Dear Prudence: Conspiracy Theorist = Mentally Ill

I followed a random link and ended up reading a Dear Prudence article. It was in the format of a series of Q&As, as one would expect. One of them seemed like it would be relevant to this site, so here it is. I didn't find this through a search, so I hope this isn't a repeat.

Dear Prudence: Advice on Manners and Morals

Q. Conspiracy Love: My fiance and I are about to be married. We are both very opposite when it comes to our philosophy. I have been involved with the government for over 20 years in one capacity or another. He has always worked for himself and has never really been on his own. (He still lives with his parents.) I see the world as "bad things sometimes happen to good people" or "bad things happen to bad people." He sees the world as if something bad happens, the U.S. government or some ruling family is behind it. For example, he believes that Charlie Sheen wasn't always crazy and that someone targeted him to make him look crazy because he said that 9/11 was an "inside job." He believes that the earthquake in Japan was caused by the U.S. government using a large antenna array, called HAARP, to target the Japanese and cause nuclear power to be vilified or for some other nefarious purpose. He focuses on it so much (every conversation is about subjects such as these), instead of the things he should be focusing on, that it scares me. I've never seen any evidence to support such philosophy, but it is out there on the Internet. I'm not sure what to do anymore. I don't want to wake up one day with him moving us to some other place because he suspec9ts we are being targeted for depopulation. Everything that happens is taken at less than face value and there is always an underlying plot of some kind. Not sure quite what to do.

A: Charlie Sheen is rich and famous, and crazy, but the rich and famous part helps explain why women keep marrying him. Your fiance isn't rich and famous. So you need to call off the wedding and figure out why you were planning to marry someone who is mentally ill.

(Bold added by me)

So, basically, this woman writes the woman's fiance off as mentally ill, and advises this woman to break off the engagement, because he's a conspiracy theorist (which equals mentally ill, although, if he was rich and/or famous, presumably it would be fine...). This seems like some extreme, and unhelpful advice.

Do any of you folks have some (presumably mentally ill) opinions on this?

reply to post by Xiizhan


Actually, I think I have to agree with Prudence here. A man of marrying age that still lives with his parents and has never lived on his own, and supposedly looks for someone else to blame in every tragedy sounds mentally ill to me.

It isn't so much the Conspiracy Theory part, as it is the personal responsibility part. She should not marry him, so it was good advice for her to decide why she was considering marrying this loser in the first place.

reply to post by Xiizhan


She sounds Mentally ill , such drastic action from such little information, how sad

Sadbox

Spot on!

Can we give Prudance applause some how?

reply to post by Xiizhan


TBH I'm more inclined to believe the person who wrote in to a paper's agony aunt is the one with the mental issues.
On a more serious note though, does anyone have Charlies number?

yup im a conspiracy theorist and its driving me mad, listening to all these fooking sheeple

She isn't a qualified health professional on any level from what I can gather. Therefore her deeming someone as mentally ill is about as useful a statement as me commenting on whether or not a lump on your body is benign or not.

Agreed though, this guy needs to move out of his folks house ASAP.

reply to post by Xiizhan


Very true my friend,similar to my post today,i Awoke today,with a perspective i can really appreciate.Good luck,God Bless..

So let me get this right,
He's nuts, and she's been with him long enough to get to the doors of the church to get married but........
she's OKAY?
She's been duped, tricked, victimized.?
And Prudence the sight unseen oracle with limited information and interaction has "THE" answer !
Right?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight !
Am I suppose to smoke this or inject it?

"Most people with major mental illness don't believe in conspiracy theories," said Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director of the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

What's behind internet conspiracy empires?

No, conspiracy theorist not equal to mentally ill. Labeling us as mental is an easy way to dismiss our opinions without much thought or effort. If most intelligent people delved into the more mainstream conspiracies (9/11, JFK, moon landing as opposed to something out there like lizard people and hollow earth) they would see for themselves that what they are told is a lie. Why they choos not to, I don't know, maybe they're mentally ill.

reply to post by Xiizhan


I'm not sure how much weight I'd give advice that is provided by one who hasn't heard both sides of the story. The fiancee really needs to dig deep and figure out for herself if this is the spouse for her.

I wonder if she can provide the same 'evidence' for her beliefs that she expects of her fiance?

Q. Dad's E-Mail Again: For what it's worth, it was clear from the e-mail that it was a legitimate reply to a query my father sent, and not a spammer. But I'm hoping that nothing ever came of it, and I'll try to apply liberal amounts of brain bleach. Thanks. A: What was Dad going to do, say, "Hey, I'll run out for bagels!" then hook up with Ivanka? Brain disinfectant is a good idea!

now where did i put that bottle of bleech?an overdose on crazy threads here on ATS, requires her sound advice!

clearly Mental
funbox

Delete please Mods. TMI. Last one today I promise.

Only conspiracy theorists really know what's going on in the world, everyone is too damn blind to see the atrocities that are occurring.

Seems to ring true. Wasn't their a thread in skunkworks seriously considering that whales and dolphins caused the earthquake of Japan?

where does love come into this.story ....


anyway when it comes to the naked ugly truth of it all
sometimes you do get more sense out of the village idiot

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Xiizhan

 

Actually, I think I have to agree with Prudence here. A man of marrying age that still lives with his parents and has never lived on his own, and supposedly looks for someone else to blame in every tragedy sounds mentally ill to me.

It isn't so much the Conspiracy Theory part, as it is the personal responsibility part. She should not marry him, so it was good advice for her to decide why she was considering marrying this loser in the first place.

And I'm totally fine with this perspective. But this wasn't her point. He sounds more like a Failure to Launch situation than someone with undiagnosed mental illness. If he still lives at home, sure he probably has enough time to read through all these sites. Hell, I support my family and have time to hit ATS at least once a day to keep up.

Originally posted by Big Raging Loner
reply to post by BenIndaSun

 

Most of the conspiracys they subscribe to are fragmented and rarely appear to follow any sort of coherent logical theory. Unlike people such as ourselves (most of us), analysing facts and trying to piece together some version of the truth. The patients conspiracys are also generally personalised, and stem from delusions of persecution.

Yep, they have very personal conspiracies.

Duckworth argued that most mentally ill people create conspiracy theories that are self-centric, such as, "the mailman is after me," not inclusive such as, "the postal workers are all out to get us by 2015."

What's behind internet conspiracy empires? ( for this article)


Now back to the OP. It seems there are mentally ill and conspiracy theorists and they are two different types of people. Based on what we know about this guy, he is a conspiracy theorist, not mentally ill. This quack has given some stupid advice but if this woman was unsure for herself it's probably best they call the wedding off rather than get divorced in a few years. Also, most conspiracy theorists don't talk about our theories 24/7 like this guy, he seems a little fixated and maybe that's why his fiance is seeking outside opinion.

reply to post by Xiizhan


I am sure I am not alone when I say this, my significant other IS NOT a tin foil hat wearing enthusiast, such as myself. I have been told I am absolutely nuts, but at least I'm hanging off the right tree.

I do not, however, live in mommies basement completely absorbed and unable to function in society. If anything, I add to it!

reply to post by Xiizhan


Hello Brother,
This will be short and sweet. He is bound by/in/with this world of judgement/punishment. He is trying to understand but is having trouble waking up. He/we should look for the signs, they will be specific to everyone (the narrow path).
He is not crazy.
Anyone who tells you to do something other than love/forgive someone is not of our Father/Creator.

Yeah, this world is falling apart around us, that is the plan, but this is but a pale copy, it's time to let go. Please, everyone!!! Stop the judgement/condemnation/punishment!
We are waking up, do not fear it, we are waking up!