Saturday, December 1, 2007

More evidence of Republican delusions and denial

According to the some Gallup Health and Healthcare polls Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent.

Wait?! How is that evidence of Republican delusions and denial? Isn't that evidence of the opposite? Well, let me explain why it's not.

Remember, this is all self-reported mental health status. Just because you think you're in excellent mental health doesn't mean that you are. This was not a doctor doing interviews and tests and deciding whether someone was in good mental health, this was just someone on the phone asking you what you think your own mental health status is.

Now, recall the young man that submitted this video question: "... how you answer this question will tell us everything we need to know about you. Do you believe every word of this book?" The young man then waved around a Bible with a trembling hand saying, "...this book that I am holding in my hand, do you believe this book?" If you think a professional psychologist would rate that young man as being in excellent mental health, then you don't know psychology.

However, to be fair, no psychologist would really venture a diagnosis based on such scant evidence but the young man does not come off as sane to me.

What it really means is probably that Republicans aren't much for looking inside their own heads. It means that people like Bible-boy, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, Georgia State Rep. Ben Bridges of Cleveland and Texas State Rep. Warren Chisum would assure you that they are in excellent mental health. Just like Ted Haggard and Larry Craig will assure you that they are straight, heterosexual men.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello.

This post is offtopic and directed at Norm Doering:

Hello. I saw your blog entry claiming censorship at Huffington Post. I'm commenting here because I can't find your email address. Would you be willing to contact me and offer a few quotes regarding your experience?

J. Maynard Gelinas
maynard@jmg.com