Monday, August 28, 2006

IS IT WORTH ARGUING WITH CRAZY PEOPLE?

No, of course it isn't, not if the person is completely crazy, but how often do you come across that? Most crazy people are half crazy or a quarter crazy, something like the way Jack Nicholson was in "As Good as it Gets." How do you treat them? Do you argue back knowing that they may not be listening?

A further complication is the fact that some half crazy people seem to know the difference in principal between right and wrong. They seem to have a moral sense that can be appealed to. Maybe no one ever does. I don't know of any books or magazines that are written exclusively for the mentally ill. On the other hand they may hear an exceptional amount of moral philosophy from people they irritate, more than the rest of us do. It's hard to generalize; there are so many kinds of crazy. Some of them are nice people, some of them are jerks.

In my opinion it's a good idea to explain why what they're doing is irritating you, even if the explanation would be painfully obvious to any normal person. It may not do any good but you never know. Like I said, there's all kinds of crazy. Maybe at the bottom of the twisted tunnel in their minds somebody's listening.


WHAT DO YOU THINK?

17 comments:

Ryan Khatam said...

hahah these are funny pictures

Gabriel said...

"James, let me tell you something: I don't like when you poke my eye. It's not funny, it just hurts. And pain is not a desirable feeling. You're a great guy, but when you do the eye thing you just piss me off!"
"I...I had never thought of that. Why haven't you said something in all these years?"

David Germain said...

Noone should be labelled 'crazy' right away, it should be reserved until every last option is exhausted. Alot of times people in an arguement automatically try to label the other one crazy simply because they are losing because are having trouble supporting their position.

Keep this in mind: if the other person is using facts supported by a reliable source, then he/she is not crazy. But, if they're saying things like "that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it" no matter what facts are presented then that perosn is clearly bat-shit insane or a complete moron. I had to chase one of those off my blog in this post recently.

Anonymous said...

Arguing with an engineer is a lot like wrestling in the mud with a pig. After a little while, you realize the pig likes it.
-- unknown

kp said...

I'm around "crazy" people quite a bit here and I find a lot of them quite amusing, actually.

Of course though, there are those really strange ones I just avoid eye contact with, haha. O_o

I.D.R.C. said...

Crazy people believe something that is not true because of brain damage or chemical imbalance.

Irrational people believe something that is not true because of subconcious programming.

Crazy people are easier to argue with, because you tend to avoid it, and easier to comprehend because you can more easily see what the problem is. There are much fewer fractionally crazy people than partially irrational people. You could be having the most wonderful time with someone you just met until you say something like, "Bush is a lying murderer," or, "I don't believe in God;" 2 statements well-supported by evidence. Suddenly this other person now wants to hurt you or make you leave the country and live in Bhagdad.

Or, you could say, "Eminem has talent," also supported by the evidence, and the other person will say, "Eminem is a rapper, and rap is regressive and repetetive, so therfore Eminem cannot have talent, and no I've never heard him."

I.D.R.C. said...

WARNING:

I'm only kidding. We've already done Eminem.

Anonymous said...

It is a good thing crazy people are difficult to argue with. By definition, crazy people have ideas that are not considered normal. Some abnormal viewpoints or ideas are better than the normal ideas that are in existence. For the sake of our culture, we may need these unusual, crazy ideas.

Every great advancement in culture has arisen because one crazy person refused to submit. Culture is driven by innovation and it requires a strong, stubborn spirit to see that vision remain.

Anonymous said...

A lot of artists (and creative people) tend to suffer from mental illness. (I know the great animator Rod Scribner did.)

Eddie, do you work along side such people in the animation biz? How do you deal with them? Any crazy people you actually admire?

Danny said...

My favorite comedian once after a huge rant against the world had all lights go off and stood there alone in the dark. Holding only a torch, lighting his face just a bit he started rambling and came to the sentimental conclusion that there were to little crazy people in this world... as if they became extinct.

I believe there are three types of crazy people out there:

a) the for different reasons turned bitter, self-centered, generally not able to depart from their 'it's all against me' view, resulting in more bitterness and mean/crazy/stressed actions.

b) truly crazy - either through illness, drug abuse, accidents or similar

c) and the truly truly crazy as in 'what the world needs' - people with their complete own sense of reasoning.

Wonderful (as long as they do not suffer all too much from their craze) as these people truly push art and beauty further. Great because something reasoned through a completely self-referential system is hardly questionable or measurable with our common standards and usually fulfill no reasoning outside of their originated system, which again brings them close to beauty. And also wonderful because anything being based on an autarkic system will have the system profit from it in bigger proportions than a system shared with others/society would.

Ok, i have no clue if i am making all too much sense, and i'm sure i left Eddies theme a bit.

The concept of something ignoring common sense and going for what it cares is something wonderful and to me the common ground of craziness, art, beauty, science and affection, love.

I do hope i didn't ramble all too much and more or less got to the points i wanted to make. ;)

Craig D said...

Crazy or not, there are just some folks with whom you can't argue about some subjects.

Your suggested approach sounds reasonable though, Eddie...

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

J.J.: I've met a couple of real pills in the industry but nobody I consider crazy. I don't personally know any admirable crazy people but I believe they exist. Do you know any?

Anonymous said...

J.J.: I've met a couple of real pills in the industry but nobody I consider crazy. I don't personally know any admirable crazy people but I believe they exist. Do you know any?

I've meet a lot of "eccentric" artists, but like yourself, nobody I would claim as insane. Well...there was one guy I knew who worked at Disney who made a big stink about not getting promoted to animator status...he was pretty weird (he was also fired from Disney).

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Cablr: I got the pictures from a photo book by Dianne Keaton called "Salesman."

Roland Saint-Laurent said...

I've befriended and dated a few crazies in my day, and my experience is that you can't deal with a crazy person the way you would a normal person. Even if you're trying to reason with that small shred of sanity left in them, any changes they make are usually small and don't really affect what the problem was. Then again, I'm not quite all there myself, so I'm one to talk.

Anonymous said...

I have a neighbor who is not right , the other day we went to walmart together and at the checkout i paid for my purchases meanwhile she had grabbed a bag a m&m's and walked out with out even stopping to pay for them ...she said that well what should i do he didnt charge me for them ... well first of all she hadnt purchased anything else she was right behind me in line she should have put her purchasedown and paid for it .. the right thing to do ... no we argued about this all the way home ... she oes not see the logic behind it ...

Anonymous said...

I have my father in-law living with us and he is irrationally insane, always arguing with me puts down my two year old son and throws my food away from my kitchen gives away my frozen meats. He wants everything his way but I just can't allow it because its wrong, tries to use the bible on me saying a women should listen to the men but I dont care I'm my own boss my husband is his own boss but we stand together. Why would he argue over something so little and bitch about it forever...omg. I think he needs to go check himself into a mental institution for awhile.