A "bird-brained" genius?
For me, the genealogical roots of Ben Carson's spacey are kind of tough to definitively pin down. Who knows from whence it originated or which of the many strains of utter lunacy serves as its empowerment. Is it that post-rational spacey of the type rolled out by Sharron Angle in 2008 and later popularized by Sarah Palin? Is it a variable of the Michele Bachmann bat-sh*t strain? Does it exhibit a tinge of South Carolina Congressman Mark "Appalachian Trail" Sanford's lovelorn spacey? Does it contain seeds of the most perverted elements of former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's spacey? Perhaps it's a type of Kevin Spacey of "American Beauty " spacey. Maybe William F. Macy's spacey in "Mystery Men ."
Or, perhaps it's not really that complicated at all. It's quite possible that the undeniably brilliant neurosurgeon is one of a not-all-that-rare species of human being -- the bird-brained genius. His seemingly off-kilter vision may be the result of an extremely brilliant mind handicapped by a deficiency in unbiased insight. As a physician, he is magnificent; a master at his craft. But as a politician, he's a bit of a charlatan whose ruminations on political matters come forth as a laid-back stream of intellectual non-sequiturs. As earlier noted, he insists that he cannot see any evidence of global warming (perhaps he should look here) thus placing him at odds with the 97 percent of scientists who see otherwise. He's adamant that there is no such thing as a war crime; likens abortion to slavery; rationalizes that Obamacare is worse than slavery; peddled the myth that the Jewish Star of David is printed on the back of U.S. one dollar bills; and advocates banning "liberal political speech" on college campuses.
Recent reports of frustration among Carson's advisors in their efforts to "make him smart" on matters unrelated to the medical field may indicate that that the Yale-trained neurosurgeon operates from a savant-like stratum of single-category mastery. If so, this places him within a fairly tight group of successful genius/eccentrics across many genres. Someone like jazz pianist Thelonious Monk comes to mind. Monk, a one-of-a-kind innovator, has been dead since 1982, yet his music, much of it composed over 50 years ago, is still cons idered by many to be far ahead of its time.
Photo: All Jazz Radio
Thelonious Sphere Monk
Monk was "spacey" too. During performances, the be-bop phenom would often rise from his piano in mid-set to perform strange, concentric dance moves. He often wore bizarre headgear. He was known to stare off into space while performing and even wander away from the piano right out of the jazz club. Monk's overt eccentricity however, was interpreted by some as "manic" behavior which landed him, for a time, in a New York psychiatric hospital.
Mad Scientist
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