Oh, yes, of course....

[conuly]

The woman's house is, as near as I can tell, stuffed with food (but she's buying more because she doesn't want to go without). She's convinced her appliances are broken, and worried about how clean they are.

Whatever's going on here, it's not stupidity. In fact, in my extremely unprofessional opinion, I agree with every other person there saying "Yup, probably OCD" (or possibly the person saying early Alzheimer's).

But, while the replies from the OP indicate that it's not insensitive of us to mock this woman (her own relative!) for being stupid, it's terribly insensitive for us to suggest that she's not just "quirky" but might possibly have an actual problem! After all, she's seen professionals and gotten help and there's Just Nothing Wrong. (Isn't seeing professionals about what I can only imagine is this exact problem (though it's hard to tell with the vagueness) a sign that it's not sheer stupidity?)

I hate people.

(Not, of course, that I think it's proper to give people actual diagnoses over the internet, especially when you aren't in any way certified. However, really, in this case I'd say the symptoms just scream at you.)

Edit: Post's been deleted. I *think* it's been deleted by the OP, not by the maintainer-of-the-comm (who also is the moderator - I'm still not sure why she approved it.)

To clarify, *every* comment (except those replies by the OP, who was outraged that we thought her mother-in-law wasn't merely "mockably stupid") said that the woman had some sort of Absolutely Not Funny problem. Most people said OCD. One person said early Alzheimer's. One person started a small subthread on hunger-in-childhood (specifically growing up in the depression) leading to food hoarding in later life. That's how obvious it seemed to everyone.

Comments

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

Sigh. It appears to be gone. I wish there were caches (like on Google) for stuff like this. I hate missing things. :-(

[conuly]

You're not missing out on much, just a horrible headache and sense of misanthropy.

[the-cynic.livejournal.com]

Apparently the moderator of mock_the_stupid agrees, cause your link goes to a 'No Such Post' error page.


PS, OT, Happy Belated Birthday.

[conuly]

I'm thinking the OP just deleted it out of shame. I'm actually suprised the mod there let it through, she's usually pretty good about things like that, and even commented that it didn't quite sound like stupidity. I'm not sure what happened.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

No such entry. I guess enough people agreed with you.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I hate diagnosing over the internet, but sometimes the symptoms scream at you. I did it once over IRC, not a 100% diagnosis, just a - you might have this and you should see someone to find out and get it treated.

But I'm fairly sure I was right. The person's actions screamed paranoid schizophrenia. And when I tried to politely bring this up and suggest she get help and mentioned that modern treatments are fairly good and can make a world of difference, her response (from memory) was: I can't have schizophrenia I don't have it. My ____ has it. (I forget the relation, maybe grandfather... but it was definitely a near relative.) Which, as far as I am concerned, pretty much confirmed the diagnosis. Poor girl, I hope she did get help.

I haven't looked at the link yet, but it definitely sounds like a variant of hoarding OCD. Plenty of cases of people filling their houses, often to dangerous degrees. And that's considered OCD in almost all cases. Although, I suppose it's true it could be some other disorder, such as dementia.

So, I guess my point is - I wouldn't ever want to 100% say someone has FOO because of only online info. But I do think in some cases you can say it is massively likely someone has FOO, and if they don't have FOO, they do seem to have something that should be checked out.

And I agree that it's horrible that saying someone may have a disorder and may need help isn't okay, but making fun of them is.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Usually diagnosing anything over the internet seems to me a bit like Bill Frist trying to diagnose Terri Schiavo by videotape. Not really that effective.

But I did see that post and immediately thought the woman had some sort of problem. Mockable stupidity is...I don't know, the kid who thought Long Island was only attached to the US by bridges. That post just made me feel very sad, because I do think the woman needs help. :/

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

The fact that it got deleted is a sign we should be a bit more optimistic about human nature, perhaps! Evidently the mockers know a real psychological problem is not a source of humour, and probably taught the OP a much-needed lesson. (GOOD.)

[davidkevin.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't count on that. Schadenfreude, although not officially recognized (yet) as a mental disorder, is nonetheless just as much a compulsive behavior as any disorder you can name.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

Well, my point was that they could tell the difference between wilful ignorance/obnoxiousness and a genuine illness, but yes, now you mention it, mockery on that scale is hardly healthy even if the targets seem to "deserve" it.

The trend a couple of years back for "Darwin Awards" - in other words, deaths caused by stupidity - seems to be the apotheosis of this Schadenfreude trend. According to this, Nature will weed out the stupid people whilst leaving the "smart ones" (the mockers). What they can't seem to get is that Nature punishes the *weak* and *defenceless*, not the stupid. There's no "just deserts" about any of it.

[conuly]

Stupidity is a kind of defenselessness and weakness, I suppose. Of course, so is just pure dumb luck, and nobody ever talks about how important *that* is to evolution....

[conuly]

Well, we *tried* (and it even was polite, the top-level comments, which is nice!), but we got told that we were the insensitive ones.

[davidkevin.livejournal.com]

> One person started a small subthread on hunger-in-childhood
> (specifically growing up in the depression) leading to food hoarding
> in later life. That's how obvious it seemed to everyone.


Living through the Depression left a form of PTSD among many, including my paternal grandmother. For over twenty years, to hear her talk, she was always broke, just one Social Security check from losing her (paid for) duplex house and being thrown into the Poorhouse (an institution the City of Saint Louis hasn't had in over half a century) -- and she really believed this.

In 1986 she accidentally left out some papers in a place from which I had to move them to accomplish a task for her. As I picked them up, I saw they were certificates of deposit for $10,000 each -- four of them. But banks can fail, and she was scared to death her money could disappear overnight, leaving her destitute, even 45 years after the Depression ended.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

That's very sad. Have you read Art Spiegelman's MAUS? He shows how his father had a similar fixation for "hoarding" stuff, however worthless, because of his internment in Auschwitz.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, from first part of the description my initial thought was "She must have starved at some point." I'm terrified of not having food even when my fridge is full.

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

Sigh. It appears to be gone. I wish there were caches (like on Google) for stuff like this. I hate missing things. :-(

[conuly]

You're not missing out on much, just a horrible headache and sense of misanthropy.

[the-cynic.livejournal.com]

Apparently the moderator of mock_the_stupid agrees, cause your link goes to a 'No Such Post' error page.


PS, OT, Happy Belated Birthday.

[conuly]

I'm thinking the OP just deleted it out of shame. I'm actually suprised the mod there let it through, she's usually pretty good about things like that, and even commented that it didn't quite sound like stupidity. I'm not sure what happened.

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

No such entry. I guess enough people agreed with you.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I hate diagnosing over the internet, but sometimes the symptoms scream at you. I did it once over IRC, not a 100% diagnosis, just a - you might have this and you should see someone to find out and get it treated.

But I'm fairly sure I was right. The person's actions screamed paranoid schizophrenia. And when I tried to politely bring this up and suggest she get help and mentioned that modern treatments are fairly good and can make a world of difference, her response (from memory) was: I can't have schizophrenia I don't have it. My ____ has it. (I forget the relation, maybe grandfather... but it was definitely a near relative.) Which, as far as I am concerned, pretty much confirmed the diagnosis. Poor girl, I hope she did get help.

I haven't looked at the link yet, but it definitely sounds like a variant of hoarding OCD. Plenty of cases of people filling their houses, often to dangerous degrees. And that's considered OCD in almost all cases. Although, I suppose it's true it could be some other disorder, such as dementia.

So, I guess my point is - I wouldn't ever want to 100% say someone has FOO because of only online info. But I do think in some cases you can say it is massively likely someone has FOO, and if they don't have FOO, they do seem to have something that should be checked out.

And I agree that it's horrible that saying someone may have a disorder and may need help isn't okay, but making fun of them is.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Usually diagnosing anything over the internet seems to me a bit like Bill Frist trying to diagnose Terri Schiavo by videotape. Not really that effective.

But I did see that post and immediately thought the woman had some sort of problem. Mockable stupidity is...I don't know, the kid who thought Long Island was only attached to the US by bridges. That post just made me feel very sad, because I do think the woman needs help. :/

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

The fact that it got deleted is a sign we should be a bit more optimistic about human nature, perhaps! Evidently the mockers know a real psychological problem is not a source of humour, and probably taught the OP a much-needed lesson. (GOOD.)

[davidkevin.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't count on that. Schadenfreude, although not officially recognized (yet) as a mental disorder, is nonetheless just as much a compulsive behavior as any disorder you can name.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

Well, my point was that they could tell the difference between wilful ignorance/obnoxiousness and a genuine illness, but yes, now you mention it, mockery on that scale is hardly healthy even if the targets seem to "deserve" it.

The trend a couple of years back for "Darwin Awards" - in other words, deaths caused by stupidity - seems to be the apotheosis of this Schadenfreude trend. According to this, Nature will weed out the stupid people whilst leaving the "smart ones" (the mockers). What they can't seem to get is that Nature punishes the *weak* and *defenceless*, not the stupid. There's no "just deserts" about any of it.

[conuly]

Stupidity is a kind of defenselessness and weakness, I suppose. Of course, so is just pure dumb luck, and nobody ever talks about how important *that* is to evolution....

[conuly]

Well, we *tried* (and it even was polite, the top-level comments, which is nice!), but we got told that we were the insensitive ones.

[davidkevin.livejournal.com]

> One person started a small subthread on hunger-in-childhood
> (specifically growing up in the depression) leading to food hoarding
> in later life. That's how obvious it seemed to everyone.


Living through the Depression left a form of PTSD among many, including my paternal grandmother. For over twenty years, to hear her talk, she was always broke, just one Social Security check from losing her (paid for) duplex house and being thrown into the Poorhouse (an institution the City of Saint Louis hasn't had in over half a century) -- and she really believed this.

In 1986 she accidentally left out some papers in a place from which I had to move them to accomplish a task for her. As I picked them up, I saw they were certificates of deposit for $10,000 each -- four of them. But banks can fail, and she was scared to death her money could disappear overnight, leaving her destitute, even 45 years after the Depression ended.

[threeoranges.livejournal.com]

That's very sad. Have you read Art Spiegelman's MAUS? He shows how his father had a similar fixation for "hoarding" stuff, however worthless, because of his internment in Auschwitz.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, from first part of the description my initial thought was "She must have starved at some point." I'm terrified of not having food even when my fridge is full.