... there were in real life very few actually insane people, and practically everyone had some understandable (if not totally and comprehensively thought-out) reason (unrelated to insanity) to say and do the things they say and do (whether they were said or done particularly WELL or not)? Of course, I'm not proposing that this might be the case or anything... whaddaya think, I'm nuts?
Yes. Actually, I didn't think your post was nuts so much as aimless. What are you trying to say here? That insanity doesn't exist at all except for a few rare cases? That people abuse the term "insanity" for their own benefit? Please explain.
OK, fair enough... in some ways there is not much aim here, and in other ways too much... I do believe that part of being human is that we (myself included) tend to attack things that are strange and different, rather than to try to understand/befriend/help them... and yet I believe that there is very little that we as individuals could not, conceivably, learn to understand/empathize with when it comes to other people and their differences... perhaps not to the extent of agreeing that others have chosen the best responses to their situations, but at least to the point of empathizing with WHY they might choose those responses... It's a difficult thing, admittedly... I was just trying to jokingly lighten up some of the tension... I work with small children for a living, so it's in my nature to do that, I guess... that's about all I got here, such as it is... carry on... kumbayah, etc...
Madness is something rare in individuals -- but in groups, parties, peoples, ages it is the rule. (Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil)
I think the underlying point of a reason has to do with a process which urges the need aspect first and foremost and how one can subjectively assess the non-essentials towards the motivations which dictates the thought process as it relates to choice in action and communication...The basis of action and communication is relative towards ideals inherited and learned in life...
Roxran, I'd be all too happy to get into that with you, but perhaps because of the effects of the LSD on my li'l peabrain, I'd need you to break it down into somewhat simpler parts, if you wouldn't mind too much... and thadeus... I guess my question could be, WHY is that the rule? What goes into making it that way? While trying to put myself in the position of someone gamely taking a look at this thread, I almost decided to just let it fade away, out of sympathy, but I thought what the heck, I cared enough to start it, I might as well respond to the respondents... Maybe it's in the wrong forum, but I didn't see a Boring Philosophical Discussions Hangout -- and I thought, "well, maybe there are some who might want to take a second to reflect a bit, monkey to monkey, on what it is about poo-flinging that makes us keep doing it"... sort of kick back, have a beer, and appreciate the artfulness of each other as poo-flinging adversary warrior monkeys... sort of an "OK, you almost got me there, but I doubt you'll get that close again, young grasshopper -- I've been flinging poo since you were hanging upside-down from your mother's teat on the way back from the nit-picking party..." kinda thing...
Would it help if I explained that I live in Vermont? Would it make you more sympathetic to my plight?