Bat-shit Insano Theory

[ramtower]

I am developing a theory. I call it the bat-shit insano theory. If you find yourself in the middle of a conversation thinking "this is bat-shit insano, why are we even talking about this," it is likely that the person you are talking to is NOT bat-shit insano but rather that there is another conversation, a secret conversation happening at the same time as the bat-shit insano one you think you're having.

Whoever you're talking to is PROBABLY sane but is wrestling with some argument completely detached from you, and you have become the strawman in this argument. You are talking about topic A, but that topic seems bat-shit insano because the other person, while SEEMING to talk about topic A is really talking about topic B.

The problem, however, is that you are not allowed to bring this up, or it will make the person you are talking to go bat-shit insano on you.

That is my theory. Feel free to help flesh it out. I think it has some weak points.

[mewelke]

You give people too much credit.

[Brian Reed]

I was just thinking the same thing.

I expect that most people are, in fact, Bat Shit Insano. We just usually end up befriending those who have the same BSI rating as ourselves and we don't notice it as often as we normally would.

[ramtower]

You give people too much credit.
I will never consider that a weakness.

[ramtower]

a corollary:
The person to whom you are speaking is a person you generally trust not to be bat-shit insano.

[Noodle]

I'm having a great time trying to think of the situation that brought this on. the possibilities are great and entertaining.

[Ascius]

You've just perfectly explained the girl having a psycho blow-up at you situation.

Girl is angry about A, but won't talk about it. You have a conversation about B. She suddenly goes fuck all crazy at you about B, when she's really pissed about A.

...you don't figure this out till way later, if at all. Hence the common male belief that women are crazy.

...ok, well, they are all crazy, but this is one of those cases where the reasoning behind the crazy can be discovered.

[GelfXIII]

I think that what is happening in those cases is that the other person, let's call him BSI, is actually having a vitally important conversation with alternate-dimension-you. The here-you and the alternate-you having split at some previous junction point. The other you is also having a conversation with someone they think is BSI, because they're having your half of their conversation, while you're having their half. Meanwhile both BSIs are going to wind up looking at you like you're the BSI one because you aren't making any sense in any dimension.

Get it?

[ramtower]

(everything you said)

I think that's generally correct. In this case, Noods, I'm talking about my mother telling my sister that she's worried my niece (eight) might think she's named after a Clinton-era politician. My mother has become more talk-show republican over the years, which disappoints me, because she's smart enough to see through the transparent ploys of those shows.

So my mother calls my sister, says she's worried that my niece is upset that she might be named after a politician she's never heard of -- one she's not named after, either -- but whom my sister probably supported.

Under the auspices of being concerned for her granddaughter's wellbeing, my mother, a remarkably sane person, has started a bat-shit insano argument with my unsuspecting sister. That got me thinking. Ascius shows the theory's general application, too...

Gelf, what you're describing might be another corollary, in that the two people are talking about the same topic but one person has simply decided that you are arguing alternate-dimension you's point rather than your own. So, in topic A, you make point A, but the other person hears point B (which he imagines is what you think) and responds to that instead. Then, you're stuck debating against a position that the other person has constructed for you AS WELL AS against the other person's position, leaving you very confused.

But I think that's a valuable addition to the BSI theory, yes.

[mewelke]

In the case of Republicans these days, assuming it is not an economic issue, I just reccomend showing them this, and telling them that this is their party and even if they come off as quieter this is what they represent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUW_W68BUrc&mode=related&search=Trading%20spouses

[GelfXIII]

That clip hurts my brain.


and my heart, and my soul, and everything else too. :(

[Brian Reed]

Rich talking about his hawt mom.

Wait, she just out of the blue called up and said "Hey, how's it going. You've warped your daughter by naming her iforgetwhatyourniece'snameis"?

[ramtower]

This, heard secondhand from my sister, seems to be, in essence, "how it went down."

[Brian Reed]

Fascinating.

And you mom seemed so sane...

[ramtower]

Exactly. This is why I devised the Bat-Shit Insano theory (and its corollary) in the first place.

[Brian Reed]

An old friend of ours used to say people acted crazy because "they have too much water in their system."

[ramtower]

so, just pee and you'll be fine?

[Brian Reed]

I was never clear on how one was supposed to resolve the situation.

[GelfXIII]

I was never clear on how one was supposed to resolve the situation.

http://www.survivinggrady.com/bluto.jpg
My advice? Drink heavily.