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Originally Posted by leavesofliberty
OP is inspiring. The casino shooting tragedy was horrific. I'd like to know your thoughts as someone who's read and discussed about mental illness and shootings in society with people. Also, tilt. I wonder what you think about tilt in poker.
Thanks. I agree it was terrible. I've encountered all types of responses when discussing mental illness with people. Most just don't know much about it. I won't try and sugar coat it. Mentally ill people have committed some heinous crimes. I think it's very sad and I can't help but take the things some people say personally even though I've not even been in a fight since 1987 when I was in the fifth grade.
Here's my outline for the things I wish to talk about if and when I ever find the right soap box to stand on:
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* by being open and honest with others and ourselves, we open the door to a different life. A life where we are free to be sick without fear of persecution from our peers as well as the powers that be.
* by being open and honest with others and ourselves, we may change the status quo, which at the moment suppresses the mentally ill population into a life of secrecy and self loathing.
* by being open and honest with others and ourselves, we can help show society that the mentally ill population is comprised of many people that are just trying to live normal peaceful lives.
* the glorification of heinous crime most definitely doesn't help to shape the general opinion of mental illness. Television and the media keeps us up to date on all of the crimes committed by the mentally ill population. However, you don't hear of the recoveries on the news or in the papers because that's not how the media makes money.
Tilt in poker, in my opinion, is just irrational actions as the result of irrational thought. I loved the example from Shoonmaker's "Psychology of Poker." He explained that the "Law of Subjective Rationality" is of utmost importance when trying to understand the weird stuff that happens both in the real world and at the poker table. We are subjective beings by nature. Anyone that has ever experienced hallucinations, either as a result of mental illness or drugs, can tell you that "real" is just a made up word that people use to make themselves feel better about the world we live in.
Because of this subjective nature of my consciousness, I must actively think about and discern between these classifications of truth:
a) what I think
b) what I believe
c) what I know
Now, to the layman this may seem like an easy task. However, it can be difficult for me because of all the "what if" bs that goes through my head on a daily basis. I won't get into the details, but it's not easy for some people to do this seemingly simple task. For example, when on the pitcher's mound, I don't think that Roger Clemens ever had an existential moment of doubt where he asked himself, "am I really about to throw this ball?" Nah, he knew that he was on the mound and that the ball was real. However, throw a little existential doubt into the mind of someone that only has a superficial grip on reality and they will begin to have a problem discerning between what they think, believe, and know.
This is how I view tilt in life and poker. It's simply irrational thought and behavior as a result of a poor thought process. The law of subjective rationality rules us. If something makes sense to someone, then that's all that really matters.
This is why I've had trouble in my life believing things. Its the primary motivation behind irrational thought; when the lines between the imaginary and reality become blurred, it's easy to think, believe, and know stuff that may be unthinkable, unbelievable, or impossible to know for a mentally healthy person.