“Insanity knows no bounds in the new society.”
People have always been this crazy. It’s just that technology and medicine let them go through with their craziness and modern technology lets the entire world see it firsthand.
When I first moved to Tallahassee there was a story in the paper about a guy who bought a new chainsaw, doused it and his leg in alcohol, tied it off with a tourniquet, called 911 and told them he was going to cut it off and to send an ambulance. He did it while on the phone.
A century ago, people just “identified” as St. Gerome or some such. A pretty well-built male nurse in a crazy ward told me that he told a little old lady, “Oh, Alice, you know perfectly well you aren’t Queen Victoria.” He said she roundhouse punched him, knocking him to the ground. She said, “Don’t ever dare to contradict me again!” (That seems pretty tame compared to this nut, though.)
A wise FReeper once posted something like “Our society used to have the collective good sense to ignore these people. Now, we feel compelled to celebrate them- to the benefit of no one.”