I’ve misunderstood Tourette Syndrome for a long time – I grabbed onto the definition that a guy with Tourette’s would just keep blurting out obscenities. That’s only part of the description – a google search delivered this: “Tourette (too-RET) syndrome is a disorder that involves repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics) that can’t be easily controlled. For instance, you might repeatedly blink your eyes, shrug your shoulders or blurt out unusual sounds or offensive words.”
By that definition, the guy who taught social science when I was in high school had Tourette’s. We students, knowing no better, merely mocked his facial tics (now I know those are repetitive movements) and went on to the next class. Our psychology class would have been much more interesting had it been interrupted by outbursts of profanity – but that was the sixties, and, psychological problem or not, that would have been outside of acceptable classroom behavior. I lack the psychology classes that would permit me to diagnose – but I wonder how close to the syndromes and disorders our so-called normal people are.
This thought started when I listened to a Canadian who explained that both Trump and Carney have a rare version of Tourette’s that consists of blurting out whatever off-the-wall, uncogitated version of reality that is passing through their minds at the time. The problem, according to my Canadian friend, is that both men know they state things that no one should take seriously – yet each takes the other’s off-the-wall comments seriously, while expecting a walk on their own.
It’s probably as good an explanation as any – maybe Calvin Coolidge had a good idea in being ‘Silent Cal.’
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