By Patrick Cleveland,
M.A., L.M.F.T.
Well, one
must first define what it means to ‘lose it’ or ‘go crazy.’ If one defines that
as speaking one’s mind consistently without a filter with ideas that go against
what the majority of your own ethnicity tend to believe then yes, Kanye has
definitely lost it. The majority of African-Americans are democrats and here he
is promoting republican views. He must be crazy right? No. Once again it
depends on how you define that. He is not crazy for being black and espousing
republican views. Colin Powell is a republican and he isn’t crazy; neither is
Alveda King or Michael Steele.
Has Kanye
been infected with Trump’s incessant ego worship to the point that his own political
views have been swayed? Maybe. Is Kanye still upset Obama called him ‘stupid’
and is therefore looking for a new leader out of spite? Maybe. I don’t know
because I don’t know the history of Kanye’s political views and what has led
him to them.
What’s more important here isn’t
the fact that a black man is promoting republican views but that there is a
black man who is behaving in ways most members of society don’t like and is saying things many people in his own ethnic
group don’t like. It is common group behavior to label people as crazy or sick
when they go against the group. Families will shame, corporations will terminate,
and religions will shun people who don’t participate in the group ideology.
They also call these dissenters all sorts of pathological labels and demeaning
names.
Now let’s clear things up a bit.
Kanye has admitted that he suffers from bi-polar disorder. On his recent album
cover he even wrote, “I hate being bi-poloar, it’s aweseome”, which perfectly
exemplifies the rapid yin yang thinking indicative of someone with bi-polar
disorder. Was he showing symptoms of bi-polar in his most recent TV
appearances? As a psychotherapist I would have to say yes. He has symptoms of
what mental status exams would list as rapid speech, flight of ideas, and
tangential/loose associations. When someone is in a manic state they sometimes
speak this way. They go on and on really fast with all of these elaborate ideas
that are very loosely connected and you can’t tell how what they said in minute
one connects to what they’re saying in minute five. They’re just on a flight of
ideas that make sense to them while only making minimal sense to others.
Another symptom of bi-polar disorder that can occur during a manic episode is
delusions of grandeur. In this symptom the person may think they have special
gifts and must complete a huge mission at all costs. The confusing part here is
that Kanye is a musical genius with special gifts. However, some evidence of
this is shown when he tells Trump, “you’re on your hero’s journey!” The hero is
a powerful archetype in Jungian psychology and mythological studies. It was further
made famous in the book called A Hero
With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. Kanye thinks he is on his own
hero’s journey and glorifies Trump for being a winner on his journey to the
point where he really believes he’s really going to do ‘great’ things. Will
Trump’s policies lead to less black lives lost in Chicago in four years than
Obama’s? I doubt it, but that remains to be seen.
I am not a Trump supporter by any
means. I have been a long time fan of Kanye's music, and was surprised to hear his political views and the reasons for them. Perhaps Kanye really believes in the ideology of his
hero. Perhaps he is blinded by delusions of grandeur and sees the good in
winning no matter what the winner thinks, say, or has done. It’s hard to tell,
but Kanye says he claims to hold these views for the various reasons he has stated
so all we can do is take him at his word at this point. To conclude, Kanye is
not crazy for being black and holding republican views. However, the way he
went about promoting them would lead some people to believe he is exhibiting
symptoms of bi-polar disorder which some say defines you as mentally ill and
others call a gift. What is considered crazy or not crazy, sane or insane,
mentally ill or well, is a whole other debate within the mental health
community we shall save for another time.
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