Starship Troopers

They think my friend has meningitis, which I knew little about until this happened. Nasty stuff. They're hitting him with 5 different antibiotics now, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. There doesn't appear to be any brain damage, which is good, and hopefully he'll make a full recovery.

Thank You for everyone's kind words.

Why isn't there more talk about institutionalizing the mentally ill?

That was Ann Althouse after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The question strikes me as disingenuous, or even maybe naive, in light of the recent events in my immediate vicinity:

We're a freedom-loving people, and we labor to allow others (and ourselves) as much autonomy as possible - which allows, whatever troubles the afflicted, a lot of leeway.

Plus, in this culture, who are the mentally ill?

"What kind of country is this? There's a disconnect, between the country we think we are, and the country we actually are. And that only gets you so far, as you coast on the investments of the previous generation. But if you think you're there and you're not, that's called 'delusion,' and stuff catches up with you."

-- Neil deGrasse Tyson

One popular presidential candidate thought trees grow to a "right height," and is now the proud owner of The Plain English Campaign's 'Foot in Mouth' award for speaking gibberish, with this:

 

'I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love.'

Problem? And what about Jesus coming "back" to Missouri? Or, say, Westerners who think the Dalai Lama is reincarnated? In the NewAge, madness is more difficult to diagnose, apparently.

And that's where we careen into the side rail, right? Whoopee - bumper cars with the Feds:

Does NASA seriously think someone who's sold all their worldly possessions and run off to Serbia is capable of understanding facts? Or even cares?

If you ask me, everybody needs to do some reframing - fast. This is the NewAge. So we shouldn't be hearing about a "Mayan prophecy" but a NewAge prophecy - the Mayan are as confused by the nature of these events as anyone else. I think we should be investigating that.

What is NewAge? What effect is it having on people? On society?

This preposterous cosmology, that has believers gathering in "power spots," awaiting rescue spaceships as others die. Is that mental illness? What else is going on? I'll tell you - again:

 

Naw, forget that - I think you can figure it out for yourselves,....