Very, very sad news about Fredrik deBoer. I have no idea what happened but the linked post sounds very desperate.
I hope Freddie finds help in the place where he’s going.
Sad News
Opinions, art, debate
Opinions, art, debate
Very, very sad news about Fredrik deBoer. I have no idea what happened but the linked post sounds very desperate.
I hope Freddie finds help in the place where he’s going.
Clarissa's Blog 
It often seems to be the most gifted and most capable who get “burned out” the easiest for some reason.
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Freddie is cursed by being an original thinker. He doesn’t mindlessly spout the party line. And that’s a very unforgiving task. 🙁🙁🙁
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He’s cursed by having type II bipolar disorder.
The medications for such disorders have the worst side effects and people complain of feeling dull, tired and having their vitality sapped. I know a lot of these medications have dire side effects such as massive weight gain and medication induced diabetes. I’ve seen it and the meds don’t even always completely work. I would hope he finds a way to manage it better because as of now, there is no cure as I understand it, just not manic or depressed. I’m sure his interaction on social media haven’t helped.
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If there was ever an invented diagnosis…
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Possibly. But I think if you’re already mentally fragile, being online in the way he was can push you over the edge. People can and will attack and doxx you for the most innocuous things, let alone original thought.
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Why is that? Genuinely curious.
Do you think there is any place for medication in curing mental illnesses?
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Nobody has ever claimed that there is any medication that can cure any mental illness. Nobody is even pretending that any medication can do anything but make a person a bit more socially convenient while giving them a host of painful after effects.
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Curious as to what you mean by invented diagnosis here. I know several people with this diagnosis that I think are just being tortured (and that is why they feel ill — no criticism of them, but yes criticism of the idea that it is something intrinsically wrong with them)
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“Bipolar” is just an empty word used to dismiss people’s real suffering, ply them full of meds that barely let them function, and forget they exist. What’s the use of the term if that’s all it serves to do?
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That’s what I think. And you convince them that they are non-functional, that there is something organically and very deeply wrong with them, their “brain doesn’t work,” etc. Esp. bipolar II. Bipolar I, I have had people swear to me really exists, so I am agnostic on it.
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“And you convince them that they are non-functional, that there is something organically and very deeply wrong with them, their “brain doesn’t work,” etc. ”
Exactly! The narrative of faulty brains that the entirety of psychiatry is based on is not very helpful. Especially in the context of what we are discussing in this thread. This is a person who was hounded mercilessly. And it’s not right to dismiss what happened with the excuse that he was mentally ill to begin with, so nobody is to blame.
God, I grew up hearing that it’s my fault for being brought down by bullying because I’m “too sensitive” or “too emotional.” And that something must be wrong with me if I react this way. But I’m thinking that maybe I’m not the problem. Maybe bullies are the real problem.
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Thanks for the alert.
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I hope he gets better. Damn.
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I remember something from last year (or earlier this year) where a clear joke was taken out of context and he was just hounded by a bunch of useless trolls for a long time. The internet is turning into a version of Lord of the flies.
I think a bunch of people detected sensitivity in him and just hounded him.
I think there are other issues (I think he’s written about medication problems before as well).
I too hope really he gets better.
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And he’s far from being the first person this has happened to. Since I started blogging, one person after another has been pushed out. And it’s always for standing out, even just a tiny little bit.
It’s very sad.
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I follow him on twitter and have posted many of his articles here. There could be deeper reasons of course, but from what I understand, he just couldn’t handle the toxicity of social media. Seems like he was happier when he completely withdrew from social media, but then he’d write a post, tweet about it, and then get eventually sucked into the eventual backlash and all the lefty infighting.
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Exactly. And he was one of the most original, insightful voices. Which, of course, was the problem.
Very very sad. I hope he gets better.
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” he was one of the most original, insightful voices. Which, of course, was the problem.”
A case study in favor of internet anonymity (under attack now)
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There is no real anonymity. Finding out anybody’s name and address is a matter of minutes.
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Apparently this was what finally drove him over the edge.
https://twitter.com/AngNagle/status/899299213619732480
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Wow, I have no words. This is a disgusting thing to do.
What I truly don’t get is, with everything that’s going on right now, Freddie deBoer is the enemy? Really? What are these people smoking? I can think of a million actually useful things they could do with their time and energy.
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“Freddie deBoer is the enemy? Really? ”
Fundamentalists always turn on their own.
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