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Speaking of "crazy"
Dec. 18th, 2010 01:16 pmI've been thinking about the word "crazy" and how I use it after I read Ableist Word Profile: Crazy at FWD/Forward.
As a potter, I think of crazed glazes, run through with decorative cracks every which way, but leaving the pot fully functional. Or I think of a crazy quilt, another functional object with the same random lines.
Sometimes I think of crazy as meaning random, disorganized, running every which way, but still functional. Our modern usage of crazy as relating to mental illness comes from this original meaning.
Other times, I'm trying to briefly explain why I don't talk to my parents, and I say, "They're really crazy." They may be mentally ill, but that's not the point. I don't talk to them because they're cruel, and criminally abusive.
I also talk about avoiding "crazy people" in daily life, by which I mean people who initially seem friendly, but then it turns out they are too absorbed in their own drama to connect with me. Is that mental illness, or culturally programmed insensitivity? I'm not licensed to diagnose, so perhaps I'll say "inconsiderate" in the future.
Then there's "crazy-making" - when someone's words and actions undermine my connection with my own perceptions of reality. This comes closer to the mental illness definition, since that behavior leaves me in a mentally and emotionally disorganized state. I'm going to continue using that phrase. Rarely, I hope, since I back away immediately when I get that sensation.
Crazy-making is different from mere disagreement, and comes closer to mansplaining (I know I'm speaking clearly, why isn't this man responding appropriately?!), or gaslighting (wait, that's not how I remember it...).
I don't generally use crazy to mean extra, as in "crazy hot," and I don't intend to start now.
Thank you, RMJ for giving me food for thought and new awareness. I want to use "crazy" in a way that is respectful of people with mental illnesses, unless I'm talking about glazes, or quilts. As a side benefit, when I stop using "crazy" as a catchall word for inappropriate behavior, I can more precisely name what is really happening.
Photo credit:
Small Wheel-Thrown Vase, made and photographed by Zhao Shouren, photo published under Creative Commons License.
Crazy is one of the most versatile and frequently used slurs, a word used sometimes directly against persons with mental disabilities (PWMD), sometimes indirectly against persons with able privilege, sometimes descriptive and value-neutral, and sometimes in a superficially positive light.
As a potter, I think of crazed glazes, run through with decorative cracks every which way, but leaving the pot fully functional. Or I think of a crazy quilt, another functional object with the same random lines.
Sometimes I think of crazy as meaning random, disorganized, running every which way, but still functional. Our modern usage of crazy as relating to mental illness comes from this original meaning.
Other times, I'm trying to briefly explain why I don't talk to my parents, and I say, "They're really crazy." They may be mentally ill, but that's not the point. I don't talk to them because they're cruel, and criminally abusive.
I also talk about avoiding "crazy people" in daily life, by which I mean people who initially seem friendly, but then it turns out they are too absorbed in their own drama to connect with me. Is that mental illness, or culturally programmed insensitivity? I'm not licensed to diagnose, so perhaps I'll say "inconsiderate" in the future.
Then there's "crazy-making" - when someone's words and actions undermine my connection with my own perceptions of reality. This comes closer to the mental illness definition, since that behavior leaves me in a mentally and emotionally disorganized state. I'm going to continue using that phrase. Rarely, I hope, since I back away immediately when I get that sensation.
Crazy-making is different from mere disagreement, and comes closer to mansplaining (I know I'm speaking clearly, why isn't this man responding appropriately?!), or gaslighting (wait, that's not how I remember it...).
I don't generally use crazy to mean extra, as in "crazy hot," and I don't intend to start now.
Thank you, RMJ for giving me food for thought and new awareness. I want to use "crazy" in a way that is respectful of people with mental illnesses, unless I'm talking about glazes, or quilts. As a side benefit, when I stop using "crazy" as a catchall word for inappropriate behavior, I can more precisely name what is really happening.
Photo credit:
Small Wheel-Thrown Vase, made and photographed by Zhao Shouren, photo published under Creative Commons License.
