the tracks or train itself). Whereas the work-a-holic pays taxes, raises the bar for those around them to succeed better and helps the public get things done and the world to run smoothly. So, the work-a-holic is not a danger to themselves because they help the world and society but the jumper is a problem cause they don't do anything for society...
in the end, who is insane and who isnt?
However, then if insanity is only in relation to the people that are around us and we measure the intensity of insanity by how far off they are from the people that are around them, then wouldn't it stand to reason that once the crazy person gets put into an insane asylum, where the majority of the population think they are Joan of Arc or Jesus, then wouldn't the guards and wardens be classed as insane and the insane be sane? If that is the case, should the insane people be set free or at least the guards and wardens be removed from the population and put back into their own little world like we did with the insane people?
Then there is the process of 'curing' the sick person. I remember a joke once that went something like this:
After 5 years of intence psychological therapy the doctors turns to the woman and says "you are finally cured and can lead a normal healthy life" at which point the woman looks at the doctor and then bursts into tears. The doctor, totally bewildered, asks "why are you crying? I told you that you were cured" and the lady, through the tears, looks at the doc and says "look at it from my point of view...5 years ago I was Joan of Arc...now, I am nobody"
so, if we are insane, why bother curing us? if we are insane and in danger of hurting ourselves, then who are the majority to judge? after all, it could be considered insanity lighting up a pack of cigarettes every day, sucking smoke into your lungs and increasing your chances of death, and yet smokers continually walk the world unhindered. If we care that someone is about to jump off the building cause they really think they can fly, then shouldn't we be concerned about the person that works 18 hours/day and tries to put themselves into an early grave with stress, work and frustration? is the deciding factor the usefullness or their destruction to society? the jumper is not going to help society in any way and, in fact, is going to be destructive to society cause public death lowers morale and makes people think of their own mortality and questions whether or not they are happy, not to mention if done wrongly can cause damage to personal property (jumping off a building and cracking the sidewalk, landing on a car, landing on a person, or jumping in front of a train and causing damage to the tracks or train itself). Whereas the work-a-holic pays taxes, raises the bar for those around them to succeed better and helps the public get things done and the world to run smoothly. So, the work-a-holic is not a danger to themselves because they help the world and society but the jumper is a problem cause they don't do anything for society...
in the end, who is insane and who isnt?
posted by Capt_Canuck at 7:02 AM
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