The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Deranged Cyberstalker Bill Schmalfeldt Doubts My Expertise in Crazy?

Posted on | May 24, 2014 | 61 Comments

Bill Schmalfeldt insists he is not a deranged cyberstalker.

“Delusions of persecution and grandiose revenge fantasies are typical of certain personality disorders and, although I have no specialized training in psychology, I know crazy when I see it.
“One of Bill Schmalfeldt’s most noticeable traits is his love of making threats — The Dire Warning of Terrible Consequences — which seems closely related to his sadistic tendency. Schmalfeldt evidently enjoys trying to frighten people and relishes the thought of harming or humiliating others . . .”

Robert Stacy McCain, Jan. 7

Fail, fail, fail. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Bill Schmalfeldt‘s habits become tedious after a while, and I’ve only bothered to mention him twice in the past month, once because he announced that he had named me as a defendant in a federal lawsuit — a lawsuit that nobody ever actually saw, of course, but now he has sent an e-mail announcing that he is withdrawing the suit:

Then, on May 22, I had an appointment with my neurologist. We discussed the lawsuit. He told me, quite frankly, that it was his opinion that if being harassed and hassled by you fools was enough to make my condition as bad as it is, a protracted lawsuit would kill me. He asked me if getting a measure of revenge against the people who tormented me this last 18 months was worth my life.
You know what? You’re not worth the time I took to write this comment.
When I got home from the appointment (Dr. Stephen Grill, Elkridge, MD), I wrote a letter to the Clerk of Courts telling them to forget about filing the suit. My wife mailed it minutes later. $0.49 postage. $3.30 certified fee. $2.70 return receipt requested. And a shitload of paper wasted.
So. I am not going to sue anybody. You don’t deserve a moment’s more of my time and effort.

En route to that anticlimax, however, Bill Schmalfeldt nevertheless had to exhibit his symptomatic Last Word Syndrome:

Hoge professes Christianity. He is the sort of person Christ warned about, a blind guide, a liar, a hypocrite. He should be despised instead of lauded. But nobody is accusing his followers of being particularly bright.
And on the subject of R. Stacy McCain. Does he have a degree in psychology? Psychiatry? Have I been adjudged to be “deranged” by competent authority? No? Then who the f*ck is R. Stacy McCain to call ANYBODY ELSE “deranged”? Cyberstalking? Have I been convicted of the crime of cyberstalking? No. One judge who admitted he had no idea what Twitter does decided that blocking me on Twitter was the same thing as Hoge having to change his telephone number. One judge, who completely ignored the settled law and the opinion of the state Attorney General, who he called “just another lawyer.”

For some reason, Bill Schmalfeldt resents being called a “deranged cyberstalker,” which is merely a description, rather than a psychiatric diagnosis or a criminal accusation. Regular readers know how, over Thanksgiving weekend 2012, Schmalfeldt sent me more than 200 hostile Twitter messages in the span of 48 hours, including a threat to contact my wife at her workplace.

Was it inaccurate or unfair to describe such behavior as “cyberstalking”? And was this behavior rational, or was it deranged?

Schmalfeldt’s behavior was self-evidently intended to cause me harm, and was also self-evidently motivated by Schmalfeldt’s own irrational impulses — a bizarre and inexplicable obsession. Everyone who witnessed Schmalfeldt’s conduct toward me that weekend in November 2012 was horrified, and agreed that Schmalfeldt must be in the grip of some weird psychiatric disorder.

This general impression of Schmalfeldt as a madman had actually existed for many months before I ever heard of him, due to such of his insane misadventures as the “butt stuff” rant that got him banned from Daily Kos and his hateful “Dead Breitbart” stunt. Yet what finally cemented Schmalfeldt’s bad reputation was his cruel and obscene harassment of Lee Stranahan’s family. Even now, more than a year after Stranahan sought a court order to put an end to Schmalfeldt’s harassment, Schmalfeldt attempts to justify his actions:

People think I harassed Stranahan. F*ck Stranahan. Every problem the man ever had, he brought on himself.

Schmalfeldt then repeats all the wretched evil he perpetrated against Stranahan’s family, without ever bothering to explain why.

This is the problem that Schmalfeldt cannot escape: He has never been able to offer any logical explanation for why he spent months attempting to destroy Lee Stranahan’s family, and we must therefore conclude that Bill Schmalfeldt is a sadistic monster prone to obsessive fixations on scapegoated enemies, dehumanized targets onto whom he pours out the poisonous hatred that fills his perverse mind.

“Bill Schmalfeldt doesn’t have principles. Bill Schmalfeldt doesn’t have values. Bill Schmalfeldt doesn’t have beliefs. Bill Schmalfeldt has enemies, and then nothing, a black and dank and empty void of sullenness.”
Ken White, Aug. 6, 2013

So, no, I don’t have any credentials or certification in psychology.

But I damned sure know crazy when I see it.




 

 


Comments

61 Responses to “Deranged Cyberstalker Bill Schmalfeldt Doubts My Expertise in Crazy?”

  1. Dianna Deeley
    May 25th, 2014 @ 4:14 pm

    You certainly may!

  2. johncunningham
    May 25th, 2014 @ 9:45 pm

    Stacy, I beseech you, can you use a different photo of Schmaldick? I don’t object to the Maryland Terrapin, which looks a lot like BS, but the Green Bay Packer logo cuts like a knife. the thought of a pile of useless crap like him associated with my beloved Pack is painful indeed.

  3. Bob Belvedere
    May 25th, 2014 @ 11:46 pm

    Was she the one who went after Jeff Goldstein?

  4. Dianna Deeley
    May 26th, 2014 @ 12:22 am

    Yes. Though her later behavior made that obscene attack look relatively restrained.

  5. Wombat_socho
    May 26th, 2014 @ 12:35 am

    Considering what a crappy job America’s schools are doing of teaching history, you can’t blame ol’ GB for giving it a shot.

  6. Aaron Walker
    May 26th, 2014 @ 5:02 am

    Hey! I demand attribution! 🙂

  7. Unix-Jedi
    May 26th, 2014 @ 11:01 am
  8. Cactus Ed
    May 26th, 2014 @ 11:35 am

    Of course, Aaron!
    It was worth reproducing.

  9. mmnkjm
    May 26th, 2014 @ 5:28 pm

    RT @rsmccain: “I have no specialized training in psychology, but I know CRAZY when I see it.” http://t.co/4FSpOg6ebk #tcot http://t.co/9OgC…

  10. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    May 28th, 2014 @ 12:38 pm

    http://hogewash.com/2014/05/27/prevarication-du-jour-96/ Hoge reported yesterday that it showed up on Pacer…

  11. Paul H. Lemmen
    May 28th, 2014 @ 6:36 pm

    And showing up on Pacer is his withdrawal letter as ECF3 on the docket, dropping the case. I don’t know, I’ve been emotionally damaged just being charged in a civil case that actually had no actionable items against me. The most damning was the fact I was @ mentioned in other peoples tweets … I’m a victim of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress …