“I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind. There was something so pleasant about that place. Even your emotions had an echo In so much space”
– Gnarls Barkley
I don’t think people really go crazy. I believe the seeds for detatchment are already there and circumstance can cause one to blossom into unacceptable behaviors. Even the term crazy is a misnomer. ‘Crazy’ suggests that you are behaving in a fashion that is deeply unnaceptable in relation to societal norms. Yet it doesnt neccesarily mean that you are behaving in a fashion that makes no sense to yourself. Even those who commit suicide do so because it makes sense to them at the time they do it. It isn’t crazy persay, it is a matter of self control, cost-benefit analysis, and value.
I’m crazy. I’d have to be to have 3 boys and to coach all three in all sports they play. I was considered crazy for commuting an hour and a half to and from work each day for over half a decade. Crazy, in this sense was committing acts that the majority of others found to be foolish, untenable, or unthinkable and to do so without any of the stress or disappointment that those calling me crazy would feel given the same circumstances. This is obviously a different level of crazy than is associated with a man like Dahmer who killed and ate people so they would never ever leave him. Even there I can see that there is a level of reasoning that exists. Dahmer, who grew up without hope of real emotional attachments, found a way to get the emotional attachments we all crave and devised a way to ensure he would never have to deal with those he loved abandoning him. It is crazy, but it is only crazy because a significant number of people in the world also believe it is crazy. The idea of being crazy is a sliding scale of relativity determined in whole by the socio-psychological climate of the world.
I’ve begun to look at ‘Crazy’ as a measure of your unwillingness to follow societal norms. Being crazy then is a form of freedom or rebellion against the code of man; a way to decide for yourself how to live and behave as a human being regardless of what society expects from you.
There is true ‘crazy’ in the world and it goes by a different name. My uncle returned from ‘Nam with mental disorders brought on by military experimentation with chemicals. He developed (or the gasses uncovered/awakened) mental disorders. These brain-related problems are evidence of true crazy and should forever be separated from the casual mention of the term. You can be crazy in the sense of doing what one should not do in accordance with societal norms and mores and you can be crazy in the sense of actual guano-level infection and mental derangement. One is about choice, the other is about health.