91. “The Personality/Insanity Continuum” By: Geoffrey Miller
The thing that attracted me to reading this essay was what happened in Colorado last week with the opening of the Dark Knight Rises and those shootings. The reason for me wanting to read this is because hearing what this man did killing all of those people and booby-trapping his own apartment shows that he obviously has some serious issues going on in his head. While insanity is a problem, I don’t feel like it should be an out in a shooting like this that can be used as leverage to get a lesser sentence. This guys lawyer clearly understands the 5 concepts discussed in this article and has told his client what needs to be done in the court room to seem even more insane than he already is. What is happening here really reminds be of what happened in Iowa 2 years ago when high school football coach Ed Thomas was killed and his murderer tried to play the insanity card to get off and while it didn’t work and he recieved the life sentence I feel he was very close to being released. My feelings with previous beliefs and after reading this are still that yes you may have insanity, but it is part of who you are with your personality and you need to learn how to live with it and control it.
Honors Program Summer Read 2012 
Kate Swanson 2:53 pm on July 28, 2012 Permalink |
I agree that is wrong to use insanity as an option for a lesser sentence. I don’t want to start a debate about the Colorado shootings but it seems as though prior planning and educated thought (though drastically misguided and twisted) went into his plans. On lighter topics, I believe Geoffrey Miller does an excellent job of telling his ideas in a easy way for his readers to absorb and understand. As a culture, we are all very “tell me your problems because I have none” coming from the Midwest, I see a sea of people ready to “help” everyone else out, but not key on diagnosing (or recognizing) their own problems. Once the fingers stop being pointed at others we can move on from trying to find an exact definition of insanity. Catch phrases like “you’re making me crazy” and “she drives me insane” suddenly have new meaning after reading this chapter, but I’m not about to go check into a mental hospital because of acute OCD inclinations or the fact that I have to have a notebook with me at practically all times. I really liked how Miller described how different personalities can be triggers to mental insanity. I have often entertained the idea that some of my more extroverted friends are “crazy”. Another idea, the interesting debate between health and insurance companies and who has to pay for what- if they didn’t need a exact definition or degree of insanity more people who need help could get that help for less–right? I may have read that part wrong…it made me a little crazy 😉 All in all, the phrase “Yes you have a problem, I am normal” does not exist.