Forbidden Planet

When does a difference in opinion, understanding or perception cross the threshold and become a mental disorder? When does confidence and certainty become delusion? I am reminded of the story of a woman many years ago on CBC radio, who told how her parents had her diagnosed as insane and committed as an adolescent because she was lesbian. While I may not agree with her and I believe her behaviour to be wrong (yeah, yeah, I am on the conservative end of the spectrum here), I certainly do not think she was insane. So what is the difference between being "wrong" and having a fundamentally disordered perception, understanding and experience of the world? To adapt a saying: I may not know what insanity is, but I know it when I see it . Principally inspired (bits copied verbatim from my comment) by a post on Barbara's blog .

I was listening to Dispatches (with Rick MacInnes-Rae) on CBC radio recently and there was a segment on slogans in China. Apparently China is very keen on slogans - short aphorisms to instil good social and moral values and behaviour. Although, they are so widespread that people pretty much ignore them. When a Chinese man was asked about the Olympic slogan for 2008, "One World, One Dream" , he said he didn't like it. Why should there be only one dream. Why couldn't he dream his own dream? I agree with him. Image nabbed from here .

Last Friday, I went to see a Christmas pageant at my kids' school. It was less a pageant and more the kids singing some Christmas carols. They were divided into grades 1&2, 3&4, and 5&6 with two groups of each. My kids go to a private school and wear a uniform. I hate the uniform. Sofia likes it, so does my dad. They both feel that it gives the kids more order and discipline. Makes them more uniform and less prone class and fashion discrimination. I simply view it as a symbol of conformity and it really makes my skin crawl. Children need to learn tolerance and respect for others not because they all dress the same and behave the same way, but because it is the right thing to do, despite their differences. I like the education they are getting. Tania has remarked that she prefers this school to the public because she gets more work. It also seems to provide adequate challenge for Jason as well. But I still can't stand the uniforms. Anyway, back to the pageant. As I w...

I don't like them. They seem like the perfect antithesis to random acts of violence and tragedy, but they are not. I would hope we all find any act of violence disturbing, but there is a difference between a criminal who gets his due because of a double cross or something and a 3 year old who is struck by a drunk driver. It is the randomness of the act that is so hard to understand, that empties our soul of purpose and meaning - leaving us hollow and barren. Doing random acts of kindness to counterbalance random acts of violence does nothing to refresh the soul and to imbue it with purpose and meaning and resolve. Random acts of kindness are as meaningless as random acts of violence. They do not occur because the person is in some way deserving of it, they occur for no reason, for no point. For kindness to be effective it must have a purpose, it must flow from genuine and sincere belief, meaning and intent. It may be spontaneous, but it cannot be random. The antidote to random acts...

A brilliant video montage for the 1969 Zager & Evens song of the same title. Most times I advise ignoring the video and just listening to the song. In this case, the video complements the song perfectly.

One thing I find inexplicable is the strong desire people have to "label" themselves. They make sure they wear and consume the "right" brands. They ensure they have the "right" look and walk and talk. They even make sure they have the "right" psychoses or ailments. These thoughts were spurred by an article I read a few weeks ago by a woman claiming her relationship problems are due to her high IQ (intelligence quotient) and low EQ (emotional quotient). Years ago, ADD / ADHD was a popular identifier, then dyslexia, asthma and now, it seems, autism. As more and more people are labeled and it becomes fairly normal, we then start hearing of epidemics and rising rates. I don't dispute that some genuinely have issues. My beef is with those who seek labels to abdicate responsibility for their actions, "Oh, it's not me, it's because I have / I am ******." Ultimately, what we do or don't do is our responsibility. (As you might b...

In an episode of the British series Yes, Prime Minister , the Prime Minister was keen on reintroducing conscription (National Service) as a means of bolstering the armed forces, reducing unemployment and providing skills training to young people. For various reasons, the civil service and military are opposed to the idea, which the Prime Minister believes to be a vote winner. In this clip, Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Cabinet Secretary, explains to Bernard Woolley, the Principal Private Secretary of the Prime Minister, how to get the poll results desired. This is one of the techniques used in negotiating with someone or trying to persuade someone - consistency. People want to act in a way that is consistent. Psychologists Jonathan Freedman and Scott Fraser, published a study in the 1966 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology titled Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique showing just how consistent people will strive to be. The experiment was simple, people were...

The question of free will has been bugging me since around April 2005, prior to that, it was a given that free will was absolute - every choice or lack of choice was your decision to make (Sartre we are condemned to be free ). From a physics point of view, the development of free will is nonsense, since free will transcends the deterministic nature of the physical universe (ignoring for the moment spooky quantum behaviour). Consequently, free will cannot exist. Therefore, we are deterministic, but ... we have the illusion of free will. We believe we make choices, we believe we a distinct from others. But why would such an illusion evolve? What is the benefit of thinking we have free will? I haven't seen any good theories on this; generally, it is ignored or left unanswered. When answers are given, they tend to be of the “it makes us feel good” variety. Feeling good about ourselves means we will be more likely to reproduce and pass those characteristics on, as opposed to those who ...

When I was younger, the issue of free-will was easy for me to answer: of course we have it, and we are 100% responsible for each and every action and immediate consequence thereof. Of late, I took to wondering if we really do have free will because people tend to behave predictably (if irrationally). Growing up in the 70s and 80s, my explanation of "popular culture" and trends was that people's judgement was clouded by drug use (how else would you explain people liking Elton John or Genesis?). The 80s in my mind was the aftershock of the 70s. By the 90s I started to wonder what was wrong with people, after all, 20-30 years should have been plenty of time for people to shake themselves from their torpor. In the 00s, I began thinking that maybe popular "culture" actually was popular and people actually enjoyed it. Then I started thinking maybe there is something different about me, about the way I process and react to the world around me. Culminating with my thoug...