Tuesday 25 September 2012

The grey areas

I watched a video that intrigued me. It's about defining who is and who is not mad. It's about how once people know you're mad, they want to keep you in that box. Everything you do, they define as part of your madness. People don't like grey areas. Grey scares people - it is neither one nor the other.

It reminds me very much of the book I've been writing for two years. Where do you draw the line between what is madness and what is socially acceptable? Who draws this line and who judges who has crossed that line? How do you get back once you have crossed that line and how do you re-evaluate and rebuild your own identity?

The TED video gave me much to think about. Click here to see it.


2 comments:

  1. Very true. I think people don't like grey areas because sometimes admitting they exist means they'd have to accept that in the case of madness, "but for the grace of God, go I" ...

    It may be an unconscious distancing strategy. A defence mechanism of sorts.

    Nice post, Ninki. Nice post.

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  2. Yes, thank you for that. I believe there is much truth in what you say. Meeting with a 'mad' person forces people to look deeper than they might otherwise look into their own souls.

    I think it also about predictability. People like to believe the world is predictable - which as we know, it is not - and being with anyone who is on the unpredictable end of the spectrum highlights this fact and makes the world seem less stable than we might like to think it is.

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Lovely to see your thoughts.