Carson: "Joseph built the pyramids to store grain"

MRC_Hans said:
Wisdom, intelligence. While often connected, they are really two different things. You can find highly intelligent people who are surprisingly stupid, and people with mediocre intelligence who are very wise.

Hans
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As Montgomery Burns would say, he's a dunderpate.
 
I think it was HuffPo who made the comparison:

John Nash = Ben Carson.

Both brilliant in their specific field, but mentally toast.
 
I keep seeing suggestions to Carson having some kind of mental illness because of his beliefs. I really don't see that anything he has said implies he has a mental illness. If he does have such an illness, I hope he gets treatment and gets better.

But, in this case, I think he's just a person who (I believe) is wrong about some things. Maybe things he has said a while back that he has changed his mind on today. Other things that he continues to be wrong about.

I really don't see him as bring different from most of the population.

Except that he's running for president, so his gris gris naturally become extra visible.
 
Denver said:
I keep seeing suggestions to Carson having some kind of mental illness because of his beliefs. I really don't see that anything he has said implies he has a mental illness. If he does have such an illness, I hope he gets treatment and gets better.

But, in this case, I think he's just a person who (I believe) is wrong about some things. Maybe things he has said a while back that he has changed his mind on today. Other things that he continues to be wrong about.

I really don't see him as bring different from most of the population.

Except that he's running for president, so his gris gris naturally become extra visible.
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It's not because of his crazy beliefs that he appears mentally ill. It's his narcissism. He's great, all his stories are about how great he is, the belief the press is out for him in some exceptional way because he's an exceptional threat, it's just a quiet version of Trump.
 
Grizzly Bear said:
Carson's one of those cases where media bias isn't the problem; rather what he says and does is. The media may be giving him extra attention like it has for Trump, but Carson has largely dug his own holes without the media's help.
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Carson was in the race for a while before this all really came up, at least in the mainstream. His problem is when the spotlight came onto him after gaining a lead in the R race it was so trivially easy for the media to find dirt it's hard to decide what is the most damning.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
It's not because of his crazy beliefs that he appears mentally ill. It's his narcissism. He's great, all his stories are about how great he is, the belief the press is out for him in some exceptional way because he's an exceptional threat, it's just a quiet version of Trump.
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I don't know if his straight-faced lying is sign of mental illness, but I think it's a different kind of thing than with Trump. Trump lies with easy facility because truth value of his utterances are subservient to the impact he is trying to create. I suspect that Carson lies so easily because he is deluding himself in successive layers of BS about his own life story.
 
Symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
In order for a person to be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) they must meet five or more of the following symptoms:

◾Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

◾Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

◾Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

◾Requires excessive admiration

◾Has a very strong sense of entitlement, e.g., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

◾Is exploitative of others, e.g., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

◾Lacks empathy, e.g., is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

◾Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her

◾Regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
 
I suspect that if I made up a lot of lies about my life I would try to lay as low as possible to minimize the interest that the news media (and other politicians) might take in examining those lies. I can kind of understand the people who make up stuff to get a job, then feel relieved if they get one and subsequently do everything possible to make certain that they don't do anything else that might make anyone else check out the lies. But running for President of the USA???
 
Giordano said:
I suspect that if I made up a lot of lies about my life I would try to lay as low as possible to minimize the interest that the news media (and other politicians) might take in examining those lies. I can kind of understand the people who make up stuff to get a job, then feel relieved if they get one and subsequently do everything possible to make certain that they don't do anything else that might make anyone else check out the lies. But running for President of the USA???
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The best I can figure is they figure lies and exaggerations will be believed by the people who they think matter.
 
Gawdzilla Sama said:
Yeah, I'm Navy. ;) But isn't there a "cadet summer" that is designed to weed out the weak?
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Yeah, it's the West Point version of Basic Training,it's nickname used to be "Beast Barracks", Not quite as brutal as it used to be, but still is meant to weed out not only those who don't have what it takes,but those who are there only for the four years free college,and not really interested in serving as an Army officer.
BTW, "Rowboat U", aka US Naval Academy and "The Junior Birdman Academy" aka US Air Force Academy have pretty much the same thing as Hell On the Hudson.

It's meant to be tough, but it is not in the same universe as Navy Seal BUDS or the US Army Ranger School.

BTW a old West Point Cadet joke is that West Point is a free Hundred Thousand Dollar education...but it's shoved up your butt one Nickle at a time.
 
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And,of course, almost every Egyptologist has dated the great pyramids as being built a long,long, time before Joseph got mugged my his brothers....
 
Whoops, I see GT/CS beat men to it, but I'll leave my post up anyway.
hgc said:
I don't know if his straight-faced lying is sign of mental illness, but I think it's a different kind of thing than with Trump. Trump lies with easy facility because truth value of his utterances are subservient to the impact he is trying to create. I suspect that Carson lies so easily because he is deluding himself in successive layers of BS about his own life story.
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Mental illness includes the diagnoses of borderline personality disorders which are a bit of a different beast just like depression can be mild or seriously debilitating.

The DSM-V adds a bit more emphasis on inability to function but the DSM-IV lists these criteria (one need not have all of the criteria):
Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).

Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.

Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).

Requires excessive admiration.

Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations.

Is inter-personally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends.

Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.

Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.
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I don't see either Trump or Carson as displaying outright mental illness. But both have clear personality traits along these lines.
 
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Trebuchet said:
Note to Doctor Ben: Please stop whining. It doesn't make you look good.
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Heh. I think he wears it well. I've been so busy wondering what a Trump-in-decline would look like, that I forgot to imagine the Carson freak-out in response to his ignominious discrediting. I like what I see so far -- swinging wildly, from conspiracy theories about Obama college transcripts to outraged indignation at being asked about his own crazy words. At this point, I'm waiting for the knife and hammer to come out.
 
JoeB said:
Carson was in the race for a while before this all really came up, at least in the mainstream. His problem is when the spotlight came onto him after gaining a lead in the R race it was so trivially easy for the media to find dirt it's hard to decide what is the most damning.
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More or less my point. ;)
 
He has a painting in his home of himself with a black Jesus.

Inside Ben Carson's eccentric Maryland mansion - complete with a shrine to himself, gold leaf columns and a portrait with Jesus.

He’s a celebrated neurosurgeon who denies evolution. He is also a devout Christian facing claims he has lied about certain aspects of his life story. And these pictures of Ben Carson’s Maryland mansion reveal a further insight into the eccentric mind of the embattled Republican presidential candidate.

A marble engraving on a wall proclaims: ‘By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life – poverbs 22:4'. Unfortunately, Proverbs is misspelt. Above that, is a portrait of Carson in his surgeon’s coat. Over in the hallway, is another striking portrait of Carson… with Jesus. Carson is again, wearing a surgeon’s coat over scrubs, and Jesus has an arm on his shoulder.

And in the family room, is a spectacular shrine to the 64-year-old - with almost every inch of the wall covered in his awards, plaques and diplomas...
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Richard Dawkins explains why he's backing Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson.

Richard Dawkins has voiced his support for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson. The writer and biologist’s endorsement may sound surprising, however, as he has previously called the American neurosurgeon a “disgrace” for denying the existence of evolution despite having a prolific career in the field of medicine. But thankfully his support is merely a tactic.

Dawkins suggested on Twitter that it could be beneficial lending his support to Carson so he could inevitably lose to a Democratic president further on in the election...

...“Is it naive to say the more absurd the Republican candidate the better chance of Democrat victory? Support Carson for “G”OP candidate?” he said...
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So here is a thing from Carson's FB page:


Article about exam.

It seems as if rather than being the "honest" student, Carson was instead the one who didn't recognize a hoax when he saw one. Am I reading it right?
 
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crescent said:
So here is a thing from Carson's FB page:


Article about exam.

It seems as if rather than being the "honest" student, Carson was instead the one who didn't recognize a hoax when he saw one. Am I reading it right?
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If I'm reading it right, you're reading it right. He dug up an article where they tell how it was a hoax, AND OFFERS THAT AS PROOF THAT THE STORY HE TOLD WAS TRUE.

The story he told was that the professor perpetrated this like that guy with the lamp looking for the honest man. The posted article says it was a parody newspaper and that only a small handful of students even showed up for the re-test. So it seems that not only was he one of the students who didn't suss out the hoax... he seems to still not have figured it out.

I love the long string of Carson supporters replying, though.
 
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