So here is a thing that happened: A New York man armed with a rifle, boxes of ammunition and a machete was arrested Friday after allegedly threatening to kill former President George W. Bush, according to a federal court complaint. Apparently, Benjamin Smith also thought that once he'd killed the former president, he would then win the hand of Bush's daughter Barbara. Is there a specific DSM diagnosis for people with delusions involving making someone love you by killing a politician? We would not be surprised if there were.
Ummm, plan vs. policy vs. philosophical principle. (Specific vs. general vs. overarching.) Different levels of abstraction. A case could be made that there is a thread connecting them all. But in general actors operating on one level do not often adequately consider its implications on the other levels.
While it is an incident worth discussing, it doesn't look as though there is anything deeply political or cultural going on here. Such incidents crop up regularly regardless of the political climate or cultural milieu. One of the unfortunate side effects of possessing something so intricate and complex as the human brain is that small anomalies can cause it to convey grossly erroneous information to the owner without causing the system to lose all functionality and shut down. Such disordered thinking is almost always completely involuntary, and our laws (along with those of every human society on the planet) regarding legal culpability recognize this fact. We should be grateful that the authorities were able to intervene with this gentleman before anyone was harmed, and we sincerely hope that he receives the help that he needs.
We need to recognize the distinction between this unfortunate fellow's situation and that of the usual targets of this blog. The latter are largely well-functioning individuals who are presumably capable of distinguishing reality from fantasy, but who willfully and stubbornly ignore, discount or refuse to acknowledge certain factual evidence, who fail to develop or exhibit awareness of and sensitivity to some of the implications of things that they advocate or who for crass reasons of narrow self-interest take positions or conduct actions that convey physical, psychological or economic harm to populations that we regard as innocent victims.
Such individuals are perfectly capable of learning how to do or to actively do things on their own accord to mitigate harm to such victims or to modify their attitudes or philosophical positions in order to recognize the need to produce less harm but who at present consciously choose not to do so. They stand in contrast to the man described in this article, who is completely incapable of altering his problem behavior and thinking on his own, and who requires direct intervention by others in order to do so.
The thing to keep firmly in mind when one reads about incidents like this is that there, but for the grace of God, genetics and upbringing, or whatever, go you and I.
"Is there a specific DSM diagnosis for people with delusions involving making someone love you by killing a politician? " It's still in the information-gathering stage. Meanwhile we have to settle for schizophrenia, I guess...thanks to the DSM-5, not even paranoid schizophrenia.
I may be wrong, but "kill her dad, she falls in love with me," doesn't seem all that giant a step away from "make her carry a rapist's baby to term, she votes for me."
Oh, plenty of them are. Getting various authorities, including but by no means just the police, to respond -- now that's the challenge.
Impossible to diagnose anyone from this distance, but judging by reports some delusional thinking is involved.
And vice versa.
Ummm, plan vs. policy vs. philosophical principle. (Specific vs. general vs. overarching.) Different levels of abstraction. A case could be made that there is a thread connecting them all. But in general actors operating on one level do not often adequately consider its implications on the other levels.
<i>Much</i> more commonly known, as conveyed by the &#039;pedia entry title, by the term <b>erotomania.</b>
While it is an incident worth discussing, it doesn&#039;t look as though there is anything deeply political or cultural going on here. Such incidents crop up regularly regardless of the political climate or cultural milieu. One of the unfortunate side effects of possessing something so intricate and complex as the human brain is that small anomalies can cause it to convey grossly erroneous information to the owner without causing the system to lose all functionality and shut down. Such disordered thinking is almost always completely involuntary, and our laws (along with those of every human society on the planet) regarding legal culpability recognize this fact. We should be grateful that the authorities were able to intervene with this gentleman before anyone was harmed, and we sincerely hope that he receives the help that he needs.
We need to recognize the distinction between this unfortunate fellow&#039;s situation and that of the usual targets of this blog. The latter are largely well-functioning individuals who are presumably capable of distinguishing reality from fantasy, but who willfully and stubbornly ignore, discount or refuse to acknowledge certain factual evidence, who fail to develop or exhibit awareness of and sensitivity to some of the implications of things that they advocate or who for crass reasons of narrow self-interest take positions or conduct actions that convey physical, psychological or economic harm to populations that we regard as innocent victims.
Such individuals are perfectly capable of learning how to do or to actively do things on their own accord to mitigate harm to such victims or to modify their attitudes or philosophical positions in order to recognize the need to produce less harm but who at present consciously choose not to do so. They stand in contrast to the man described in this article, who is completely incapable of altering his problem behavior and thinking on his own, and who requires direct intervention by others in order to do so.
The thing to keep firmly in mind when one reads about incidents like this is that there, but for the grace of God, genetics and upbringing, or whatever, go you and I.
You and I.
He forgot to say &quot;With votes.&quot;
Then the Dubya part makes more sense, I guess.
&quot;Is there a specific DSM diagnosis for people with delusions involving making someone love you by killing a politician? &quot; It&#039;s still in the information-gathering stage. Meanwhile we have to settle for schizophrenia, I guess...thanks to the DSM-5, not even paranoid schizophrenia.
I may be wrong, but &quot;kill her dad, she falls in love with me,&quot; doesn&#039;t seem all that giant a step away from &quot;make her carry a rapist&#039;s baby to term, she votes for me.&quot;
i think you mean the blondie. barbara seems pretty serious. i mean even in that infamous wonkette drunk shot, it&#039;s jenna doing the damage.