The main way I've seen people turn ideologically crazy (2025) • Hacker News Board

Re: The main way I've seen people turn ideologically crazy (2025)

#201

Post by m463 » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 2:51 AM UTC

TrackerFF wrote: post #106

For the past few years, I've seen a dozen of friends or acquaintances turn "ideologically crazy", and they can be roughly grouped into: A) Onset of schizophrenia or other serious mental illness, followed by psychosis. This is actually the most common I've seen. But it is also the easiest to spot. B) Some crisis event in life, followed by finding / joining a community. Some were hit hard by this during COVID. I've yet…

> it could be that they just hide it better.

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation"

I think we need decent third places back, because the post-internet replacements are sub-par.

Re: The main way I've seen people turn ideologically crazy (2025)

#202

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 3:27 AM UTC

positr0n wrote: post #200

jst1fthsdys wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Charlie Kirk's killer > the guy who killed the United Healthcare CEO. Allegedly. Neither have been convicted.

Well I mean someone killed them. So whoever did it is who OP is talking about.

Assuming the perpetrators are left-leaning.

Re: The main way I've seen people turn ideologically crazy (2025)

#203

Post by jrflowers » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 4:02 AM UTC

miyoji wrote: post #14

jrflowers wrote: post #12

I like that the author doesn’t clarify what constitutes an extremist idea aside from suggesting that he doesn’t believe in any. “Extremism is when people, who are dumb, don’t know facts unlike me, who is very smart” is a kick ass theme for an essay

"I’m not against extremist ideas on principle. I have my own, the main one being that animal welfare is a much larger urgent catastrophe than most people believe."

“I have exactly one ‘extremist’ belief that I’m willing to share and here’s why I think it’s correct” doesn’t do much to clarify what constitutes extremist other than stuff the author is too smart to believe

Re: The main way I've seen people turn ideologically crazy (2025)

#204

Post by marjancek » Tue, Aug 11, 2026, 8:05 AM UTC

bot403 wrote: post #97

hackernud3s wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We all learned what the 3 branches are in grade school. Some people forgot it. Liberals are more likely to remember it because liberal discourse (this thread for example) reminds them of it. It's a biased litmus test in other words.

It's inconceivable to me that you could forget the three branches. There are still headlines and news articles about the president , congress, and the supreme court. Those three things , talked about constantly, are a basic reminder of the most visible aspects of each branch.

Yet a lot of people forgot about the most important thing about them: that they must be independent.