You Have a Right To Your Opinion. I Have A Right To Think You're Nuts

Today's word is: medicaster. Noun. A charlatan. A mountebank. A peddler of suspicious wares! Note the inclusion of the word 'medic' there. Coincidence? You be the judge.

The internet is full of crazy people. And I'm sorry, but some people really do deserve to be called crazy on a public blog. Such as... oh, I don't know. Anyone who tries to convince anyone else that they're really truly an anime character and can shoot fireballs out their eyes and turn into an elephant. Or whatever's popular these days, I don't keep up with the trends.

And then, of course, after posting ten page essays on how they can transform into Super Sparkly Powder Princess or whatever, these people are surprised when they get made fun of. Really now, what do you expect? The internet doesn't even let Scientology go unmocked, and that's technically a recognized religion. You think you're delusional, grade-school fantasies are going to be taken seriously?

They call themselves Otakin, and hold the belief - supposedly - that they are the reborn souls of characters from Japanese anime. Swear to god, you can look it up if you don't believe me. They're trying to make it a religion, or something. I don't know, I usually have to wander away and have a lie down whenever I read about these people. They go on about past life memories, mystical powers, magic items....

Now, I don't think these people actually believe any of what they say. They probably want to believe - hell, I still wish I had magic powers! - and they want to draw attention to themselves. Especially since Sailor Moon's soul has apparently been split and reborn in the bodies of about fifty different people. There's nothing quite like reading a heated forum debate about who's the real Queen of Crystal Tokyo. It's better than Jerry Springer.

It all goes back to attention. But come on! There are ways to get attention without portraying yourself as a candidate for the loony bin. And I'd think those would be the things you'd think of first. You know, 'I'll start a website'! Not 'I'll start a website about how I'm Warrior Queen Fukifyia The Third Really And Seriously!'.

I just don't get it. I may have hoped that I was really a Caller from Final Fantasy and that someday the monsters would come take me, but I was eleven. Not in my thirties. I sometimes wonder how sad these people's lives have to be, that they're willing to humiliate themselves like this.

See parents? Letting your kids watch too much TV is dangerous.