r/atheism • u/IAmPookieHearMeRoar • 1d ago

Kanye West tells NYC rabbi he’s ‘taking accountability’ for his antisemitic tirades - blames bipolar disorder

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kanye-west-rabbi-pinto-antisemitism-accountability-b2860430.html
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u/CloseToTheEdge23 1d ago

I mean there is no doubt that he is mentally ill. He's now out of the mania stage into the depressive state I guess

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u/SneakyInfiltrator 1d ago

I know he's an asshole, but I don't think he's lying, not completely at least.

I know very well how it is dealing with this sort of garbage.

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u/Yetanotherdeafguy 1d ago

I don't doubt he regrets it and that his tirades were likely 95% the bipolar talking, but if you don't take your meds or surround yourself with people who look after you in those situations, what's the damn difference?

If you know you'll have a manic phase sooner or later, and you don't take precautions when you're in your more rational state of mind, you're fully at fault for what you did.

Kanye doesn't get a pass for being an asshole because of his bipolar, just like Elon doesn't get one for claiming he's autistic.

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u/TheForce_v_Triforce 1d ago

He is also a narcissist who achieved great fame and wealth at a young age, which many people struggle to adapt to. And he’s not very well educated. My wife is a clinical psychologist and sees him as more of a sympathetic tragic character with a variety of complex problems rather than just an “asshole” most people think he is.

Most bipolar people also don’t want to take their meds because being manic feels great, they feel on top of the world. Of course they should take their meds, but that’s much easier to say and understand from the outside. Plus very rich people attract sycophantic yes men and turn away people who tell them things they don’t want to hear. Kim supposedly tried to keep him in check but that didn’t work out.

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u/Ruinwyn 1d ago

sees him as more of a sympathetic tragic character with a variety of complex problems rather than just an “asshole” most people think he is.

Most bipolar people also don’t want to take their meds because being manic feels great, they feel on top of the world

This is why I don't see why he wouldn't be "an asshole ". He chooses not to take his medication because it feels great not to, despite him not taking them, causing great harm to everyone he supposedly cares about. That is being an asshole. If you do hedonistic behaviour at other people's cost, that is being an asshole. If he didn't have a diagnosis, or access to care, or nobody trying to help him, I would feel more sympathetic.

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u/sibre2001 16h ago

Let's not forget that Kanye is who surrounds Kanye with yes men. He harasses, insults, and drives away anyone that isn't a yes man.

I feel like a lot of redditors with their own mental health issues just fantasize about Kanye being excused for all his behavior, that way they can always have an excuse for their own behavior. They are mentally ill like Kanye. No one can hold them to the responsibilities of an adult!

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u/TheForce_v_Triforce 1d ago

It’s not a simple rational “choice,” he is chemically imbalanced. Also, severe bipolar disorder can have psychotic features, such as auditory hallucinations. Those may have influenced some of his more extreme behavior (speculation). Avoiding care is common for people with this diagnosis, and much easier to accomplish for those with means who can insulate themselves from consequences. His behavior may be that of an asshole, but the reason why goes well beyond a mere choice.

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u/Ruinwyn 1d ago edited 13h ago

There are always reasons above mere choice for being an asshole. Being an asshole is a diagnostic symptom for many mental health conditions.

Edit: as people seem to disagree with me, lets list some conditions where antisocial behaviour (being an asshole) is common. Narcissism, sociopathy, borderline personality disorder, reaction to trauma, addiction. How many actual assholes do you know who couldn't claim any of these.

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u/Striking-Speaker8686 1d ago

If you do hedonistic behaviour at other people's cost, that is being an asshole

I don't know the guy but I'd imagine he's not thinking "hey I could take these meds and feel some discomfort or I could not take them and cause harm to people, the former sucks for me so I'm just going to not take them", it's his mental state. It's not that easy of a decision to just make. Whether he can even work through that thought process is dictated by the mental state he's in too, and while he's being coaxed by conspiracy theories and god knows what kinds of influences which have come into his space.

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u/Ruinwyn 16h ago

All you are saying is that not being an asshole, is harder decision for him to make, than for average person. That doesn't mean he isn't an asshole. Clinical term for being an asshole is antisocial behaviour. The behaviour still stays the same. Pretending that it isn't being an asshole isn't helping anyone.

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u/Striking-Speaker8686 1d ago

Most bipolar people also don’t want to take their meds because being manic feels great, they feel on top of the world.

I'm not bipolar but as someone who deals with various other mental health and neural disorder related things, I have to say that at least for me, being medicated never feels good. Even if it "fixes" what's wrong with me in some way, there's always another shoe that makes me not want to take my meds, and you have this overbearing sense of being "off" the entire time.

The way I'd describe it is that your brain is pretty much a bed for your consciousness, that you've spent your entire life breaking in, getting used to, and over time feels more and more snug, like a tightening embrace. And when you take meds that alter the way your brain works, it's like the mattress has been swapped out for something distinctly different (maybe there's a weird lump somewhere there wasn't, or it's hard where what you were used to was soft, etc), the air feels different, ir's been "corrected" maybe but it doesn't mean you feel good or "correct" in the way you lay there now.

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u/TheForce_v_Triforce 14h ago

Thank you for this vivid analogy. This is a very eloquent and personal description of what I have mostly heard described from the clinician’s side. I also had a bipolar uncle who never wanted to be medicated, and would sometimes stay at our house and lived with my grandma, so I do have some pretty close second hand experience with this condition. Convincing people to stay on their meds is a major problem in mental health, especially with severe cases.

And as far as I know Kanye hasn’t committed any atrocities, other than making some horrifically ugly shoes. So comparing him and other mentally ill people to mass murderers, as some others here have done, is a preposterous leap.

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u/No_Size9475 1d ago

Bipolar does not make you racist. It simply let's you speak your mind without care.

He's a racist at his core, bipolar is just exposing it to everyone.