|
CallaFirestormBW -> RE: Can stupid people consent? (7/11/2008 2:16:52 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: HeavansKeeper
<QR>
Legally speaking, the only ways consent cannot be given is if:
The consent was forced or coerced.
The consent was given by someone incompetent.
The consent was given by someone insane. (Insane implies incompetent, though)
Outside of the law, people have all sorts of mood changes. What I'll consent to eat changes with how hungry I am. *spies the cat*
I find this a lot more difficult to measure/ascertain than the criteria that I use... I'm assuming that, by 'incompetent' you're meaning a person who has been ruled incapable of handling their own affairs ... you know.. Britney Spears-like...
What bothers me is the use of the term 'insane' -- I find it difficult, down beneath the quieter levels of sanity, far beneath the obvious iceberg tip of the criminal sociopath, to determine what, exactly, qualifies someone as "insane"... Do they speak to God and have God speak back? They must be insane... or maybe they're a saint. Do they believe every word in this weird book, and insist on following every piece that the author wrote every day? They must be insane... or maybe their just religious fundamentalists (or Goreans or Church of All Worlders or Scientologists). Do they seek out activities that would induce pain and/or disfigurment? They must be insane ... or maybe they're just into body modification. Do they hear voices or smell smells that nobody else does, or feel sensations that nobody else does? They must be insane ... or perhaps they're exhibiting parapsychological phenomena.
It is impossible to determine sanity in a basically functional person. It is relatively easy to diagnose neurotic behaviors and neuroses, and easy to medicate them and send them on their happy little way... but the diagnosis of psychoses is complicated and problematic, especially because the very same 'symptoms' that we consider psychotic in our society are highly prized in other cultures as proof that one is special, sacred, and more connected to the Universe than the rest of society. If you want to put it in truly blunt terms, if Jesus Christ were alive today, he would surely be locked up in a mental institution (if not rotting away in jail for trying to destroy a church or two). If Einstien were alive today, he would have spent 10-12 years in detention or in special schools for his 'behavior problems', and would certainly have been laughed out of every board room in the States. If Napoleon were alive today, we would be showing him with roses for protecting us from the bad ol' foreigners.
Sanity is determined by people who have a vested interest in keeping all the sheep safely in the pen. I prefer to be a wolf among the sheep, and jump the fence when it suits me... I do my best to avoid the shepherd's gun... but I'd rather go down to the gun than be 'fleeced' for 30 years.
My criteria for 'sanity' is "do you freak me out by being a total wierdo every time we meet (wierdo by my standards) or can I live with the freakishness you represent?.. does your sense of self and sanity mesh with what is already in place?
Firestorm
|
|
|
|
