I’m guessing that in an insane asylum, the inmates can tell that the other inmates are crazy, because they’re not all crazy in the same way. But I bet if they all had the exact same (or similar enough) problems, they would be unable to tell that anybody was crazy–their problems would be so common that the problems themselves would define “normal”. They might notice a few things wrong (most likely with themselves), but if they all had the major aspects of the insanity in common, they probably wouldn’t notice it in each other.
It’s kind of like being in a gigantic prison (one so big most people can’t see the walls), and then the prison’s inside of a big box, and the big box is surrounded by an illusion, and then outside the illusion there’s a glass cage. (That’s not an analogy for something real, I’m just making stuff up to demonstrate a point.) You could convince somebody that they were in a prison–if you could show them the walls–and they might have some idea about the big box (they might have to take it on faith, if they couldn’t get out of the prison to see), but trying to convince them about the illusion or the glass cage would be nearly impossible. And honestly, to somebody in a huge prison, the idea of the illusion or the glass cage would probably be overwhelming–they’d be like, “So even if I get out of here, there’s all THAT? Wow, I don’t want to think about that.”
What would get really crazy is if you had seen the big box, the illusion, and the glass cage for yourself, and then you went back to the prison and had to chat it up with everybody about prison life. You know, who was at the top of the social ladder that day in prison, how many packs of cigarettes Joe was planning to get tomorrow, Bill’s plans for building a shack in the yard. Wouldn’t that just seem so stupid after a while?
But you couldn’t go around saying to everybody, “Hey, you’re in prison! And there’s a big box out there! And then if you keep going, there’s really amazing, beautiful stuff outside this glass cage!” What would people think of you? They’d think that you were crazy. Of course, you’d probably think that they were crazy, running around building up their social status in this little prison, but hey, the majority rules.
Still, if nobody was outside the prison, you’d hang out in it, because it’d be pretty lonely out in the big box, and even worse if you were outside the illusion. And you’d go on, day after day, talking about Joe’s cigarettes and Bill’s shack, but at least you’d have friends! And friends are really important. So important that people will stay in a gigantic prison just to have them, sometimes.
Anyhow, I just thought that was an interesting viewpoint to think about. Kind of makes me wonder what gigantic prisons surrounded by big boxes that we’re in–mentally, in life, or in society.
-Max
Max Kanat-Alexander 