Paranoia is the hallmark of a schizoid imagination. Whether it's a child seeing monsters in the dark, or an adult seeing more mature monsters, such as the FBI or IRS, paranoia is paranoia. Children grow out of it, and so we don't worry.
Adults don't grow out of it. Adults don't grow, period. So we treat adults differently, we humor them and use drugs instead of waiting patiently while holding up a more mature worldview. That's hell, in my opinion. Imagine being trapped in a world you don't understand, where no one sees what you do, and they're spying on you and trying to drug you. Oh, and you feel totally sane, and totally alone in what you believe to be an insane world.
This is why it's so hard to treat schizophrenia. Often it can only be done against the patients' will, and even then there's so little information on the disorder it's hard to treat accurately. Schizophrenics are hardly lining up to be taped to monitors and drugged and watched 24/7.
Cut. I was just wondering exactly where I was going with this, and then I realized.
There are crazies out there. Many are not getting the help they need. The debate of whether it's them or us who's truly crazy is irrelevant when the crazies are on the streets starving and I'm writing this on a top-of-the-line desktop with dual monitors. That philosophy is nice, but as of now it's not practical. What needs to happen as of now is people need to reallize that mental disorders are completely and totally real, and while you can joke about OCD and you can joke about Jews, neither of them are funny in real life. (You know what I mean, I know some extremely funny Jewish people and I bet you do too.) YOUR WORLDVIEW IS NOT EVERYONE'S WORLDVIEW. And when your worldviews clash, neither of you is necessarily wrong. Reality has no defined edges, no single interpretation. And as difficult a concept as that is to wrap one's mind around, I think the world would be an infinitely better place if we could. All living things do the best with what they have. The colorblind learn to distinguish precise shades of grey. The addicts, and remember addiction is something you're born with, and inherent trait that doesn't distinguish between alcohol or gambling or cocaine, the addicts learn to hold back, and only the unsuccessful ones die trying. Making the best of your particular tools is a self-enforcing trait built into the curious incarnation of natural selection that still binds humanity. And sometimes those tools are radically different than those of other people. Sometimes they work better, sometimes they don't work at all, and then it's our job to help fix them. But even when someone completely different comes along, they're not necessarily wrong. Even with the wrong tools, the wrong mindset, for this life, it doesn't make them broken.
It just means you're different.
P.S. So the story I talked about in my first post (What about you) is going to be a long time in coming, I'm afraid. It's on page 50(longhand) and not showing any signs of stopping soon.
So I wrote a thing about the end of the world. The new apocalypse. Something a little old, and a little new as well. Should be up next week.
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