“The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.” - Mark Twain.
In this post I make the argument that it’s 28%, based on voting patterns.
well 98% of people are just following the crown anyway. So all it takes is 1% sane people and 1% insane people and half the population goes off on one.
No, but I would vote for one who called for (not necessarily violent) class war on the rich and mighty.
Neither situation has ever come up since I reached voting age and I don’t expect either ever will in my lifetime.
28%
The OP is using ‘crazy’ to mean ‘delusional’. This is certainly going to lead to different estimates than if the word were used in its more common sense.
Oh, delusional? 99.99%. I’ve yet to meet a person who wasn’t deluded about something, but my statistics teacher told me that 100% is almost never the right answer.
You are badly misinformed about what classifies people as crazy or not. But I will take this as just a spoof. By the way, about those aliens…
It is always possible to learn something no matter how young you are.
28% + 1.
That post was a spoof, right?
But if your statistics teacher is delusional about that fact, 100% could be right. 
DanBlather, so far I pass your test, but I’m still “certifiable.” I do agree with Chief Pedant that people can have what appears to us to be silly delusions and still not be mentally disfunctional.
I separate my mental illness (which is a chronic low grade depression) from the part of my life which some atheists have problems understanding: the metaphysical. I value logic, reason, and the scientific process in matters of evidence. But in matters of the metaphysical, it is of no consequence.
Although I personally do not believe in “speaking in tongues,” I once had a roommate who did and who was very defensive about it. I didn’t question her because she had obviously been harassed. She just said that she had experienced it herself.
This young woman did not show any signs of mental illness. I have read linguistic (the science of language) reports that say that these “languages” do not take the form of real languages. Nevertheless, I am convinced that my roommate believed that she spoke in tongues and that it was a gift of the Spirit. I do not believe that she had a mental illness. I do think that you mistakenly listed this one on your “crazy” list.
I’m certain that I believe things that are just as foreign to you that would make it to your list that are not considered symptoms of mental illness. You probably believe stuff that would put you on my list.
To me war and the contemplation of war is a sign of insanity. The only people in any society who should ever be allowed to vote for a declaration of war should first be able to prove that she has given birth. If you disagree, you are crazy.
Did you pass my test?
In the NY Times today, Brownback had an oped about evolution. He believes in microevolution (huzzah!) but avoided any mention of the age of the earth or speciation. So that’s one Republican Presidential candidate for sure.
I think the space alien item should be space aliens landing now. They could have landed 10 million years ago, and we’d never know.
Speaking in tongues might be a symptom of some disorder which is below craziness, so I’d give a pass on that one.
Other than the fact that she spewed a series of nonsense syllables that she thought were inspired by God and could be interpreted (and are) to divine God’s will. That’s like saying “Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”.
The proportion of the population that is batshit insane can only be inferred from things like opinion polls. This recent Rasmussen survey gives us a good starting point in our quest.
From these figures, and others in the link, I would be inclined to lump the 26% democrats who are unsure with the 35% who are sure Bush knew. This would indicate that 61% of democrats are batshit insane (BSI) or borderline BSI on this topic.
Then add 14% republicans who are sure Bush knew plus, let us estimate, a further 10% unsure, brings us to a total figure of 24% Republicans being BSI on this topic.
A similar proportional breakdown between BSI and borderline BSI can be done with the small number of independents.
Overall, the combined total is 22% BSI who are sure GW Bush knew in advance, and did nothing. Assuming the proportions are about the same as the first bunch, we can infer that about another 10% are unsure.
That makes 32% BSI believers and near believers from the whole population.
So far, so good. The BSI group is still heavily outnumbered. 
Unfortunately, I found another poll that could have more sinister implications. 
The article in the link shows how members of the news media split between Democrat, Republicand “Other”. The proportions are 68% Democrat 25% Republican and 7% “Other” at the last presidential election.
From this data the BSI people who work in the news media can be calculated to be: -
35% of 68 = 23.8 Democrat media reporters believe Bushco knew.
39% of 68 = 26.5.Democrat media were unsure.
14% of 25 = 3.5 Republican media believe Bushco knew.
10% of 25 = 2.5 Republican media were unsure.
Total 56.3%. Throw in a few extra percent from the 7% “Other” category and you’ve got nearly 60% of the news media as being BSI as compared to 32% BSI from the general population. :eek:
Can anyone see any flaws in the reasoning here?
This calculation would indicate that media stories pushing this delusion will continue to be published and broadcast until such time as news media tycoons carry out a purge from news media payrolls of those who believe in this and similar BSI theories.
If this kind of purge happened I wonder what the media would be like. :dubious:
However, that will probably never happen.
Media tycoons suffer from topside blindness and are probably completely unaware of the beliefs held by most of their employees.
Now, about those moon landings. 
Yes. You are assuming the belief in question is present among journalists of different political affiliations in the same proportions as among rank-and-file voters; that’s almost certainly not true.
I thought glossolalia was just a spiritual expression or exercise, putting the worshipper into a kind of holy trance, like some forms of yogic practice. Does anybody actually try to interpret the syllables?
I read an article a few days ago (NY Times?) that described a church in which speaking in tounges was interpreted and treated as prophecy. I searched online and couldn’t find the article, but did see that interpretation is controversial. Some maintain that glossolalia in the absence of an interpreter is non-Christian.
Like most other Christian traditions, few can agree on the basic rules, but the commonest principle among tongue-speaking sects (Assemblies of God, e.g.) is that there is the prophecy (in a heavenly tongue) followed by the interpretation in the local language by a second individual. It is definitely unkosher (sorry for the pun) to just speak in tongues without an interpreter.
This principle is often honored in the breach, especially if a whole lot of folks get going all at once. I have been to services where there is an awkward silence until an interpreter steps in. There doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for recording both sets of vocalizations and seeing if you can build a sort of dictionary for the heavenly tongue. Apparently it’s OK if it varies from person to person, or even from time to time.
I don’t think most people who believe nutty things are literally mentally ill but are just superstitious, credulous, uneducated and lacking in critical thinking skills. People have always been that way.