Bipolar boy band tweets

Here is a screen shot of a series of tweets

This sequence of tweets fomented some dissension in the online kingdom of Grobania. Some people felt Josh's joke about bipolar people was hurtful. To others of us, Josh seemed to be bravely implying that he himself is bipolar.

Josh has been tweeting more about mental health issues. He has mentioned taking meds and going to therapy.  He hasn't shared his specific diagnosis.

Bipolar is one that makes sense. Anyone listening to "Illuminations," Josh's 2010 album, can hardly fail to notice how very depressed the songs sound. In particular, the song "Love Only Knows," ends rather abruptly with the line "I can't live without you and I won't," which to me sounds suicidal. 

Josh has never performed this song, despite fan requests. There's a thread on FOJG asking him to perform it. I often wonder why he doesn't. I wonder if it's because the song brings back painful memories, but I really don't know.

These depressed songs contrast remarkably with his high energy, goofy comedy. A lot of people don't realize that he's a comedian. He has spoken of studying improv comedy prior to becoming a singer. He became a singer in his early teens, so one has to conclude that he was an improviser as a kid. I heard a rumor that he went to Second City for  summer camp. That would make sense. Second City is probably the best comedy school in the country. 

Josh went to Interlochen in high school. That's supposedly the top performing arts camp in the country. Josh's high school voice teacher, Seth Riggs, was also Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder's voice coach, probably also one of the best in the country. Josh might barely have gone to college for a semester, but his education was top notch, nevertheless.

I love Josh's comedy. I was inspired to study improv comedy myself because I so much liked what I saw Josh do on stage. I've been enjoying studying improv, but I'm a bit disappointed that I haven't learned to be like Josh. There's a childlike quality to what he does that probably comes from having studied improv as a child.

But there's also a manic quality to what he does. Here's a link to a YouTube video example.

Josh Groban & John Jacobson (Double Dream Hands G…: http://t.co/jygQbOpvKP

I love this video. I love watching him do this type of thing, but I know at least one fan who has been distressed at the childlike, manic quality of his comedy. She worries that this style indicates serious underlying issues.

This is all taking me back to the time that I suggested that Josh might have Asperger's Syndrome. People attacked me for suggesting such a thing, with the implication that this assertion was hurtful or shameful. One fan asserted that implying that someone might have a mental illness was libel.

I should have taken umbrage. I don't think that having Asperger's Syndrome is shameful. I have it. I'm comfortable with it. I don't even think it's really a disorder. It's only a problem because neurotypical people are so intolerant of others who are different. It's only a problem if we can't talk about it and figure out how to accommodate the person who is different. People saying that I was insulting Josh by suggesting that he might have Asperger's were in fact insulting me, saying that my condition is shameful, when it's not.

Almost everyone suffers from mental "illness" at least at some time in their lives just as almost everyone suffers from physical illness. In fact it's normal to have some mental illness.

The idea that it's wrong to joke about an issue like being bipolar, which is a fairly common condition, is like saying it's wrong to tell a joke about pneumonia. I haven't heard many pneumonia jokes, but would we jump all over someone for telling one?  I don't think so. We wouldn't get as bent out of shape, I think, because no one is ashamed of having pneumonia.

Do we have to remain in a state of perpetual dramatic gloom over disease?

But the thing that concerns me even more is the idea that we have to fix people who are different. Josh's singing is high drama, emotional. If he gets medicated and therapied into being perfectly calm and well adjusted will his singing be as good?

I'm reminded, also, of one of Oliver Sacks' books. There was a case study of retarded, savant twins whose savant ability was to recite extremely large prime numbers. They would sit together and recite these numbers to each other, and had little interest in anything else. After therapy, they were more socially related, but still retarded and could no longer recite prime numbers. Their limited brain cells had been diverted to being social.

Oliver Sacks lamented their lost genius and wondered what of use had been accomplished by this exercise.

I am concerned that someone is doing the same to Josh, trying to make him "normal," a condition in which he will likely be considerably less gifted and less entertaining.  Josh has savant type abilities now, playing piano by ear, composing complex pieces spontaneously, singing with a peculiar ability to convey emotion that others lack, that others can't emulate.  David Foster has been seeking another Josh for years, with no success. Will these people who are trying to fix Josh divert his limited brain cells from being a genius to being normal?  Won't the world be a poorer place as a result?

What if someone had cured Vincent van Gogh? Would his paintings have still been worth looking at? Would that have been a good thing? 

What about Mozart, a huge genius who was notoriously poorly socially adjusted?  Should he have been "cured" like the prime number twins were cured? He might have lived longer and been happier, but would we want to give up the music as the twins gave up their prime numbers?

I say we accept geniuses as they are and learn how to accommodate them rather than fix them.

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Addendum 5/31/14

Sheesh!

Now there are those who will say that Josh is joking here, but is he???  Scary.  That's the frustrating part of this relationship I have with him, which I call 1 3/4 way rather than 2 way.  We communicate back and forth, but somehow not really completely.  If he were really my friend I could call him up and check out what 's going on, but I can't.

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Addendum 11/6/14

Now recently some have been saying that we shouldn't say that Josh is bipolar, that his tweets above were a joke; that he's never explicitly admitted that he's bipolar, that there should be proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he's bipolar before anyone should say so, because it's so awful to be bipolar.

Let's suppose hypothetically that he *is* bipolar, that he did think he was publicly admitting it on May 21, and that he's somewhat surprised that no one seems to think he admitted it.  Then he sees that people think that bipolar is so awful that they won't believe it unless they have proof beyond a reasonable doubt.  How would that make him feel?  Wouldn't he feel frightened and hurt at fan reactions?

Wouldn't that be worse than fans saying he was bipolar and having him later say that he was joking and didn't really mean it?