Bedlam: an institution with a history so fearsome it gave its name to a synonym for chaos and pandemonium. Jon Ronson More Quotes by Jon Ronson More Quotes From Jon Ronson My worryingly paradoxical thought process could be summarized thus: Thank God I don't believe in the secret rulers of the world. Imagine what the secret rulers of the world might do to me if I did! Jon Ronson thank-god secret believe It is an awful lot harder, Tony told me, to convince people you're sane than it is to convince them you're crazy. Jon Ronson harder crazy people The snowflake never needs to feel responsible for the avalanche. Jon Ronson avalanches snowflake needs Obviously, I like to write stories that are page-turners. But I always try my very, very hardest to be as factually true as possible. Jon Ronson stories writing trying I wondered if sometimes the difference between a psychopath in Broadmoor and a psychopath on Wall Street was the luck of being born into a stable, rich family. Jon Ronson wall differences money 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 stars dog profound I wasn't in any way a kind of soothsayer or not surprised when Sept. 11 happened. I was absolutely shocked. Jon Ronson sept-11 kind way We have to understand how the extremists got the way they are. Without that kind of understanding, we'd never really get to know them. I put in nothing about their childhoods. But what I have put in is stuff about the weird symbiotic relationship between us and them. Jon Ronson childhood understanding relationship Sometimes labeling is only useful, like with OCD. Once you're labeled you can be treated. On other occasions labeling leads to tyranny, like with childhood bipolar disorder in the U.S. Jon Ronson bipolar childhood sometimes I have thought sometimes that the sanest people, the people who are just very balanced, very happy, are probably lower achieving than other people. My kind of irrationality happens to be fear or anxiety. Jon Ronson anxiety kind people Most goat-related military activity is still highly classified. Jon Ronson goats stills military Discover the time of day when you write best, and write then. For me it's about 7 am to noon. For other people it's overnight. Try not to do anything other than write between those times. Jon Ronson writing trying people Trying to solve the mystery is what I enjoy most about writing. Jon Ronson mystery writing trying I'm not what you'd call a fearless type of person. Jon Ronson fearless type persons My paranoia never ends, but I haven't been paranoid about being spied on my shadowy forces for some time now. Jon Ronson paranoia force ends Nothing uniquely bad has happened to me in my personal life, but all the regular little bad things have accumulated to make me a neurotic person. And these adventures are my way of trying to make sense of that. Jon Ronson littles trying adventure There's definitely evidence that capitalism at its most ruthless rewards psychopathic behavior. When you look at the worst corners of the American health insurance industry or the sub-prime banking market, it really feels like the more psychopathically someone behaves, the more it's rewarded. Jon Ronson rewards banking looks We want to see ourselves as curious and open-minded and smart and understanding things in terms of context and nuance, but when someone tries to do that in the midst of a shaming they're turned on. Jon Ronson smart understanding trying Somebody told me, “Twitter hates tabloids, but Twitter is constantly acting like a tabloid, repeating the mistakes of the things we’re hoping to better.” Twitter wanted to become a more egalitarian justice system, but instead it became a draconian one. Jon Ronson hate acting mistake Twitter wanted to become a more egalitarian justice system, but instead it became a draconian one. Jon Ronson draconian wanted justice
