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Old February 11th, 2010, 06:12 AM   #18
TwoBrainedCylon
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Default Re: Lang has updated his Galactica Book

I don't know about low. Childish and immature in the extreme but that's pretty much what you should always expect from Lang. My experience involves talking to some of the worst elements on the planet and seeing if there is any common ground. Sometimes you do this by prodding and sometimes by friendship and sometimes by threats but you look for something common that perhaps you can build upon.

Andrew doesn't have anything in common with anyone. I suspect that's by design. I was tipped to his Facebook account and wasn't surprised to see that he is the classic unemployed Sci-Fi Geek living in the basement wishing a girl would talk to him. One look at the guy and his rantings become even more comical. My first thought was that if we ever met face-to-face I could crush this punk like a bug. He's displayed an amazing knowledge of my life and I'm sure that deep down, he knows that as well. He pretty much declared that he has issues with me on an intellectual level (whcih I think are amplified when he deals with folks like Stallion).

When you're in his position, that spawns a lot of fear and in essence, fear is Andrew's greatest enemy.

I am very fond of tropical birds and have expanded that to swans, herons, cranes, and the other wild creatures that come in and out of our lake. I love them but some of them never know that. They scower the bank for food and I take them some but they merely hiss and flap their wings in a show of anger and defiance and ultimate rush off. Others wonder what I'm up to and end up eating well. Those that overcome their fear end up having a great time.

I've had a number of psychology classes but I don't pretend to know much more than what any manager of 120+ people would know. I learned far more as a master sergeant and then as a contractor than I ever did sitting in class. I can see this situation clearly enough to know that Andrew is full of fear and like a dumb animal, he responds with anger and hostility at everything that comes around him that he can't control.

In his case, he can only control his own little fantasy world and he needs to protect that however he can. I've had this same experience with another friend who I later learned was under meds to keep her normal. She decided to stop taking them and displayed most of the same characteristics as Andrew. To be fair, I don't know if Andrew ever ripped up the walls of his apartment looking for secret microphones placed there by the CIA but much of the rest is pretty close. In her case, she couldn't handle the real world and so she disappeared into a world of conspiracies. Psychologically, there's a certain comfort in believing you're a victim of a massive plot. Victims aren't responsible for what happens to them.

Same with Andrew. He doesn't recognize the lunacy of his claims or his own hostile conduct that has first driven everyone away from him and later, caused them to merely laugh at him. He clings to the fantasy that he's got a purpose in life by fighting the Universal Studios machine and slots every contact he makes as a covert action of the Universal menace or an example that he's winning against them. It comforts him against his real life issues, whatever those really are.

While he was a member of Cylon.org, I used to debate with my fellow mods as to whether or not Andrew was simply making all of this up as a joke. I sincerely thought he was. I didn't believe that anyone could really believe the things he claimed to believe. In fact, I thought he was presenting a mockery of the other passionate fans.

Years later, I now know better. This is partly because I've since had experiences with people who were comitted and partly because I've been able to see the full level of his dedication to these concepts. Nobody spends that much time and effort on a joke.

If I had any doubts, he eliminated them in his latest exchange. He engaged in a concept called "mirroring", which is an enhanced form of projection. A common, and normal defense mechanism is for a person to accuse someone else of being guilty of the very conduct they are comitting. Its a way of psychologically avoiding responsibility for an uncomfortable situation by tossing the blame on someone else. (My ex-wife used to do this all the time).

In Andrew's case, he mirrors by taking the statements about his own conduct and injecting them into his concept of other people, both those he deals with and those he thinks are part of the conspiracy. This took a lot of forms which you can read if you follow through with all the comments but from my limited background, I'm certain it represents a truly disturbed mind.

On the Internet, claims like this get tossed out all the time on BBoards and blogs but in this case, I really couldn't be more serious.

I pity Andrew. I sincerely do. I'm at the stage of my life that I don't like to see anyone suffer and I know this is a man who is truly plagued by hordes of personal demons. His books and Internet fueds are in reality, cries for help. I suspect he makes them on the Internet because he fears if he did so in real life he might actually get the help he needs and face his demons, which scare the Hell out of him.

There's some serious issues there and they have nothing to do with Battlestar Galactica. I asked him "What have you accomplished?" in a vain hope of getting him to reflect for a moment but it was folly on my part. He's too far gone for that.

I do hope he gets help soon. Aside from the amusement he's provided, he's been suffering like this for ten years now and if anything, he's far worse now than he ever was in the past.

If taking my Internet handle would inspire him to seek help, I'd happily give it to him.


Russell
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