A Bit of the Crazy Everywhere—Open thread

I am pretty damn tired of dealing with crazy people. I mean I know the tent is big but sheesh.

Recently I had to listen and respond to a fundraising idea that I don’t think will work and that is bordering on less-than-legal. I wanted to meet the propos-er face to face about the whole scheme but did not yet have the time. When I didn’t respond with the desired HEY GREAT IDEA, I got accused of dissing the person because of his sexual orientation. He totally went off on me. Having never met me. And by the way, before his accusation I never even knew his sexual orientation, not that it matters a flying fig to me.

And

At every event I do, there is always one total loon, who we-- the organizers cringe over, just waiting to see what fresh-embarrassing-hell they are going to put us through. I have had drunk women flashing their panties at former ambassadors, men with anger-management issues shouting swear words at visiting VIPs, and don't even get me started on the folks who still think it is a good idea to vote for Nader! And on top of just being hard to deal with, these crazies suck energy like a Hoover vacuum. I know I am being insensitive, but damn it gets exhausting.

So here are my questions for you;

Why do the crazies require 5 times as many email responses as most other people?

How can we keep the big tent big and still remain pragmatic and effective?

How do you handle the lovable and not so lovable crazies in your life?

p.s. I do love OUR crazies though, because at least they don’t burn crosses in people’s yards and hold purity balls like THEIR crazies. As a general rule, our crazies don’t try to hurt people. But as an organizer, it is hard to be inclusive and effective when energy that would be better spent registering voters and raising money is spent putting out fires. Thoughts?