R.D. Laing in NYC

[golsno147]

whiff1962 Laing was vilified by an Establishment who were envious of his success & popularity. He claimed no "achievements". His personal life and your assertion of

"moral failings" are completely irrelevant to an assessment of his intellect and wisdom.

Even Einstein's life and professional career were marked by ignorance, and lapses

in consistency and constancy. So what? Your deluded pseudo intellectual assertions are heavily influenced by political prejudice.

[whiff1962]

@golsno147 "heavily influenced by political prejudice."

This is an interesting though unwitting point you make. Is psychiatry, which calls itself a branch of medicine, anything remotely construed with the political? A: Yes. Any critical examination of what the psych enterprise says, and what it actually does, is most revelatory.

[whiff1962]

@golsno147 Laing was certainly a master of deception and duplicity himself. His "politics" of experience is a rip off from such noted philosophers as Satre. There is little in the way of any meaningful clarity in the works of Laing, and certainly as pertains to his psychiatric practices, he was no less an arch coercer and statist! In short, his experiences are solipsistic and Marxist gobbledygook.

[erp65]

@whiff1962 -- Rollo May, Erich Fromm, Clark Moustakas ... are they too solipsistic peddlers of Marxist gobbledygook? Serious question. Trying to ferret out if it's Laing's head alone you have on a stick, or if you ultimately have it out for all existential, humanist social-psychologists.

(For the record, I do not rank Laing's career -- as writer, as practitioner -- with any of the aforementioned, and I am not familiar with Szasz' work, though I'll be making up for that anon. )

[whiff1962]

You ought to read Thomas Szasz' "Anti-psychiatry: quackery squared" to get a good deal of insight into the life and work of a charlatan, "renegade" psychiatrist, who, to the end, was unapologetic about his moral and ethical inconsistencies.

The toadyism of Laing:

watch?v=hsJ5C1dyNMI&feature=re­lated

The fundamentally anti-democratic, FS Marxist, Fromm:

comment_servlet?all_comments=1­&v=mPw5prYLc5w

Feel free to read and respond. Cheers.

[ipublica]

To recognize genius, let him have a glass of malt whiskey, let him play piano and let him talk for a while. It is true for Laing, for myself, but not for Fritjof Capra, the puritan, who, nonetheless, has painted a beautiful controversial image about Laing in his book 'Uncommon Wisdom (1989)' which I have reviewed. Is there a choice? No, I love them both. They are complementary. Laing is the poet-psychiatrist and lover, Capra is the science hero of Hermann Hesse's novel 'Glasperlenspiel'.

[pdlaing]

I loved Mikes piece of theater, go and see it if you have the chance. Paul Laing (eldest son).

[golsno147]

I videod the full original R.D. Laing documentary but have lost or mislaid it.

His insight and understanding of the human condition was truly remarkable but

unappreciated by opponents who bad-mouthed him when appearing on TV having had a few drinks. His slow delivery was also used as criticism whereas he

simply chose his words with extreme care .. As Walter Mathau said of Streisand Laing had more talent and intelligence in his

tiniest fart than most psychiatrists in their entire bodies.

[whiff1962]

@golsno147 I suggest you read "Anti-psychiatry: quackery squared", by Thomas Szasz. Such sycophantic fawning does little to expose the fact that Laing did not do anything to reform psychiatry, especially of its carceral-coercive practices, as he, too, took part in same. His whole life, both personal and professional, was marked by lapses in consistency and constancy. Laing's personal moral failings are a matter of public record, and cannot be ignored when discussing his so-called renegade self.

[CocteauDalighari]

@whiff1962 Szasz's original paper was called The Myth of Mental Illness; later turned into a book. Laing cited it in several of his own works.

These days, tho, Szasz is little more than a polemicist; much like Laing in his Politics of Experience. Szasz peddles the antipsychiatry movement like the pop press; there was never a movement, & even the originator of the term, David Cooper, never really defined it. As far as I can tell, antipsychiatry referred to what standard psychiatrists were doing.

[whiff1962]

@CocteauDalighari You make the same category mistake as do many others. As for the moniker of "anti-psychiatry", again, Dr. Szasz' lifetime of published works will clearly vindicate his name. It is this needless confusion and fussing over the semantics that distracts from the real attention of present psychiatric practice. I suggest that you take up reading Szasz' works.

[tjmacjee]

He had a sister called Mona - Mona Lang

[sunkellaing]

wrong

[freddiezgay]

It was a joke - Mona Lang is Glaswegian for, "Come along with me."

[sunkellaing]

that will teach me

[7trent]

It is pronounced"Lang" you twat

[dincz]

And it's "Did you use to be ..."

[Bigturns33]

Laing was a Brillant man.

[DrMontague]

Does anyone have the video' did you used to be RD laing' if so please upload. It was on UK TV years ago.

[gabberdeen]

i know this comment is 2 years old but the video is on gooogle video, it has a little time lag with the sound tho, i have watched it loads.

(did you used to be rd laing)

[laynasor]

is it coming to uk?

[Bampod]

laynasor,

Writer & performer Mike Maran is based in UK.

Please go to mikemaran website to find out his UK performance schedule.