# Kanye West - what happened? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2022, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895 "2022-12-02T00:56:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/1 "2022-12-02T00:56:14Z")
The very first time I ever heard of Kanye West, at least in my memory, was when he said, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black People.” I thought that pushing it a bit too far, but I understood where he was coming from. Today, he appeared on that Alex Jones show and announced he likes Hitler and Nazis. And he has been seen wearing “White Lives Matter” clothes and making many very strange statements, including anti-Semitic ones. Has he had a full mental collapse? It is hard to be sympathetic towards anyone saying things like he is saying, but are we watching a full blown mental collapse into insanity happening? If that is the case, this man needs to receive the help required, not put out there for people to see. I guess no one really knows, but I’m wondering what is up with him. I knew he was weird and self-absorbed, but how did he reach pro-Nazi/Hitler? Couple years ago, didn’t he release a Christian praise album? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/2 "2022-12-02T01:10:27Z")
He is bipolar and does not take his medication. This has been his thing for a very long time. It is supposedly the reason Kim left him. Many fanbois have been attributing his erratic behavior to his “genius” for years now. Looks like even they can’t pretend anymore. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/3 "2022-12-02T01:11:47Z")
He’s been a wacko for a long time, and so was his mother. I worked on her book years ago, and she thought Kanye was the second coming of Christ (or close to it). He could do no wrong and basically to hell with those who would not adore him. I think she was a professor and they were both in China at one time. She quit teaching because she needed to manage Kanye as she thought only she could do it and she would make the sacrifice and climb up on the cross. She said a lot of weird shit in her book and I’m guessing that’s why he’s a celf-centered jerk. He was raised to be that way, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/4 "2022-12-02T01:17:45Z")
Everything he does, he does to get attention. That’s it; that’s all there is to him. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/5 "2022-12-02T01:18:25Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > She said a lot of weird shit in her book and I’m guessing that’s why he’s a celf-centered jerk. He was raised to be that way, in my opinion. Very interesting. I wonder if there is a history of mental illness going back generations in his family. Do you think he deserves any sympathy(or worry?) or is this all his fault? I think if my grandpa, so to speak, was talking this way…we’d be looking into some form of dementia or loss of mental faculties. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/6 "2022-12-02T01:19:52Z")
I saw a tweet today that made me giggle just a bit: > [@](#): > > The funniest possible thing that could happen right now is George Bush Jr saying Kanye West doesn’t care about black people on national television. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/7 "2022-12-02T01:25:06Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Very interesting. I wonder if there is a history of mental illness going back generations in his family. > > Do you think he deserves any sympathy(or worry?) or is this all his fault? > > I think if my grandpa, so to speak, was talking this way…we’d be looking into some form of dementia or loss of mental faculties. Not sure. I know she had a lot of medial issues, but I don’t about mental ones with her or the family. He’s a huge Narcissist, at least in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/8 "2022-12-02T01:26:40Z")
Most bad behavior in this world is NOT driven by mental illness. Kanye does appear to be bipolar, but that does not cause his toxic opinions. Those arise from his personality traits, which are NOT mental illnesses and can’t be fixed by medications. Mental health professionals could help him with those ONLY if Kanye wanted to change. His bipolar may well interfere with his ability to desire to modify his personality traits. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/9 "2022-12-02T01:36:17Z")
I ran across this recently… [![](https://i.imgur.com/NOIoYcs.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/NOIoYcs.png) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/10 "2022-12-02T02:16:17Z")
An excellent reminder. Perhaps we should be grateful, in some weird way, that his inability to control what comes out of his mouth allows us to see who he really is (I occasionally have thoughts that I am very glad have never seen the light of day outside of my head; however, none of them have been on the order of “yay, Hitler”). But no, there’s no sense in which this is a good thing, for him or for the rest of us. And what is to be done? Who has standing to force him to take his meds, or to get him an empathy transfusion (if only there were such a thing)? This is beyond sad and awful to witness. If he was never taught any of life’s painful lessons, they are likely to be in his near future, and with the widest audience. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/11 "2022-12-02T02:39:39Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Who has standing to force him to take his meds, or to get him an empathy transfusion (if only there were such a thing)? Britney Spears got forced into a conservatorship for 15 years because she shaved her head and swung an umbrella at a paparazzo, but I guess the same rules don’t apply to men. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/12 "2022-12-02T03:03:33Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > But no, there’s no sense in which this is a good thing, for him or for the rest of us. Dunno, between the variety of meltdowns/self-destroys of popular crazies in recent days, I’m mildly hoping that the general masses will start pinning for the days of rule by boring, knowledgeable folk. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/13 "2022-12-02T03:32:36Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Most bad behavior in this world is NOT driven by mental illness. Kanye does appear to be bipolar, but that does not cause his toxic opinions. Those arise from his personality traits, which are NOT mental illnesses and can’t be fixed by medications. Agreed. Suffering from bipolar disorder can make someone act erratically (it the hypomanic or manic phase) but ‘Ye’ isn’t actually erratic; he’s actually quite consistent in his adoption of racist and anti-Semitic ideas and promotion of Nazism. He’s an asshole, and the people around him (who are dependent upon his wealth) are unwilling to call him out on it. His mental disorder (if it exists…I don’t know that it has actually been established that a professional psychiatric diagnostician has actually identified Kanye as bipolar) may amplify his attitudes but it doesn’t create them. Like Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein, he is a person with horrible ideas and compulsive or pathological behavior who is enabled by the people around him to their own benefit and without any real check on his behavior. Like both of them, he could choose to seek help and have empathy for the people he is victimizing, either directly or by extension of his influence, and he absolutely does not because he is shielded from any real consequences to his actions. Until he owns up to the negative impact he has, any medication or other treatment really isn’t going to change his beliefs and attitudes. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![OppositeKeith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oppositekeith/32/13047_2.png) [@OppositeKeith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OppositeKeith)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/14 "2022-12-02T04:21:41Z")
hearing about this makes me glad that i jumped off the Kanye boat early. he no doubt has talent and it shows even if his last few albums have been very mixed. but this kind of behavior doesn’t sit with me and that made listening to his music less enjoyable now. there’s always separating the art from the artists but it doesn’t work here for me. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/15 "2022-12-02T10:32:12Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Britney Spears got forced into a conservatorship for 15 years because she shaved her head and swung an umbrella at a paparazzo, but I guess the same rules don’t apply to men. I had the exact same thought. If Spears established the threshold for which a conservator is appropriate, Kanye blew past that line years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/16 "2022-12-02T10:36:34Z")
You know the interview went off the rails when he wears a black mask all through it, and it doesn’t merit more than a passing mention in all the stories and internet postings afterwards. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/17 "2022-12-02T10:42:51Z")
As far as family goes, does he have anyone now? I don’t know much about him, but who would be appointed a guardian? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/18 "2022-12-02T10:49:32Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Britney Spears got forced into a conservatorship for 15 years because she shaved her head and swung an umbrella at a paparazzo, but I guess the same rules don’t apply to men. Interesting. I was just ruminating about how James Parnell Spears has probably got a lot of time on his hands these days. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/19 "2022-12-02T11:43:39Z")
Every fucking Nazi has a reason why they’re a fucking Nazi. That doesn’t change the fact that they’re fucking Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895/20 "2022-12-02T11:49:13Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Most bad behavior in this world is NOT driven by mental illness. Kanye does appear to be bipolar, but that does not cause his toxic opinions. Those arise from his personality traits, which are NOT mental illnesses and can’t be fixed by medications. Mental health professionals could help him with those ONLY if Kanye wanted to change. This is very well said. With both Kanye West and Herschel Walker, people have made a big show of declaring “he’s not well, he needs help” rather than “this is a very bad person”. I think there is some willingness to recognized Black entertainers as deluded by fame, and consequently manipulated and exploited by white people who surround them. This is understandable, but you could also say the exact same of the Trumps or Milo or any other right-wing grifter. Each choice they make is because they’re weak, corrupt people who want fame, wealth, and power. The only difference between them and the general public is that their choices happened to work out for them, whether through luck or whether their way was eased by others with exploitive interests. It’s true that people’s minds get warped on the path to wealth and celebrity, but every step on that journey is a choice. It’s abundantly reasonable to hold people accountable for the choices they make along that path, both incrementally and cumulatively. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kanye-west-what-happened/975895.md?page=2)