• CupcakeOfSpice [she/her, fae/faer]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    A mental illness is something a person has no control over. These people make the choice to support genocide. There’s a quote I see frequently about not believing that antisemites are unaware of the absurdity of what they say. They know what they’re saying is irrational and ridiculous, but they want to play the victim.

    • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      It is absolutely possible to give yourself mental illness. A trivial example is that, given material conditions that enable it, you can choose to live in extreme isolation with no human contact, which will inevitably cause mental illness over time. Another trivial example is that you can deliberately traumatize yourself, and some people actually do (modern examples are often connected to the internet and snuff films).

      It would require evidence to establish that Zionist communities cause mental illness (besides the traumatic fear they inflict on children), but it’s not impossible. The original person was still probably being hyperbolic by saying that the bigotries themselves are mental illnesses, but I think it depends on how you define mental illness, because they usually do involve pathological patterns of thought.

      • Llituro [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        you are correct, i was being hyperbolic.

        another good modern example of a mental illness that people are giving themselves is AI “psychosis.” i don’t think that’s a good term for it, but when you look at some of the delusions people are experiencing by not understanding what ChatGPT is and then throwing their entire selves into it for most of their day, that at least to me feels like a demonstrable mental illness someone gave themselves.

    • Llituro [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      5 months ago

      to be clear, i mean the pyschological symptoms that being an unflaggingly loyal nazi is having on these people. even if they’re being a sartrean, antisemitic-style language gamesperson, i don’t doubt that they’re at least somewhat experiencing paranoia and racist delusions. none of that means that they should be treated as a patient like someone experiencing psychosis.