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Comment by CaptainZapp | Hacker News Reader

I don't think it's OK to remotely analyze a mental illness of another person.

I think that Mr. Musk is an undiluted asshole and one of the worst douchebags to ever grace our planet, which he has proven again and again.

But analyzing his mental condition is sure as shit not up to me or to anybody else.

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He kind of opens that door by interactively self-analyzing in the public space. Also, while you make that point, you declare a lot of judgement on his personality; is that really any better then?

I feel that it's my right to make a judgement call on his behavior.

After all, he proved again and again what a sad excuse of a human being he is.

But I don't think it's OK to judge his mental state as an outsider.

This is a forum. People will say stuff. You may or may not agree with the stuff they say. They'll do it anyway. Judging someone's mental state as an outsider is fine as long as you don't purport to do it from the perspective of telling them what to do next, that's pretending you're a doctor. But I've seen plenty of actual doctors do remote diagnosis of Musk's various mental issues (ditto: Trump, Putin) and I'm fine with it, I just take it with a grain of salt. If we take being a sad excuse of a human being as a reflection of someone's mental state then you are in fact engaging in the same, the only difference is whether or not you use terms with clinical relevance.

Calling someone a sad excuse of a human being sure sounds like an assessment of their mental state lol.

What’s the difference between an outsider and, e.g., his therapist? Consent? Proximity?

Curious; not trying to bust your balls.

I'm a bit perplexed that you see trashing a man's character with certainty as right and pondering if his actions could reflect a struggle with mental illness as wrong.

I don't like Musk, nor do I trust the things he says, but I usually err on the side of granting people some humanity.

> But analyzing his mental condition is sure as shit not up to me or to anybody else.

Why not? Am I unallowed to suggest that Howard Hughes had OCD? That Kurt Gödel was paranoid?

Submitting a hypothesis about some’s mental condition is a reasonable thing to do, given that you have a substantial body of evidence in the form of behavioural reports.

I don’t find the above argument convincing, but only because it’s vague and lacks specific examples - not because it’s ”not okay.”

> one of the worst douchebags to ever grace our planet

Cool your jets, man!

Musk has done plenty of good, for the country and the world. I can think of plenty, plenty others who have accomplished nothing but feel entitled to run other peoples' lives.

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