to be fair he said “you can’t make runaway on meds,” so I get why people think he’s saying generally people shouldn’t take meds, but I still think he’s just talking about himself there. But I get the other side
Anyway still fuck his alt-right pandering that gave a greater platform to white supremacist grifters. His mental health tweets are mildly concerning, that shit is indefensible.
I agree with you. I do want to point out that whenever I get into stuff like this on this board, I'm very rarely if ever trying to excuse an artists behaviour. Instead I'm trying to explain it, or bring light to the possible reasons that led up to it, or provide context. Some might see that as excusing, and I get that, but that's not the point I'm usually trying to make
the thing about medication is that side effects vary wildly from person to person and sometimes those side effects are awful. like maybe it’s not directly making him/me/anyone lose creativity, maybe it’s the side effects like lethargy and loss of concentration and shit like that inadvertently making it hard to be creative
Oh yeah same I totally feel you and don’t think you or anyone is excusing anything. I do think it’s important to point out we aren’t trying to make excuses because it’s easy to think we are because, let’s be real, Kanye stans are making excuses using these arguments
That's fair. I guess I just feel like people shouldn't hold Kayne's tweet's responsible for their own actions. I mean, I get it. He's a huge influence to a lot of people, particularly younger people, but anyone who gets their medical advice from Kanye's twitter is likely going to get way worse advice from the dude on just about every other subject.
yeah I am skeptical of how many people are really going to see Kanye’s tweets and say they aren’t going to take meds solely because of what he said. it’s a possibility and maybe a few people will go that route but in reality I think people (besides crazy stans) aren’t taking him as seriously as they might have 8-10 years ago
Regardless, Kayne's tweets aren't really the issue here. If someone takes his tweets seriously and endangers themselves because of them, they need greater help and would likely have done something radical without the tweets. Kanye does have some responsibility as a public role model to realize he has influence and but at the same time, he shouldn't be held accountable for someone who reads his tweets and decides to do make a rash decision. Just to be clear, I'm not saying Kayne should be able to just run his mouth and suffer zero criticism or consequence. People should just learn to take responsibility for themselves, and even if they are suffering, hopefully reach out for help from loved ones/medical professionals rather than a Twitter feed. tl;dr If someone is getting their medical advice from Twitter, their problems aren't going to be fixed by Kanye tweets being better worded.
I hope that doesn't come off as insensitive or misguided. I realize that some people with mental health disorders might not understand the difference between Kanye's words and those of a licensed physician. Just seems like the mental health issue is MUCH bigger than a few dumb tweets.
I don’t think it’s a Kanye specific thing, I think kit just adds to the overall stigmatization of mental health and seeking professional help. He’s adding to the misconceptions of the thing he’s trying to get people to be more open about. Because there are a lot of trash takes out there I just hold people with a greater platform to a higher standard on this stuff, his opinion no matter how specific to him or generally uninformed does carry a large amount of weight in a mostly new but sorely needed conversation.
see I don’t think him saying he doesn’t take meds dissuades anyone from seeking professional help because, well, meds aren’t the only way professionals can help. therapy has done more for me than any meds have.
Currently there is a big discussion going in the Netherlands (which has very modern medicine) regarding medication for mental health issues, the crux of which is that in way too many cases the medication simply sedates rather than cures (or whatever the appropriate term is when it's an incurable condition, I don't really know), which might feel good but really shouldn't be the point of such medication. If that happens to someone, like say Kanye, that can certainly have a detrimental effect on your creativity, or really anything that you do for that matter.
as anyone who has seen a psychiatrist can attest to, medicating for mental health is a lot of trial and error. it fucking sucks trying to find which meds work for you. there are so many different anti depressants out there, and when you first start you're kind of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. problem is it takes 1-2 months to see any really noticable changes with medication, side effects are all over the board, and (this happened to me) after several months on a medication it may just up and stop working altogether and you're back at square one. once you do find a medication that works for you it can do wonders. when wellbutrin was working for me, it fuckin worked, but after like 6-7 months it just didn't do shit for me. now im on zoloft and sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't, and the side effects are super pronounced. i can't make it through a day without a nap, no matter how much sleep i get or what im doing i always get to a point where i can't even keep my eyes open in the middle of the day. anyway my point is, medication is a great tool when it works, but it can be a daunting task to figure out what does work. it can be scary to turn to meds.
I don't have much more to add than what's already been said but in some ways I think it's almost harder for Kanye to get the "proper" help he needs at the position of power he's in. The amount of yes people around him and having that much money and fame to be in control of, almost makes it seems like if the idea doesn't come from himself, nobody is going to want to risk it. So it can be hard in that respect too.
I just wanted to add that I really appreciate everyone’s perspective on this topic that was part of this discussion. Medication has personally helped me a lot but it’s certainly not without side effects, and the trial and error process of trying to find meds that helped me without too many negative effects sucked. I didn’t really feel like joining in the conversation initially because honestly I’ve had a lot of moments on here where I’ve gotten into arguments and been really stubborn, and haven’t listened enough. This year’s been really tough for my own mental health and I feel like I’ve also been way too hostile and haven’t taken a step back to see how things I’ve said could be hurtful. Jake I know you’ve been on the other end of that sometimes, and I just want to really apologize because I do really appreciate your perspective on here, and I want you to know I have no ill will towards you. I’m trying to listen more and learn from others’ perspectives instead of just inserting myself into conversations where I’m not well-informed, but I just wanted to say that.
This reminded me of the great "I'm typing so hard I might break my fucking Mac Book Air" moment from when he played Bonnaroo Kanye West Is Mad Enough To Break His MacBook Air On A Hippie's Head