GENIUS FORUMS

is hard to explain becuase it comes of so many ambiguous sources. We dont really know where these messages come from. Some postings could be by electronic Turing machines, some by organic varieties commonly thot of as pathological, and some from entire alternate realities because there is no discernible limit to cyberspace.

And of course, there are times when stressed, some one just hasta rant. Then too, if we consider Dr. Frued's observation that neurotics cannot tolerate ambiguity, we can understand the partisanship behind the rants, and the utter conviction there is no downside to their proposals, and all contrary opinions are worthy of only ad hominum.

The world I see is increasingly complicated, and the statistics posted to explain interactions between various elements are exponentially increasing, Nobody could possibly remember it all to make a rational judgment about policy proposals. So- the trolls trim it down to a more manageable set of ideas, and get pissed if you offer a fact that dont fit in their scheme of things.

You may recall how Dr. Freud admired the ingenuity of neurotics to explain to themselves why they think the way they do in denying certain aspects of what passes for reality. And how, when confronted with the cognitive dissonance, get angry. Hence, the flaming & ad hominum when you refuse to validate their illusions.

Its not like we here are in any position to treat the condition. If you recall, Dr. Freud noted it was a very intractable condition. Since neurotics are otherwise functional, they can carry on in this condition for decades so long as their economic support- job, family, pension, etc, continues. Its when there is economic crisis, within the family, community, or nation, that people either wake up to reality, or fall entirely into psychosis. And if the latter, you do not want to be there. All the anger you see now gets focused in immediate action, often with deadly consequences.

I do sometimes use some bit of data to push a hot button. I dont expect any enlightenment to come of it, but like Socrates, see how the audience picks up on the interchange. There's no effort to inform the troll of some logical inconsistency, but use the troll's own exasperation to illustrate the point.

Wait a minit, mountain guy. Instead of replying to my question in the thread I just started -- "Genius attracts Idiocy," you start a new thread on more or less the same subject?

I didnt see your thread. But I do not refer to idiots, morons, or the retarded. I usta work in clinical settings, and they are, in fact, more agreeable people. Neurotics are, in contrast, quite intelligent. It takes a very creative mind to invent the straws they use to support their delusions.

You seem to be referring to the failure of the sage to get thru the fog of group think, which certainly is a deserving subject, whereas I speak from the perspective of a rational audience distracted from the discourse by the trolling. Altho both are certainly related to mental pathology, that of the masses, which you refer to, or that of the troll, which I have noticed.

The diff between the sage and the troll, is that the former does not get angry when his position is challenged, or bother with trying to diagnose mental pathology based on that challenge. However, the sage may look at a pattern of challenges and the responses to them- to see the familiar workings of the neurotic mind.