Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
Love him, or hate him, he's still the youngest grandmaster, and his show-down with Spassky was told as a fairy tale, passed on from generation to generation in USSR.
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Great story, Dr. Lew!Unfortunately, Bobby Fischer grew into a disturbed, self-loathing (what else can you call a virulently anti-Semitic Jew?) eccentric. Sad, really, to have such a brilliant talent...
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Thanks for the story. Worth more than twenty dollars, I'd say.
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
I think Bobby Fischer had paranoid schizophrenia. So although he said horrible things, I hope it's one of those instances where the illness is speaking, not the person. I found it interesting that he...
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
WillTravel, was he actually diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic? Difficult to believe he could function at all with that illness.
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
Fischer's resistance to medical treatment probably hampered diagnosis, but from what I understood, there was little doubt. I paid a fair bit of attention to Bobby Fischer and the chess world at one...
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
I would certainly prefer to believe he was paranoid schiz than that he meant some of the things he said.
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
from the N Y Times obit:Quote:On Sept. 11, 2001, he told a radio talk-show host in Baguio, the Philippines, that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were ”wonderful news,”...
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I don't know about separating the person from the achievements, but I do draw a line between "flawed" as in human weakness and viciousness as expressed in racism, anti-Semitism, etc.
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
Fischer was more functional than would be expected of an untreated paranoid schizophrenic, but he sure went from odd to eccentric to crazy.There is a strong tradition of insanity in chess champions,...
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
yes, and don't we enjoy it. Chi Chi, good point you made.There are personal flaws, and then there is outer-directed hate or even crime.
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
A friend's mother had paranoid schizophrenia, and although the treatment was variously successful or not, it was clear that underneath she was a kind person. So I don't mean to suggest mental illness...
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Quote:I know it's such a controversial issue as to how much allowance should be given to the mentally ill. When I read the account of some horrible crime committed by a mentally ill person, I have...
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I don't agree with much of what Szasz says, Elaine, and I think his arguments are specious. It's one thing to make the neat analogy "If you talk to God, you're praying, but if God talks to you you're...
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Quote:I do agree that the insanity defense has been terribly compromised (Dan White's "twinkie" defense in his murder of Harvey Milk leaps to the mind of this San Francisco area resident). Yes, that's...
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
I know someone who is dealing with a schizophrenic relative. Before getting him into a permanent housing, she could get him sent to the hospital on a court order (the technical term is escaping me...
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
Quote:Around here, there are a lot of really smart people without a bit of common sense. Apparently, there's a national epidemic. Also, not so smart people without a bit of common sense.
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
ncgrrl: You describe a friend of mine's schizoprenic relative to a T. It's a vicious cycle.
View ArticleRe: Bobby Fischer is dead at 64
My friend's mother who had paranoid schizophrenia (which is one specific subtype of schizophrenia) could do lots of normal things, even when off her medication. She also wasn't in danger of...
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