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0 pointsmariodiana3y ago0 comments

Kanye makes me think of someone I knew. I knew a young woman once whose conversation was impossible to follow. She was a college graduate, and seemed intelligent. But, I think either her mind wandered, or else she simply lacked the capacity to reliably establish context in conversation.

I assure you, I really tried to make sense of what she was saying to me. She was beautiful, and I was interested in her. (I say this to emphasize how hard I was trying to make sense of it all.) But, in the end, I just could not follow. Maybe she had a kind of ADHD. But my point is that her "mental illness" likely went no further than that.

I can't follow Kanye either—though I am far less motivated to do so, by comparison. But, the guy is successful. I'm tempted to give him the benefit of the doubt that, like the young lady in my story, he may know what it is he's saying.

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thomastjeffery3y ago

Intellect isn't a single axis. People can be very skilled at understanding the details while being totally blind to the bigger picture.

andirk3y ago

To a lesser extent, I have found entertainment in speaking with people who start a topic with their thesis (i.e. why are there Yellow Pages and White Pages? So stupid!) To which you lightly counter with some easy to digest fact (i.e. yellow is biz, white is res), and then a few sentences later, they'll conclude with their original point, as if you said nothing at all (i.e. See? Isn't it stupid, yellow and white pages. Makes no sense!). It was frustrating before, but now it's enjoyable to see a person live in a different reality right in front of me.

Note: Sorry for dating myself and using a The Simpsons reference.

alfnor3y ago

Interesting, because personality disorders run in my family (ADHD, ASD, schizophrenia, OCD, depression, anxiety, etc.) and as someone with two of those diagnosed (and likely a third undiagnosed), I tend to follow Ye's line of thought flawlessly.

On the other hand, I often have to speed-watch speeches and lectures, as most neurotypical people stay on the same topic far too long for me to stay attentive. By speed-watching, the subject changes frequently enough for my mind to never start wandering.

lawrenceyan3y ago

It’s like trying to determine whether there’s actually signal there or just random noise.

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