Out of the mainstream, not crazy

The media loves to jump on people whose beliefs are not aligned with those of most Americans
April 17, 2006

by: Josh Pollick

Darren Daulton, the star catcher for 1990s Philadelphia Phillies, has recently been labeled by the media and friends as "crazy." He's been featured in numerous publications, and, just last week, ESPN's SportsCenter carried a feature program about the catcher, known as "Dutchie." The program went out of its way to make Daulton look like a complete nut job -- using props and graphics to exaggerate its point.

But Daulton has not been diagnosed with a mental disorder. He has not been convicted of major criminal acts. And while he spent six months in a drug-and-rehab program in 2004, he told Sports Illustrated two months ago, "I don't take drugs, and I'm not a drunk.."

So why is the media calling him "crazy?" Because he has constructed a personal set of beliefs that guide his life -- a personal philosophy that does not align itself with the mainstream.

He believes, for instance, in telepathy, energy transfers and parallel universes. He believes in astral travel, which is the idea that a person consciously leaves his body while he sleeps. He also believes that the world will end at 11:11 a.m., Greenwich Mean Time, on December 21, 2012.

Okay, so Daulton is out of the ordinary. Most people don't travel while they're sleeping, and I doubt any of us want the world to end in six years.

But my question is: Who cares? And why should we label Daulton as "crazy" simply because he believes in psychic phenomena?

We all have our own personal quirks.

Whenever College sophomore Emma Rosen looks at a clock, she immediately turns the numbers into a math equation, hoping to yield a particular number. It's a strange habit, but it doesn't make her crazy. It makes her unique. It makes her human.

And we all have our belief systems -- often in a supernatural force we cannot see.

Today is the sixth day of Passover, a Jewish holiday that commemorates the freedom and exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. A belief in God is intrinsic to celebrating Passover. Who is to say that Daulton's belief in parallel universes is wrong, and mainstream society's belief in a supernatural force is right?

When Engineering senior Aaron Friedman attended McDonogh High School in Baltimore four years ago, his varsity baseball games often conflicted with Passover. He would still play, but he started to notice a trend.

"When I ate a lunch that was not kosher for Passover -- like had some fries or something that wasn't allowed -- I'd go hitless. And when I kept the holiday strictly, I would get hits," he said, noting that the pattern continued during four separate games. "It was weird."

Friedman's pre-game habits were more superstitious than philosophical, but the central idea is the same. We all have weird habits that make us unique. So long as those habits or beliefs or philosophies do not result in harm to society, who really cares?

The truth is, Daulton is no saint. He has had a number of run-ins with the law, including a two-month stint in jail after failing to show up to a divorce hearing in 2004.

But the media covered that story two years ago. Why repeat it now and label a guy with atypical beliefs as crazy?

College junior Matt Levitt does not subscribe to a particular religion's beliefs, or to a particular philosophy of life. But he has no problem with Friedman's belief in God or Daulton's belief in telepathy.

"You can see a belief as wrong according to your own world view, but accept it as someone else's. Or you can interpret it as a threat to an otherwise universally accepted truth," he said. "I don't believe what these people believe in, but I can accept that it may be real for them and leave it at that."

We should all take a Levittian approach to beliefs that are different from our own -- so long as they don't pose a danger to society at large. None of us know for certain what exists beyond the physical world -- whether there is a God, or there isn't.

Daulton's beliefs are out of the norm, certainly, but labeling him as "crazy" is unfair and judgmental. Dutchie is just like the rest of us. We're all searching for meaning in life, and we're all trying to figure out our purpose here.

It's not crazy. It's human.

Source: http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/