A reader from Ohio writes…
Are you kidding me? Totally offensive. Why don’t we also discuss our boss that has a physical handicap, not just a mental handicap. I had a boss that went on tirades – and she did not have a mental health disorder. She just did not know how to deal with people. Not a good idea to assume everyone that acts inappropriately has a mental illness.
What do you think? Is she right? Can people who act crazy just be guilty of “not knowing how to deal with people?”
To: A reader from Ohio (apparently named Mary),
First, I am assuming that the title of your comment, ‘”Handicap” is not Illness, Mary’ was placed there by Mr Bing or one of his editors. Be that as it may, I am essentially in agreement with that statement but I will go Bing & Company one better: “Crazy” is not a scientific term. It’s more like a slang term used to identify a vast area of peculiar behavior. Bing could just as well have titled his blog “F**ked Up Bosses” and we would all understand what he means. Personally, I am sick to death of letting people off the hook for their bad behavior by labeling that behavior as an “illness.” Alcoholism is a good example. Another one is obesity. Dick Cavett has a blog (at the NY Times Select site) in which he wrote about the crisis of obesity. To date there are 428 vehement comments to that blog and they divide roughly 50-50 between those who imply obesity is an illness and those who say, “BS, eat less and exercise more and you won’t be obese.” As regards bosses, I had one with at least two “disorders” that he admitted to: dyslexia and ADHD. When you couple these two conditions with mean spiritedness bordering on evil you have a toxic combination. Let’s call a spade a spade. 99% of these bosses we are discussing are not ILL, they are f**ked up and the acceptable word for that condition is “crazy.”