It’s amazing when you look back at what you were doing last year and realize how much your life can change. This year, I have a darling little granddaughter to spend Christmas with. Coco hit the 6 month-old mark yesterday, and is such a precious gift. (Also, I’m pretty happy that ‘age-by-month thing’ only works with babies!)
Last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas I had some time to ‘recharge my batteries’ — this year, not so much. I love to read, and I’ve not had much time for that recently either, but yesterday, I ran across a BLOG post on “HOW TO DEAL WITH CRAZIES.” In college PSY 101, we had a guest speaker on the subject of ‘dealing with crazies’, and although I don’t remember a whole lot that was said, I do remember the 250 rule.
The rule of 250 is that almost everyone knows about 250 people, (not necessarily close friends, but friends of friends, clients and other acquaintances). The crazies also have about 250 acquaintances. I remember the speaker whispering some outrageous comment about one person in the class. Of course we all laughed, knowing that the person accused would never do such a thing.
No matter that it wasn’t true, it did result in an imprint. That much hasn’t changed in the 20 some years since my PSY 101 class.
What has changed dramatically is the platform for the crazies. The Internet gives the crazies access to tons of people, and they can spout propaganda under the cloak of anonymity. And now consider this — population here in the Ville is approximately 1500. I only hit Facebook about once a day, and I have 500 friends — and that’s not counting the ‘circle thing’ because who knows how many friends my friends have (and so on). If a person is a full-fledged whacked out ‘crazy’, they can easily access contact numbers online, block their phone number, and continue a hate campaign via phone as well. Beware of crazies y’all. They are…well, crazy!
If you have the misfortune of being stalked by, or locking horns with a ‘crazy’, I guess ignoring and/or humoring them is still the best approach to try at first — which is the same recommendation I took away from PSY 101. But in today’s highly connected world, that may no longer work, and it may no longer be enough. To quote Seth Godin: If it’s a new problem, perhaps it demands a new approach. If it’s an old problem, it certainly does.
For the record, Libby and Gracie are NOT crazies. These two divas are OUT on drama (even though they love their Internet fame).
