It turns out that fundies don’t handle stress very well.
The Advocate reports that Jason Russell, the co-founder of Invisible Children, was arrested Thursday after allegedly vandalizing several cars and masturbating in the streets while possibly being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Police Lt. Andra Brown said, “Due to the nature of the detention, he was not arrested. During the evaluation, we learned we probably needed to take him to a medical facility because of statements he was saying.”
What was his excuse?
“Jason Russell was unfortunately hospitalized yesterday suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition,” Invisible Children CEO Ben Keesey said in a statement. “He is now receiving medical care and is focused on getting better. The past two weeks have taken a severe emotional toll on all of us, Jason especially, and that toll manifested itself in an unfortunate incident yesterday.”
What? I thought the booze would have quenched his thirst and hydrated him.
Russell is not the first to allege stress turns him into a sexual reprobate. (I miss the days when they claimed the devil made them do it)
- In 2011, Newt Gingrich justified his affairs by claiming that he was working so hard for America and the monkey business was “partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country.”
- In Sept. 2000 I photographed “ex-gay” activist John Paulk in a gay bar. Focus on the Family, where Paulk worked, said the “ex-gay” knowingly pranced into Mr. P’s in Washington, DC to “relieve stress.”
Now we know the way to defeat our opponents. At the next Values Voter summit we should plan subversive ways to stress out the gathering and watch the event devolve into a giant orgy.
On a more serious note, the fundies really ought to save themselves some trouble by discovering Valium. Or maybe Pat Robertson will help legalize marijuana and it will help these folks relax.
Please teach me that method just to see if any of the fundamentalists street preachers like Kevin Farrer and Ruben Israel go into an all out orgy because of stress. ><
This was a schizophrenic first break. While the behavior may seem sexual because it involved nudity and “masturbation”, this is not sexual behavior–it is an acute psychotic event. Please don’t refer to this person as a “sexual reprobate” until you have better information about his illness. Whether he is gay or straight or has inner conflicts may have nothing whatsoever to do with an acute schizophrenic or psychotic break, the classic signs of which are suddenly appearing naked and irrational in public.
“(I miss the days when they claimed the devil made them do it)”
Yes, but it seems to represent progress in that it may be an acknowledgement that, nowadays, fewer people accept the literal existence of a devil. But I’m guessing that when they are speaking within their echo chamber, they still claim the devil (or one of his demonic relatives) made them do it.
Maybe he just needs an exorcist.
I agree with Neal. I think this incident more correctly reveals a connection between rigid belief systems and mental illness (not that the former causes the latter, but is a probable symptom of the latter).
This little item from JoeMyGod, however, I think better illustrates Wayne’s point:
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/03/tea-party-leader-busted-for-rape.html
I am also of the opinion that religious fundamentalism is a kind of spiritual Asperger syndrome, particularly when it comes to the social dysfunctions it embraces, endorses, celebrates.
A psychotic break sounds quite plausible. Time to find help for the bloke before he really freaks out.
I suppose that I am out of excuses for this guy. On the surface this looked so darned promising. What a shame.
OldBaldGuy = “I am also of the opinion that religious fundamentalism is a kind of spiritual Asperger syndrome”
StraightGrandmother = ha-ha-ha Did you make that up? It’s so funny and so spot on true.
Yes – the similarities of the egregious lack of empathy, rigid adherence to a black and white set of rules, the elevation of rules over the value of human relationships and nuances dictated by experience, the vehement-violent emotional response to any challenge to the world view, the egocentric assumption that what is true – salient – of interest to ME is true – salient – of interest to ALL…
I have family members on the autism spectrum, and I was raised by fundamentalists. I wasn’t trying to be funny, I am reporting my first hand observations – and voicing some deep-seated frustration with trying to communicate with either.
In the end, the sanest thing I can do is to walk away.
“On the surface this looked so darned promising.”
At the risk of beating a dead horse: yes, exactly.
What TWO did was get beneath the surface. That this guy had what can politely be called a nervous breakdown can only be because he knew he was being exposed for what he really is. And TWO was hard at work, helping with the exposing.
The lesson here is don’t attack the messenger or an accurate message just because it’s not what one wants to be true. Leave that kind of magical thinking to people like Jason Russell’s many mindless followers. Or mostly former followers, I imagine. Even the idiotic have their limits.
Watch the TMZ.com clips – there is another reason for psychosis – as an extreme reaction to cognitive dissonance. This guy is gayer than gay hour in Gayville.
For more than one reason, he deserves sympathy. For more than one other reason, this is karma.