[imjk]

Call me cynical, but I think the likes of Kanye, the Kardashians, Trump, even Elon, etc. are much more calculated than they are deranged. They know how to work the media and manipulate the public better than anyone else. We're living in a world now where journalists are paid by click counts more than quality of content. In the same vein, Kanye and the likes know that the more absurdist and unconventional their actions, the more publicity they get.

[woodruffw]

This isn't an either/or: Kanye West (or anybody else) can be simultaneously shrewd, calculating, and mentally unwell. Nobody has claimed that Kanye is stupid or otherwise compensating, only that he has a publicly attested history of mental health problems.

[themitigating]

And when you align with the right you can just claim persecution, that you are always the victim, if called out for your behavior

[jonny_eh]

Maybe the current media environment selects individuals that just happen to do well in such an environment. People that crave attention and are just naturally gifted at attracting it. Basically "effective narcissists".

[Melatonic]

I think this is it. The environment enables the behaviour and the CAUSE of said behaviour can be multiple things separately or at once. The right kind of deranged combined with the right kind of stupid? Maybe that works. Completely manipulative and not deranged at all? Maybe that works too.

[berberous]

Why not both? I agree with you that all of those people know how to play the media to their benefit, but Kanye is also clearly bipolar and currently in one of his episodes, and Trump also clearly is the clinical definition of narcissistic personality disorder. The Kardashians and Elon have their flaws too, but I don’t think they rise to the level of clinical issues in the way that Kanye and Trump do.

[NickC25]

It's got to be both.

Nobody in their sane mind would say some of the stuff that Kanye said/tweeted, but as well there's very few people who have the ability to profit off making insane statements to the extent that people like Kanye or Trump can. It's almost like a perpetual vicious cycle of profitable victimhood.

I was never a big fan of the guy's work but he was an incredible producer back in the late 90s early 2000s. I think him experiencing the death of his mother was the start of a very serious downward cycle (mentally, at least) that he's yet to recover from.

[gsanderson]

Exactly. They know what they are doing. And calling out the crazy inevitably repeats whatever they were saying, giving it even more publicity and them attention.

[coinbasetwwa]

“No dude! They are totally insane people! We’re the smart ones here” /s