# Do you think this person is insane?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 1, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517 "2013-04-01T11:09:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/1 "2013-04-01T11:09:22Z")
Obviously you can’t give a real medical diagnosis, but just from skimming this essay, do you think the author is mentally ill or insane in some way?
Here is the essay. Whatever you do, do not read the whole thing or your own sanity may be put in jeopardy!
[http://members.efn.org/~wolfe/sanity.htm](http://members.efn.org/~wolfe/sanity.htm)
This essay is just the tip of a very, very, large and confusing iceberg. Part of the confusion is that this person uses his own definitions for common words. You will not find out these complicated and self-made definitions until much later, if at all.
Anyway, when I was much younger, I rented a (very cheap) room from this person and listened to his rants on a regular basis. I concluded that he was in fact mentally disturbed in some way and that the majority of his philosophies were a massive superiority complex.
---
### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/2 "2013-04-01T11:30:50Z")
Yep, he seems to be living in a world that he invented. Quite nuts, IMO.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/3 "2013-04-01T17:49:06Z")
Seems quite intelligent, but definitely self centered and delusional. Pschopath?
But overall he takes forever to say things. I think I could summarize most of his paragraphs into single sentences.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/4 "2013-04-01T19:23:36Z")
Back it up a notch and start from the home page: [http://members.efn.org/~wolfe/](http://members.efn.org/~wolfe/)
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/5 "2013-04-01T19:35:34Z")
I don’t know about insane, especially in the legal sense, but he’s definitely crazy.
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### Author:  [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/6 "2013-04-01T19:56:09Z")
As a great man once said “That boy just ain’t right.” I would hesitate to put a label on though. I am not sure where it would fall just based on these writings.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/7 "2013-04-01T20:56:05Z")
I didn’t read the whole thing, but my WAG is OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder.) Those folks are usually obsessed with some kind of moral code, often one that only makes sense to them.
[QUOTE=wiki]
A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following::
-is preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost
-shows perfectionism that interferes with task completion (e.g., is unable to complete a project because his or her own overly strict standards are not met)
-is excessively devoted to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships (not accounted for by obvious economic necessity)
-is overconscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics, or values (not accounted for by cultural or religious identification)
-is unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even when they have no sentimental value
-is reluctant to delegate tasks or to work with others unless they submit to exactly his or her way of doing things
-adopts a miserly spending style toward both self and others; money is viewed as something to be hoarded for future catastrophes
shows rigidity and stubbornness
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/8 "2013-04-01T21:17:41Z")
It reminded me of professional doublespeak contests. A lot of impressive keywords that seems like they should be saying something profound but ultimately lead you around in a chain that never says anything with meaning.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/9 "2013-04-01T21:28:00Z")
If you think someone’s insane, at least one of you probably is. I may be crazy, but I’m not insane . . . so he must be.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/10 "2013-04-01T21:45:22Z")
I had to stop reading before I could make any conclusions as to sanity, but he is remarkably boring.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/11 "2013-04-01T21:52:08Z")
Hallucinations seem to be on his/her mind.
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### Author:  [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/12 "2013-04-02T02:19:07Z")
I went for insane.
The little I read was just gibberish. No doubt, in his own mind, it all made perfect sense. Any mind where that made sense is not a mind that I care to share space with.
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### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/13 "2013-04-02T02:58:28Z")
Nuts.
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### Author:  [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/14 "2013-04-02T03:04:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> For much of my youth my two sisters permitted me to suspend my identity
> in play with them, through embracing their complete lack of comprehension
> of my style of identity. This was possible with sexual play with them also,
> until puberty complicated my feelings about it.
woah, dude, TMI
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/15 "2013-04-02T12:11:31Z")
No, he’s just a jerk who enjots using $50 words to express $2 thoughts.
> [@](#):
>
> I avoid, wherever possible, a request to the grotesquely amoral and
> predatory general economy for a new item or service effort, in order to
> minimize cursing and poisoning of the living realm that I directly live in;
> obtaining apparatus from abandoned material and service from voluntarily
> offered gifts to the greatest degree I can manage.
“I’m not materialistic because I don’t like creating a lot of waste.”
> [@](#):
>
> I remain physically located, as much of my time as possible, in areas
> overtly claimed by some other people, in order to avoid the painful
> hallucinatory effect of physical alienation.
“I like being around other people.”
> [@](#):
>
> claim as little political oversight on my society as possible in
> order to minimize the psychic stress of negotiation. I relate to voting as
> participation in a market research survey, not an opportunity to pursue
> despotic influence. Wherever politically limited by my culture or
> associates, I engage only light-hearted noncombative resistance, making my
> viewpoint visible primarily to those who express an overt friendly interest
> in taking it into account.
“I’m not interested in politics.”
This author is, in other words, a college student who’s playing with vocabulary.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/16 "2013-04-02T14:55:28Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> I had to stop reading before I could make any conclusions as to sanity, but he is remarkably boring.
+1
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### Author:  [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/17 "2013-04-02T16:22:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#):
>
> No, he’s just a jerk who enjots using $50 words to express $2 thoughts.
> “I’m not materialistic because I don’t like creating a lot of waste.”
> “I like being around other people.”
> “I’m not interested in politics.”
>
> This author is, in other words, a college student who’s playing with vocabulary.
did you miss the part where he had sex with his sisters? That is pretty abnormal
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/18 "2013-04-02T16:40:35Z")
They probably acquiesced so he’d shut up.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2013, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/19 "2013-04-06T10:20:04Z")
The TL;DR is strong with this one.
He seems to have two speeds: He’s either expressing simple thoughts in a hugely obfuscatory manner, or he’s just spouting complete idiocy in a relatively straightforwards way. [His “Questionaire for a Doctor” is mercifully straightforwards, so it’s, of necessity, completely idiotic](http://members.efn.org/~wolfe/doctor.htm):
```auto
I had a violent indigestion issue several years ago,
writhing in pain and vomiting for several hours.
If I had come to you, would you have asked what I ate? Yes No
```
Fucking hell, can you imagine the kind of sap-headed sub-moronic louse of an MD who _wouldn’t_ ask that? The doc would have to be propped up to keep from falling on his own ass.
```auto
Do you have a theory of the cause and prevention of
appendicitus? Yes No
```
No. Really. That’s in there. The only question is whether the author is willing to accept the real explanation or is going to demand the doctor read his mind and come up with whatever pixie-dust-and-bullshit mechanism he’s come up with.
```auto
Is AIDS a contagious disease caused by a virus? Yes No
```
And here we go into la-la land. My guess: The author’s only going to be satisfied with a _no_ answer here, because _no_ is the _stupid_ answer to this question. There’s also a pre-existing movement surrounding a _no_ answer, called AIDS Denialism, and woo-woos like him flock to multiple movements at once like flies seek out multiple piles of shit.
```auto
Have you spent a year or more of your life living
entirely on raw food? Yes No
```
Woo-woo! Woo-woo! The moron train’s a-comin’ through!
And, the pinnacle of idiocy, the List Of Bullshit:
```auto
Have you included and had success with any of the
following medicines:
DMSO Yes No
Sodium Chlorine Dioxide Yes No
Spagyric medicine Yes No
Grapefruit seed extract Yes No
Green smoothies Yes No
Liver flush using epsom salt, grapefruit & oil Yes No
```
DMSO is dimethyl sulfoxide; it’s real, but only as something that penetrates the skin rapidly and leaves a garlic taste in the mouth. It has, however, been promoted as a cancer cure by people who profit from the false hope of others.
Sodium Chlorine Dioxide is obscure enough I can’t even find good woo about it.
Spagyric medicine is the bastard offspring of herbalism and alchemy. Yes, literally alchemy.
Grapefruit seed extract is touted as an antimicrobal and antifungal, neither of which it is. It’s mainly nonsense.
Green smoothies are … green. (Not nearly as fun as [Aldebaran whiskey](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Aldebaran_whiskey), though.)
Liver flushes are worthless ‘detox’ crap promoted by people who have no idea what a ‘toxin’ really is.
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### Author:  [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2013, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-this-person-is-insane/654517/20 "2013-04-07T09:44:50Z")
This person feels an overwhelming compulsion to explain and define their perception of reality whereas most of us accept it and control what we can.
I believe a psychiatrist would use the proper medical term for this individual as “fucking bat shit crazy”.
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