http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7615295Caution: this campfire is almost three weeks old, and now doused, but it's something to inspire us while waiting for the subway cat to return to Skins's island from that big building with small rooms with soft walls.
undergroundpanther (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 10:33 PM
THE SUBWAY CAT, #04 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Original message
Mental illness hurts,having it myself I know.
Anyway seems a lot of people out there like to pretend there is a thing called"normal" and they judge others worth to that' normality stick'.So, if you ain't normal or measure up to normal enough to 'pass' you are at risk for a social death sentence.
A social death sentence is painful kind of social rejection.It comes from being labeled crazy or not worthy enough to speak your thoughts among your social peers who being easily convinced by the label giver(usually a bully type in the group)that you are'crazy'. When you are deemed 'crazy'that means no one in the group has to take you or your points on any topic seriously and that is part of what hurts.
A social death sentence also means your distress is being made invisible("ignore them they are,faking it for attention, "too sensitive" 'paranoid" they're crazy") and along with that re-victimizing, you get made voiceless on a social level too.("because they are crazy, nothing they say contains actual thought,knowledge or important information to anyone else"). Mentally ill people become non persons to others who all are'normal' enough.And thus a hierarchy is formed and guess who's on the bottom?
Life is too short to bully the mentally ill.Life is to cold already to tolerate bullies period.
I say what I say, because to me it's worth saying it. Sometimes I am told by others after reading it,it makes more sense to them than some of the ramblings of the"sane" commenter's on threads trying to diminish me and what I write by calling me crazy..Our whole culture is based on social domination and hierarchies.People to survive socially become so cold,heartless,selfish, callous and mean.To a sensitive person like myself it's like I cannot breathe here, for the barbed words hang thickly over my head. I take a risk in speaking my mind or heart here,because I choose to.
But also I have my bully detectors on lest someone who is bored or just mean, sends an evil words my way and encourages others to do the same..and they do as suggested by the most arrogant ones without thinking.And the thread gets derailed and the bully wins.And when a bully wins the social environment drops a few degrees colder,and skins get thicker,and the tender hearted,deep thinkers, and intelligent leave.
Warpy (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 11:10 PM
THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE, #09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #1
16. One thing I found out when working with people off their meds who were really sick was that they never doubted their own sanity. Those of us who muddle around without hallucinations, delusions, or any of the other horrible symptoms that were keeping most of them terrified is that we're never quite sure if we're completely sane.
That self doubt might be sanity's defining feature, questioning everything including our internal bearings. The clinically insane never had any shadow of a doubt about anything they were seeing, hearing, or feeling.
It's also true that being around a psychopath can make a sane person sick, as can being around a borderline personality. Some people are toxic and it takes a lot of knowledge about what's really going on with them to be able to deal with them honestly and without driving yourself around the bend.
Remember, the slickest, most manipulative person out there didn't just wake up one morning and think, "Gee, this nice guy thing isn't working for me, so I guess I'll be an asshole who makes everybody else suffer." They're sick. Something in their brains either got left out or is functioning differently. We don't know what causes it or how to cure it, but we do know how to deal with it.
Unfortunately, civilians don't. Support groups can certainly help, but it's still largely the blind leading the blind and the frustration of living with a sick person who thinks s/he is perfectly sane can be draining, at best. The strain of dealing with someone who thinks differently than most people do is too much for a lot of people, and they're either dismissive or bullying. It's a defense mechanism.
I wish there was some way of educating more people about this but we're also a Puritanical country that loves to blame victims.
Confusious (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 10:38 PM
Response to Original message
2. Whats with the mental illness postings?
Did I miss something?
That's franksolich's question, and why in "General Discussion" and not in the forum specifically for discussing insanity?
undergroundpanther (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 10:42 PM
THE SUBWAY CAT, #04 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #2
5. Nah
Just posted my thoughts on it.Since I have it.Why not say it. I see plenty of people calling other people crazy or paranoid or some other type armchair shrink type of bullying crap going on here on DU and it gets old,so I posted my take on it.
SharonAnn (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 10:45 PM
Response to Original message
9. "when a bully wins the social environment drops a few degrees colder". Wow!
What a great description of what happens.
We've all been in a group when that happens.
undergroundpanther (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 10:53 PM
THE SUBWAY CAT, #04 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #9
11. Not just a few degrees colder but the ethical standards of how the group treats one another gets a little more cruel,and the bullies are given more freedom to abuse in more sadistic ways and as long as the by-standing, rationalizing and denial continues unchallenged.Eventually existing in the group becomes more about keeping and grabbing for higher hierarchical places,then it gets more arranged like the circles of hell in Dante's Inferno. The coldest hearted and most powerful ones everyone defers to are put in the center of power and given no consequences for how they abuse and hurt the group's members and outcasts with that power.
bobbolink (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 11:04 PM
THE BOBBLING PRIMITIVE, #02 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #12
14. Exactly. And just think if the same kind of comment was made towards groups that have sanctioned PROTECTION from such prejudice!
It wouldn't be tolerated here or anywhere else among progressives.
Yet, because it isn't yet popular to speak against prejudice toward people labeled as "mentally ill", or "poor", that is where the anger of the bullies is directed.
bobbolink (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 11:06 PM
THE BOBBLING PRIMITIVE, #02 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
15. Ill? You??? HAH! Methinks you got my mental bulletin...
I was thinking of you yesterday, and how I miss your bully posts... You are the only one I know speaking out in this way, and what you have to say is so very important!
You are my hero!
undergroundpanther (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-01-10 01:57 AM
THE SUBWAY CAT, #04 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #15
41. Bobbie
Glad to see you are here,dispite all the shit you face everyday..I loves ya too.
undergroundpanther (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-01-10 02:07 AM
THE SUBWAY CAT, #04 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #24
43. Heh..last time I took the MMPI about 7 years ago..I think that's what it was..I finished each of the loaded sentances/questions,I answered honestly,but with my replies I made them into a long a poem for my own fun.And the shrink giving me the test got a kick out of it.Sometimes I like to do shit like that because tests can bore me and I stop giving a crap what answers I put down,so I use creative answers to entertain myself so I can get through the test.
bobbolink (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 11:12 PM
THE BOBBLING PRIMITIVE, #02 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
19. Unreccers at it again.
The hatred is truly amazing.
Mind_your_head (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-31-10 11:21 PM
Response to Original message
21. UP, you're one of the most sane people on this planet.....
That's why "they" hate you and 'try' (I'm glad that that effort has been largely unsuccessful) to make you believe that you're 'crazy'.
This WORLD we live in is 'crazy' and illogical. People who have two or more good brain cells rubbing together see that.....
I'm not very articulate, but I respect you (and what you've gone through) very much.
My (online) observation is that you are 'totally sane', right on the mark, and a totally beautiful, lovely person through-and-through (I didn't say 'perfect' ~ no one is 'perfect')
undergroundpanther (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-01-10 01:55 AM
THE SUBWAY CAT, #04 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #21
40. are you trying to make me cry?
Thank you,that was so very sweet of you.
Mopar151 (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-01-10 12:11 AM
THE AUTO-PARTS PRIMITIVE
Response to Reply #23
33. Probably why I hang out with the wackos I do
A nice older couple was called "normal", and were genuinely offended. There is a psycholigist among us, and he says that we all get to be "legends in our own mind" without offending. A "why be normal" sticker on my car only got raised eyebrows from those outside our social circle (and national media).
Frankly, anybody who aspires to "normal" creeps me out a bit. I like people who aspire to be better - better parents, better friends, better at their job, better at their hobbies. Folks who live "many hands make light work". When our current club president first met up with us, he dubbed us "The Land of the Misfit Toys", and it's true - but we're all bozos on this bus, and I would'nt have it any other way.
undergroundpanther (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-01-10 02:11 AM
THE SUBWAY CAT, #04 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #33
44. Misfit toy here...BTW in my room hanging from my ceiling I have a sculpture of King Lear,the purple winged lion who was the King of the Island of Misfit Toys. Ironic?
No, not ironic.
Just stupid that a 45-year-old woman has a child's toy hanging from the ceiling in her bedroom.
EFerrari (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-01-10 01:48 AM
DOUG'S EX-WIFE, #03 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
39. K&R
