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Proof we're all crazy

Mindfire

Istar
On second thought, these findings seem a bit suspect. I mean, there are writers out there with absolutely NO creativity who do some very deranged things. For example: He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-Lest-He-Spam-Us.
 

WyrdMystic

Inkling
I don't even believe in politics, its just a conspiracy made up by the government :) Why's everyone afraid of Voldermort? He got his ass kicked by a baby.
 

Mindfire

Istar
I don't even believe in politics, its just a conspiracy made up by the government :) Why's everyone afraid of Voldermort? He got his ass kicked by a baby.

I was actually referring to R-b--t St---k. (We're supposed to avoid using his name because he might show up and spam the forums again.)
 

Weaver

Sage
I realise everyone is unique, just like everyone else.

:) Reminds me of a bit from the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian: A crowd of people saying in unison, "Yes, we are all individuals," and one guy speaking alone afterward saying, "I'm not."
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
:) Reminds me of a bit from the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian: A crowd of people saying in unison, "Yes, we are all individuals," and one guy speaking alone afterward saying, "I'm not."

Brian was a very naughty boy in the scene leading up to that.
 

WyrdMystic

Inkling
:) Reminds me of a bit from the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian: A crowd of people saying in unison, "Yes, we are all individuals," and one guy speaking alone afterward saying, "I'm not."

I love stuff like that. There's an author called Robert Rankin, writes some really funny stuff. One of theories in his books surrounds mob mentality. Individually, people are smart. As you you add people the IQ gets smaller until everyone becomes stupid.
 

Weaver

Sage
According to anthropologists (my twin is one), "insanity" is entirely a cultural thing, and each culture has its own definition of what is or is not "sane." What most Westerners call multiple personality disorder, for example, may be seen in another culture as the person being occasionally possessed by the spirit of an ancestor - no big deal, just something that happens.
 

Ankari

Hero Breaker
Moderator
According to anthropologists (my twin is one), "insanity" is entirely a cultural thing, and each culture has its own definition of what is or is not "sane." What most Westerners call multiple personality disorder, for example, may be seen in another culture as the person being occasionally possessed by the spirit of an ancestor - no big deal, just something that happens.

I love anthropologists. They can be an endless well of creative inspiration. That sounds like a great world building component.
 

Weaver

Sage
I love stuff like that. There's an author called Robert Rankin, writes some really funny stuff. One of theories in his books surrounds mob mentality. Individually, people are smart. As you you add people the IQ gets smaller until everyone becomes stupid.

This is a large part of why I'm a hermit, more or less. :)
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Read Philip K. D i c k's Clans of the Alphane Moon. The moon was a psychiatric institution abandoned by earth. The inhabitants formed their own society, the clans based on psychiatric diagnostic groups. Then Earth decides it wants the moon back.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
According to anthropologists (my twin is one), "insanity" is entirely a cultural thing, and each culture has its own definition of what is or is not "sane." What most Westerners call multiple personality disorder, for example, may be seen in another culture as the person being occasionally possessed by the spirit of an ancestor - no big deal, just something that happens.

Could make for an interesting story, but I don't entirely agree with the premise.
 

WyrdMystic

Inkling
Read Philip K. D i c k's Clans of the Alphane Moon. The moon was a psychiatric institution abandoned by earth. The inhabitants formed their own society, the clans based on psychiatric diagnostic groups. Then Earth decides it wants the moon back.

Thanks, will check it out.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Thanks, will check it out.

The guy wrote a lot of interesting books (basis for movies like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, to name a few), and mental illness figures into more of a few of them. The author suffered from mental illness himself.
 

WyrdMystic

Inkling
The guy wrote a lot of interesting books (basis for movies like Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, to name a few), and mental illness figures into more of a few of them. The author suffered from mental illness himself.

That definitely adds that awe of authority. I think its good when writers are able to draw on their experiences, good and bad. And it is a hell of an accomplishment to turn a negative into a positive. Will be good research for me too. My current MC suffers from mental illness.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
That definitely adds that awe of authority. I think its good when writers are able to draw on their experiences, good and bad. And it is a hell of an accomplishment to turn a negative into a positive. Will be good research for me too. My current MC suffers from mental illness.

Yeah. He turned it into a positive to a limited extent, at least. I believe he self-medicated a lot in the 1960s; he definitely had a history of drug use, though I don't know whether dealing with mental illness had anything to do with it. He was once asked by Harlan Ellison to write a story for an anthology while on LSD (which he agreed and went ahead and did; he might have written it on LSD without being asked). In any event, he died relatively young (53) shortly before Blade Runner hit the big screen. The drug use might have contributed to his early demise.

A Scanner Darkly also figures into drug use, I think. As does The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, which is a cool book. A lot of his books deal with reality and a blurring between what is real, or in the mind, or a result of a drug. Anyway, enough of my recommendations. He's worth reading :)
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Read that one years ago, Weaver. I recall liking it. I also like her Coldfire Trilogy quite a bit.
 
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