Inactive Terry A. Davis / Terrence Andrew Davis - Creator of TempleOS (formerly LoseThos/sparrowOS)

[Hornets]

He also thought his parents were Satan at times so take with a grain of salt.

On the topic of his parents, I feel really bad for them.

I always wondered how he "became" racist after developing schizophrenia (developing a mental illness can't really turn you racist), like he must have gotten those thoughts and ideals from somewhere. I always assumed that he already held those views prior to his diagnosis, he just kept them "hidden" because he was able to compose himself in a public setting. I immediately assumed his parents must have been racist as well, but when you watch the video of him arguing with his dad, his dad repeatedly questions him about his racist views. IIRC, he says something like "why would you hate another man of God?".

His parents seem like genuinely good people. It must have been really difficult to see their son wither away mentally like that.

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

On the topic of his parents, I feel really bad for them.

I always wondered how he "became" racist after developing schizophrenia (developing a mental illness can't really turn you racist), like he must have gotten those thoughts and ideals from somewhere. I always assumed that he already held those views prior to his diagnosis, he just kept them "hidden" because he was able to compose himself in a public setting. I immediately assumed his parents must have been racist as well, but when you watch the video of him arguing with his dad, his dad repeatedly questions him about his racist views. IIRC, he says something like "why would you hate another man of God?".

His parents seem like genuinely good people. It must have been really difficult to see their son wither away mentally like that.

The effects of Schizophrenia on thinking are just so bizarre. I wouldn’t assume Terry was particularly racist before he was ill. It’s almost like an obsession develops with “forbidden” words. Schizophrenics can curse better than any sailor ever could.

I think part of it is things get so out of control in their minds they latch onto extremes and shocking words to try and convey their (insane) thinking. The paranoia also makes them believe organizations or groups of people are after you, torturing you. If you really believed a bunch of African American CIA agents were making your life a living hell you’d probably toss the polite language pretty quick and adopt ones that conveyed your anger most effectively too.

 

[Hornets]

The effects of Schizophrenia on thinking are just so bizarre. I wouldn’t assume Terry was particularly racist before he was ill. It’s almost like an obsession develops with “forbidden” words. Schizophrenics can curse better than any sailor ever could.

I think part of it is things get so out of control in their minds they latch onto extremes and shocking words to try and convey their (insane) thinking. The paranoia also makes them believe organizations or groups of people are after you, torturing you. If you really believed a bunch of African American CIA agents were making your life a living hell you’d probably toss the polite language pretty quick and adopt ones that conveyed your anger most effectively too.

I recently brought up Terry's death to a coworker and he said that Terry deserved to die because he was racist I work in IT too, we like to joke around about Terry's antics. A lot of people in that field of work have a soft spot for him, and understandably so.

As you said, schizophrenia really fucks with your ability to think rationally. I'm more inclined to believe that he never really was a racist person pre-diagnosis, he just ended up having delusions about black people specifically, which then resulted in him lashing out and throwing slurs around as a form of retaliation or something. The only reason why I brought up the "becoming racist" thing is because there is a small chance that he did have racist tendencies pre-diagnosis, but since he lost his filter due to schizophrenia, he ended up expressing it a lot more openly. There's really no way to know unless we asked his family or friends, but that's insanely invasive and they've probably suffered enough through all the shit they had to see Terry go through.

Now I've gotten to thinking, I wonder if Terry would have ever gotten caught up in the targetted individual community if his delusions weren't based on religion exclusively, or if he ever found out about the targetted individual community. His ramblings about being pursued by the CIA sounds almost like something a targetted individual would say about being gangstalked by some government entity.

 

[Zaragoza]

I thought his coverage was going to be another cheery whimsical tales from the internet type of vibe kinda like the way we got from the DSP video but Jesus Christ I was not expecting the tone to take a depressing and scary turn even before we reached Terry's death. Good job Fred, absolutely wonderful.

 

[BScCollateral]

No special knowledge, but I suspect Terry had a habit of calling every asshole a nigger, even if said asshole was white. I kind of doubt that he really believed everyone having problems installing his OS was black.

Edit: FWIW, earlier in the thread Terry calls Martin Luther a nigger.

 

[deus et ursa]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed in the thread, but what do you guys think about Terry mentioning having pedophilic thoughts? Was he a pedo or were those thoughts the result of schizophrenia?

On his old text blog, he mentioned a few times that not him but his dad got busted for some kind of pedo situation in the past.

Might just have been nonsense rambling though.

 

[Lurk Jurk]

I only heard about this guy from the Down the Rabbit Hole video, though I knew TempleOS sounded vaguely familiar. The poor bastard. It doesn't even matter if he was genuinely racist or not, he needed help, he needed care takers, he needed to be in a halfway house and he didn't get it. I dunno if his family just gave up or they really thought it was a good idea to let him allegedly road trip across the country.

As for any of his claims it's common for people suffering from psychosis to believe things they see on TV or stories they heard actually happened to them. Only a psychiatrist could have untangled any of that.

 

[invictus]

I only heard about this guy from the Down the Rabbit Hole video, though I knew TempleOS sounded vaguely familiar. The poor bastard. It doesn't even matter if he was genuinely racist or not, he needed help, he needed care takers, he needed to be in a halfway house and he didn't get it. I dunno if his family just gave up or they really thought it was a good idea to let him allegedly road trip across the country.

As for any of his claims it's common for people suffering from psychosis to believe things they see on TV or stories they heard actually happened to them. Only a psychiatrist could have untangled any of that.

I was thinking about that, too. At first, I thought that due to the age of his parents (they looked positively ancient and on their way out) and the fact that Terry was the second youngest child out of seven (or was it eight?), that there just wasn't anyone in their family that would be equipped to handle a violent schizophrenic. His siblings would have to be at least a few to several years older than him (aside from the youngest) and Terry was almost 50 when he croaked. When you're in that age bracket, you tend to look at schizophrenia as a nuisance, especially if you're getting up there in years yourself. It's more risky than it's worth if you're frailer than your sick brother who could shove you down a flight of stairs or something in a fit.

But then I thought that even despite his family's advanced ages, they clearly had enough in them to post mournful Facebook statuses about his passing. I know it's hard to locate a schizo when they're going around as a vagabond, but why didn't someone step in the first time he got carted away from his parents after getting violent? Why didn't anyone try to stick him in a group home? He was getting a tugboat, they could have used that towards housing.

I dunno, it's very sad and :powerlevel: speaking from experience :powerlevel: pretty rage enducing to see those Facebook posts in the DTRH video of whatever random family member mourning his passing like it was so sudden and unexpected.

 

[January Cyst]

The poor bastard. It doesn't even matter if he was genuinely racist or not, he needed help, he needed care takers, he needed to be in a halfway house and he didn't get it.

His family did all they could and his elderly parents took him in and took care of him for 2 decades after the "incident".
He would just walk out of halfway house if God tells him to.
There was literally nothing anyone could do, sadly.

 

[Lurk Jurk]

It's not a good excuse but his family may not have known what their options were. And given they were all older they're more likely to react to mental illness with austerity and trying to sweep it under the rug. Still, I agree, the tearful Facebook messages seem insincere given he was a raving homeless man who could barely function at the end.

 

[Hornets]

There was literally nothing anyone could do, sadly.

I think that's the worst part when it comes to things like mental illness. He willingly stopped taking his medication, and that was his choice (albeit a poorly made one). Schizophrenia is much more manageable than it used to be thanks to advances in medicine.

But no one could really force him to take it unless he was institutionalized permanently or something.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

The Facebook post regarding his passing honestly made me so mad. Terry's family talked about him like he was just 'quirky,' like he was on an adventure when in reality he was lost and suffering. It's like they refused to acknowledge there was ever a problem.

 

[I am a nigger]

Honestly, I don't know and truthfully, both options are horrifying. Either Terry was a pedo who just also happened to be a schizophrenic, or a schizophrenic whose mental illness was so bad it caused him to have those awful delusions. If it's the latter, does that mean everything else he said in that rambling post was just his schizophrenia talking or did some of those things actually happen?

That's the weird and unsettling thing about that post. It seems like normally it was pretty easy to spot when what Terry was saying was just the result of his schizophrenia. The claims would be outlandish and ridiculous. However, some of the claims made in this are much more grounded (in comparison to everything else) and are disturbingly plausible.

As for him actually being a pedo, if I had to guess I'd say no. Only because I feel like he would have brought it up way more often if he was.

I remember reading a story about a guy who was arrested for CP, then while in prison they found a brain tumor. After removing the tumor his pedophilic tendencies disappeared, but later reappeared, after which it was found that the tumor had regrown.

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

The Facebook post regarding his passing honestly made me so mad. Terry's family talked about him like he was just 'quirky,' like he was on an adventure when in reality he was lost and suffering. It's like they refused to acknowledge there was ever a problem.

I think that was just the positive spin for SM. Any close family members knew very well how sick he was. It’s a depressing enough situation so trying to see it in a slightly more positive way once he’s died is pretty typical, trying to find some light in a lot of dark.

I think the people bitching about his family really have no clue how difficult caring for an adult schizophrenic who refuses to take their medication can be. Their hands truly are tied thanks to the mental health laws in this country. I promise you many of the babbling homeless schizophrenics you see on the streets have loving families who desperately want to help them.

Many schizophrenics chose to live on the streets due to their delusions and paranoia. The bum shitting on the street in San Francisco has a loving home and warm bed in Wisconsin to go to but he’s convinced his parents are CIA and god is telling him he must keep the Golden Gate within view at all times. Parents trying to get their child to take meds makes them the enemy trying to poison them so they take off...and there is literally fuck all the parents can do.

Check out the thread on John Bulla, now finally in the loony bin after many arrests, to see how a unmedicated schizophrenic guy with a loving mother lived.

 

[theshep]

I think the people bitching about his family really have no clue how difficult caring for an adult schizophrenic who refuses to take their medication can be. Their hands truly are tied thanks to the mental health laws in this country.

It's not just your country! It's mine and many others.

There is a schizophrenic who lives up the road from my parents and she is totally non-compliant with medication (Despite being allegedly on a court-ordered treatment regime). My folks have gotten to the point where they have given up on calling the cops when she out and about harassing people, because they either don't turn up or when they do, they just let her be.

Don't get me wrong, I'm totally sympathetic towards her situation and how the state has failed in her care. But Christ, she's hard for my parents to live near.

 

[flinty]

I remember reading a story about a guy who was arrested for CP, then while in prison they found a brain tumor. After removing the tumor his pedophilic tendencies disappeared, but later reappeared, after which it was found that the tumor had regrown.

This guy?

This article in the Atlantic covers a few cases, including Walt Whitman, and implications for our justice system.

 

[I am a nigger]

This guy?

This article in the Atlantic covers a few cases, including Walt Whitman, and implications for our justice system.

Fucking hell, as if cancer wasn't terrifying enough.

 

[Least Concern]

Their hands truly are tied thanks to the mental health laws in this country.

Well, what laws are needed? Do we want to make it legal for the state to lock people up forever even if they haven't created a crime just because they have a mental issue? I don't like that idea at all.

 

[AmpleApricots]

Like I mentioned earlier, non-compliancy with schizophrenics is a massive problem. It's very hard to handle a non-compliant schizophrenic and good luck if there is no legal framework in place that let you literally physically restrain him and give him medication against his will. (at the moment, he actually might apologize and thank you later) You'll have no options, and it's no fun restraining and medicating someone that literally thinks you want to murder him. I know the US hates it's mental professionals but these people put up with a lot. If you ever find yourself in the situation of being a patient, just make them aware that you know you're not the only patient they have, drop them hints about stuff in your treatment you talked earlier about and they might not remember in a non-condescending way (most are notoriously overworked and have way too many patients) and let them know that they're helpful on your way to recovery and that you appreciate their work. They'll go out of their way to remember you next time.

Terry was probably not a racist, as he even used the word nigger very liberally, even when talking about white people and it pretty much seemed to mean "good-for-nothing" person for him. I've seen edgelord honest-to-god punks in different times use the word nigger in similar ways about as much as him.

Schizophrenics just have a very distorted language process and some are so bad that they're literally talking such a stream-of-conciousness word salad nonsense that it's hard to guess what they're even trying to say in sometimes very simple circumstances. (The parts of their brain that do semantic processing are disturbed too so they also have trouble understanding you the same way you have understanding them, which is immensely frustrating for them) There's no sense in trying to find a higher meaning in the word nigger as used by Terry, as it is with the pedophile stuff. Peculiar usage of the wrong words for specific things is literally a symptom doctors will try to find to confirm that you are schizophrenic. The technical term is metonymic distortion.

EDIT: btw. his utter fascination with random bible word picker is a big hint for this

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

Well, what laws are needed? Do we want to make it legal for the state to lock people up forever even if they haven't created a crime just because they have a mental issue? I don't like that idea at all.

Huh? What a weirdly defensive comment. I never said lock any one up, I said treatment. Also, we mostly lock up schizophrenics in prisons now adays for actual petty and nuisance crimes committed due to their disease. So is that preferable to you?

Id like to make it easier to save people like Terry from their illness or at least empower family/guardian to be better able to help them. Today’s laws were passed in the 1970s as an extreme over-reaction to involuntary commitments abuses of the past.

But if you think it’s the fundamental right of men to live under bridges with aluminum foil wrapped around their heads to stop CIA niggers from reading their thoughts, in between jail stints for vagrancy and disturbing the peace, then the US system is perfect for you.