A strange thing happens when you interview a robot. You feel an urge to be profound: to ask profound questions. I suppose it’s an inter-species thing. Although if it is I wonder why I never try and be profound around my dog. Jon Ronson More Quotes by Jon Ronson More Quotes From Jon Ronson There is no evidence that we've been placed on this planet to be especially happy or especially normal. And in fact our unhappiness and our strangeness, our anxieties and compulsions, those least fashionable aspects of our personalities, are quite often what lead us to do rather interesting things. Jon Ronson anxiety personality interesting In the midst of a burning-hot shaming, calling for patience and context and understanding and empathy can really land you in trouble. Jon Ronson empathy understanding land Trying to prove you’re not a psychopath is even harder than trying to prove you’re not mentally ill,’ said Tony. Jon Ronson psychopath said trying Friends are the fruitcake of life - some nutty, some soaked in alcohol, some sweet. Jon Ronson fruitcake alcohol sweet I heard a story about her once,' said James. 'She was interviewing a psychopath. She showed him a picture of a frightened face and asked him to identify the emotion. He said he didn't know what the emotion was but it was the face people pulled just before he killed them. Jon Ronson stories faces people It's not a good idea to define the boundaries of normality by tearing apart people who are outside of it. Jon Ronson boundaries people ideas I am the neurological opposite of a psychopath, in that I feel anxious almost all the time. It must be great to not constantly feel like you’ve got someone living inside your face, shooting you with a mini Taser. Jon Ronson tasers shooting opposites Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies. They ruin societies. Jon Ronson ruins political religious You can say anything to David Icke and he will accept it and put it into his ideology. Jon Ronson accepting ideology say-anything I have panicked unnecessarily in all four corners of the globe. Jon Ronson globes four travel We were creating a world where the smartest way to survive is to be bland. Jon Ronson creating way world We're living in post-nuance online times. Jon Ronson nuance online posts Sometimes the personalities at the helm of the madness industry are, with their drives and obsessions, as mad in their own way as those they study. And that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their maddest edges. Jon Ronson mad personality people On social media there's this thing where on many occasions, there's a single proscribed way of acting. Like if somebody dies, everyone has to say "R.I.P.! R.I.P.!" Basically they're saying, "Don't hurt me, I'm a good person." Jon Ronson media acting hurt The way I portrayed the people is accurate. Because they're human beings and we have a kind of wonderful capacity to be absurd and ridiculous. Jon Ronson ridiculous people way Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere. Jon Ronson bias confirmation seeing At the end of our conversation she (Martha Stout) turned to address you, the reader. She said if you're beginning to feel worried that you may be a psychopath, if you recognize some of those traits in yourself, if you're feeling a creeping anxiety about it, that means you are not one. Jon Ronson anxiety feelings mean Success is always less funny than failure. Jon Ronson No, people back home don't realize why there is this kind of need for heroes in America at the moment. People in Britain don't really understand what's going on here. They don't understand why Camp X-ray exists. Jon Ronson hero home america When I asked Robert Spitzer about the possibility that he'd inadvertently created a world in which ordinary behaviours were being labelled mental disorders, he fell silent. I waited for him to answer. But the silence lasted three minutes. Finally he said, 'I don't know. Jon Ronson three silence ordinary
