Humour is tricky, especially when you are writing for a
science magazine. And amongst the few who do it well, Steve Mirsky gets my vote
for his style. He has an amazing sense of humour (from the title to the end). In
his recent article The Doctor is Way Out, he evaluates the so-called expert
analysis of a psychiatrist named Keith Ablow who serves as the FOX NEWS expert
of psychiatry.
According to Albow’s writing, “Three women have met Mr. Gingrich and been so moved by his
emotional energy and intellect that they decided they wanted to spend the rest
of their lives with him.”
“Two of these women felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich
was already married.”
Going a little further, “One of them felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was
already married for the second time, was not exactly her equal in the looks
department and had a wife (Marianne) who wanted to make his life without her as
painful as possible.”
The Best Part (Conclusion): “When
three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for
president, I worry more about whether we'll be clamoring for a third Gingrich
term, not whether we'll want to let him go after one.”
To this writing Steve responds saying, “I
am not a mental health professional, nor do I play one on TV. Nor am I about to
claim that Gingrich is a psychopath. But I do wonder whether the doctor's
personal political views may be overriding his medical judgment.”
“ For
example, Ablow is surely familiar with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, used for
diagnosing that serious personality disorder. If I were a psychiatrist—which
again, I am not—who wanted to publicly contend that there was significant
evidence for Gingrich being a psychopath—which I certainly do not—I could
pretty much just quote from the checklist: glibness, grandiose sense of
self-worth, being manipulative, having poor behavior control, being sexually
promiscuous, having many short-term marital relationships and, my favorite for
the guy still running for president as this column goes to press, lack of
realistic long-term goals.”
Then mentions Albow’s prior advise to parents, not to allow
their children watch Chaz Bono who was on the show Dancing with the Stars. He contended that to see Bono being applauded could kindle
gender dysphoria in vulnerable youths. (Really!?)
In conclusion, I agree when he says, people who sit on the couch to see fox
trots are better off than people who lie on the couch to hear Fox psych.
The Article
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-doctor-is-way-out
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