Crazy

I got into trouble the other day. Yeah ME! Of all people. I can tell you're shocked.

You see, I posted a thing on Facebook, about how people toss around terms like OCD and Bipolar as insults:

It was applauded by my friends who work in the areas of mental health care, and those who have suffered from (or know anyone who does) any of these real disorders.

People do have this way of latching onto this sort of thing, and showing no respect. It's thoughtless.

But then in a blog I referred to "Crazy People" and somebody objected. In fact they called me a hypocrite.

Since when was "crazy" a medical diagnosis? No, no, no. It may be many things, including judgemental and unfair but it is not a medical diagnosis. Indeed, I am not qualified to diagnose.

There is a line, and we each have to find our own, that we do not cross when we speak our minds. Some people would object to the objection of the graphic above, in fact. They would say it was politically correct, and a whole bunch of other reasons why they would dismiss it. They don't care if they are offensive to people in pain, and their line is in a different place to mine.

My line is probably not set as far forward as those who oppose any form of judgement on the behaviour of others. So there we have it.

I do use the term "crazy" and will continue to do so. It's a word that says so much in just 5 letters. Yes, it's an insult. I have decided that the behaviour of some people (a lot of people) is so erratic and inexplicable, that it requires a quick flippant term to express my feelings. None of these people (as far as I know) have been diagnosed with anything. In addition everyone, without exception, is sometimes crazy.

I suppose I could get away with it if I described the behaviour as crazy, and not the person. But that's just a cop out. That reminds me of "Hate the sin, love the sinner" which is bollocks. If your behaviour is crazy, then you are crazy to behave that way, otherwise, why are you doing it?

I am told that calling somebody crazy is dismissive of their emotional needs. OK, let's look at that. Let's consider what this means.

If I was to come to your house and dig up all your flowers, because I said the sight of them upset me, would you be sympathetic to my emotional needs? I don't think so.

You see, we ALL have emotional needs. We all need to be happy, to feel safe, to feel useful in some way, and ideally to feel loved. Nobody has more right to any of these than anyone else. So, you cannot justify upsetting somebody, by claiming you did it because you were upset. Maybe read that a few times.

I like peace and harmony. But I am aware that it is not possible all the time. I dislike drama. But there has to be some, occasionally, just to get things done. It's all about how much drama, and how often it occurs, that decides whether it's acceptable or not, and your definition of too much may allow for far more. As that's your life and not mine, it's none of my business.

Here's another little  "meme" that does the rounds regularly:

I don't like this. I find this quite disturbing, actually. I find it particularly disturbing because some of the people I have seen post it, are crazy. The sort of mothers who harm their kids by their behaviour, actually. People who leave me speechless sometimes with how they can't seem to see the cause and effect between their crazy parenting and their kids' reactions to it. Kids who are messed up, actually. By this shit.

It's none of my business if you freak out at your kids, until it impacts me, and then, yeah, funnily enough, I will   offer my opinion. I'll tell you things, for example, like how much they remind me of you. How I'm not a bit surprised they behave badly, because it's learned behaviour. And I still won't let them off the hook, anymore than I let you off the hook for telling me you can't help it because your mother was crazy too.

Somewhere along the way these cycles have to be broken. Otherwise we'll all go fucking crazy.