The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders originally listed about 9 disorders. Now, the table of contents alone is 9 pages. An individual might suffer from a mild one like dyslexia, be virtually functional, or even exceptionally gifted in spite of the disorder. Some experts are confident that President Teddy Roosevelt, for example, was dyslectic.
Other people may be afflicted with more than one disorder to the point of being a danger to themselves or others. We amateurs usually classify them as psychopaths or sociopaths. There are many other psychological disorders that have common lay terminology that might sound scientific, but are hardly a diagnosis. Many of today’s technical pioneers seem to be afflicted with some form of autism that makes them socially awkward, like the movie, ‘Rain Man,’ but are able to see the world as it ought to be. They are often also highly motivated and creative.
Then there are those blinded by their own delusions of superiority. Deluded by childlike thinking with difficulty separating fantasy from reality, they talk about fictional characters like Robo Cop or Hannibal Lector as if they existed. Most people learn to tell the difference by the age of 7. Adults don’t believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy. Adults don’t believe an epidemic will go away because we wish it to or that untested elixirs work miracles.
One characteristic is talking excessively while not saying anything, repeating the same phrases, fantasies, hallucinations or just plain lies; with just enough near truth mixed in to create an aura of believability.
Is a falsehood a lie if the speaker insists on believing it in spite of the overwhelming contrary evidence? This is typical of dictators like Castro, Madura and Hitler — suppress the truth with endless repetition of a falsehood. Spew out so many lies so fast that it becomes difficult to accept any information or factoid, true or not. It makes it easy to slip in what Joseph Goebbels called the big lie; a lie so outrageous that no one would believe it if it wasn’t true, therefore it must be true. Some of these masquerade as miracles. The deranged are supremely confident even when manifestly wrong.
Unfortunately, some people are influenced by the confidence in the onslaught of so much that is hard to understand. They become disciples of the cult and influence others. They accept that the dear leader must be divinely inspired to understand so much that they do not. He must be right because is always sure and tells you.
What if the candidate is functionally insane beyond the normal narcissism that makes people become politicians. You don’t have to be a savant to suspect lunacy, but if you think everyone else is crazy you might be the one. I think Mark Twain gets the credit for that wisdom, but I suspect it’s much older.
It’s hard to define insanity, and unlike pornography, you don’t know it when you see it. Well sometimes you suspect. Sometimes we are told that odd behavior like “speaking in tongues” is inspired.
Einstein supposedly said doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. For example, voting for the same party that you no longer respect but hoping they will now see the light. Some voters were indoctrinated to vote only for a certain party’s candidate, or leave a blank.
That is dangerous enough nationally, but what about on a global scale? Hamas attacks Israel, Israel retaliates. Hezbollah retaliates Israel, strikes back over and over. This has been going on for 4,000 years. The names change every generation but the revenge cycle never ends. There is always some afront to justify another attack. Doing the same thing over and over. We hoped that the democracy in the Middle East could break the cycle but Bibi is stuck in his primary mindset and won’t make the first move to modernized relations. Hamas is not an army; it is an idea. Fighting a war against an idea is not a strategy for success.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com.