First, a note on my invented word: craxy.

Like crayons in a box, some words in English exhibit a variety of shades and colors. Crazy is one of these, attracting synonyms like butterflies to milkweed. Call someone crazy, and we run the gamut from foolish to eccentric to fanatical, and end with psychotic. Consequently, context is everything when we deploy crazy as an adjective. We can affectionately sum up a friend as “a little bit crazy” and five minutes later read some account of a “crazed” killer who shot up a supermarket before a cop airconditioned him with a Glock.

Craxy (pronounced crack-see) would define and bring into focus those individuals and groups whose ideas and behavior, usually involving politics, crack and break all bounds of reason and what remains of American social graces, but are generally tolerated by most Americans too good-natured to kick back. Think of craxies as barking-mad political crazies gone wild.

Phillip Vincent Haskins-Delici claims to be a woman and apparently has undergone the surgery to stake out the appearance of that claim. Under the name of Isabel Rosa Araujo – he also claims the titles of “Latinx” and “Muslima” – this man in need of diet and exercise is also a member of Antifa and has been arrested for assault on a woman with some kind of chemical spray.

On the sidewalk outside the courtroom, Haskins-Delici verbally assaulted a reporter, first shouting “Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud!” which is an ancient antisemitic Muslim battle cry, and then launching into the usual string of F-bombs.

Interestingly, his attorney had plans to ask the court to allow his client to carry mace during his probation from fear of being attacked by fascists. Given that he’s already gotten nailed for assault with the spray and given that the odds of finding a fascist other than the Antifa gang in progressive Portland are astronomically low, this defense attorney also belongs to the craxy crew.

Though Philip Isabel Vincent Rosa Haskins-Delici Araujo is an extreme example of craxy, multitudes are close kin. Think of the Muslim who recently rammed a truck into a Michigan synagogue and school and the “Allahu Akbar” Muslim who on the same day killed a professor and military hero at Virginia’s Old Dominion University. These are examples of craxies, unfortunately celebrated by other craxies on the left.

The right has its own craxy crowd, and many American craxies – both right and left – suffer from TDS, or Trump Derangement Syndrome, which may be defined as mass craxy hysteria.

Nor does craxy discriminate according to age. Two 60-something friends of mine, one on the left, one on the right, see everything through a political lens. Mention to the former that you have a grandson who works out and now has the strength of Hercules, and you’ll receive a mini-lecture on women and their physical strength. Mention to the latter that you admire the work of Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, and you may receive grudging agreement accompanied by the comment that women have ruined politics in America.

None of us is immune. Like many others during Covid and the Biden administration, I was well on my way to becoming full-blown craxy but was rescued when I finally declined to spend my days in the polluted waters of politics over which I had almost no control. Today I’m a recovering craxy.

If you find yourself on this road to perdition, or even if you’re already a full-blown craxy, please know that you too can kick the habit. Here are some tips from my own recovery:

1) Rollback the time you spend with the news and social media. I used to go several times daily to selected online sites looking for information and story ideas. Cutting back on those visits made a huge difference. And when you come across stories like the one about Haskins-Delici, keep in mind that he’s an outlier. Meet him in person, and most Americans would consider him a half-witted, scary clown.

2) Gin up some laughter. Instead of getting furious with the latest craxy move making the news – there’s one every day in case you haven’t noticed – laugh at it.

3) Do things you enjoy every day. Read a book, tend a garden, bake, take a walk: these and many other activities will lure you away from today’s lunacy to places of peace and beauty.

4) Finally, as with other addictions, desire is key. You must want to escape the craxies. All the suggestions in the world are worthless unless your desire for transformation is walking point on this patrol to normalcy. Remember, too, that no sane person on his death bed is going to say, “I wish I’d spent more time protesting ICE or nattering on about Israel and its evils.”

Let’s keep politics in perspective and leave craxy to the craxies.

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This article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image credit: Public domain