1 2 3 5 Next
Topic: Famous eccentrics...
robert1652's photo
Sun 09/27/09 06:48 AM


I see four out of the five you cite has highly accomplished, whereas
Henry was simply born into self-indulgence as King of England has it
entered its own. "Eccentric" is a word that can be deemed negative,
but has a certain patronizing tone. Any Beat could be called that
back in the 50s but might be conservative by today's definitions, a
love of jazz or Eastern disciplines back in the day of conformity. So
it is all relative, isn't it? If Emily Dickinson never left the
house or Henry David Thoreau built a shack out in the woods, they
would be dismissed, if they were not two of the most original geniuses
that nation has produced. Gandhi would be eccentric out of context,
would he not, advocating nonviolence before his time? But he was an
attorney, quite worldly and sophisticated, far more than the
conventionals who might have dismissed him as a demagogue or nutcase.
The four you cite all lost it in the end, much as did Citizen Kane or
King Lear. Because of great wealth, they took the self-indulgence of
the artist and drove it to their undoing. We all tend to unwind if we
live long enough, as we give up on pleasing others -- or as the brain
goes. I think the word is parochial, basically, since in the final
analysis a life that influences others for the better is well-lived in
the altruistic sense. It takes individuals to shift the crowd.
True...true. I don't really think of eccentric as being a negative connotation though being that it's actually a polite term to describe somebody who's probably mentally ill.


I do not agree with you
Eccentric is a type of polite non conformist or polite rebellious person and not mentally ill.
Albert Einstein for example He has been called everything in the history except mentally ill

robert1652's photo
Sun 09/27/09 06:53 AM


Spike Milligan


He needs an entire thread to himself.

rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl

A Wonderful man I met him back in 1986
He was one of the most profound thinkers in all of British Isles
His fresh fruit song is hilarious and how can a person like that be classed by some as mentally Ill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-IU-NQ8c14

1 2 3 5 Next