Why is the Joker considered Insane?

[Lord_Archive]

Granted, the Joker's plans and goals operate on a completely different social aesthetic than anyone else, but his methods of accomplishing those goals are always quite rational.

Take the goal of blowing up a dam for example. An insane person would just throw his own feces at the dam or anything else until something else draws his attention. The Joker, however, while he may uses a lot of clowns in an overly elaborate stunt, will indeed use explosives in accomplishing the goal and will be far away from the explosion when it does go off. See the difference?

Criminal? Yes. Insane? Hardly.

Perhaps the lunacy bit is just a dodge for the Joker to keep people from realizing how in control of his actions he really is and in this sense, perhaps he is smarter than Batman.

[IamtheRock3]

well Crazy people can plan well

That what makes the seiral killers so Dangerous. They can pose as normal

That how they can build cults and get people to Join

Look at the Una Bomber

[Jack Zodiac]

Take the goal of blowing up a dam for example. An insane person would just throw his own feces at the dam or anything else until something else draws his attention. The Joker, however, while he may uses a lot of clowns in an overly elaborate stunt, will indeed use explosives in accomplishing the goal and will be far away from the explosion when it does go off. See the difference?

I don't know if you were trying to be funny or whatever, but that's not insanity. Insanity isn't the absence of rational thinking. It's a psychosis and unsoundness of mind, and a very broad term for irrational behavior. The Joker suffers from a variety of psychological disorders, especially megalomania. All of Batman's rogues have some psychosis or another, and are all considerably "insane."

[The Foreigner]

An insane person would just throw his own feces at the dam or anything else until something else draws his attention.

Mm. That's a pretty ignorant view of the term "insane."

[Kirayoshi]

There was a Batman black and white story a few years back(I think it's in one of the Batman:B&W trades) by Paul Dini and Alex Ross, that addressed this very issue. In the story, called "Crazy Like a Fox", a young intern at Arkham dug up a file on the Joker, written by a doctor who was studying him, suggested that his 'crazy' act was just that, an act, well orchestrated to keep him from being put on trial for his crimes. Unfortunately, it turned out that the author of this file was none other than Harlene Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, so the findings were worthless.

Is Joker truly insane? Maybe, maybe not. Unfortunately there's no conclusive way of proving his sanity(if he is truly sane) because he's to cagey to tip his hand. So he's diagnosed as insane, because there's really no other option.

[Jack Zodiac]

The point is, even if he is rational in how he does things, the fact that he's doing them and the reasons behind it are "insane."

[IamtheRock3]

that again he could be cosidered a Sociopath..which is differnt from a phycopath

Think Phycopath concept of reality is mess up. Rights and wrong is confuse


Sociopath, know right and wrong but simple dont care. May not have a Consciene, or sense of fear.

You know normal stuff that make you feel bad for poisoning Boy scouts

[dancj]

Thanks for that. I always wondered what the difference between a Psychopath and a Sociopath was. Going by that definition, does that mean that Psychopaths are considered mentally ill and therefore unable to stand trial and sociopaths are able to stand trial because the comprehend what they're doing?

Anyway Joker's blatantly insane. Plenty of insane people are capable of intelligence - otherwise you couldn't have insane geniuses (genii?)

Dan

[Trademark]

Joker doesn't even come close to fitting any real-world definition of medical insanity. It's a comic book, everything is supposed to be exaggerated. Joker for the most part is written by people who read comics, not people who have a college degree in Psychology. If anything, Joker is much more along the lines of Daffy Duck-style insane rather than medically insane. It's more as if someone watched a bunch of Looney Tunes cartoons and then tried to write Arkham psychologists in a manner similar to Looney Tunes psychologists.

[Kaos]

Personally I think he's a class A nutcase

[Erisu Kimu]

I liked him as the Red Hood, but anyway, Joker is a nut. He's a nut in the way he behaves and kills, but behind that lunacy, he's still an intelligent criminal. Sort of like the Mad Hatter, although I find the Joker to be more dangerous and brilliant.

[Superboy Prime]

that again he could be cosidered a Sociopath..which is differnt from a phycopath

Think Phycopath concept of reality is mess up. Rights and wrong is confuse

Sociopath, know right and wrong but simple dont care. May not have a Consciene, or sense of fear.

Thanks for that.

Well I suppose I have to say that I have always considered The Joker a Psychopath. Brilliant. Clever. And alot of other things, but a psychopath nevertheless.

[OverMaster]

Considering all what the Spectre and the JLA have seen whenever they walk inside of the Joker's mind... YES, HE IS INSANE. There is just no way of faking that kind of madness.

[Erisu Kimu]

Well, think about how he first became Joker. Think about the origin. He may have started out sane as the Red Hood, but after his transition to Joker from the chemical accident, he has been developing psychotic disorder. I mean, come on, the way he kills slowly escalates his thirst for more and sooner or later, he becomes insane. Maybe his excitement from fighting Batman and playing with his mind makes him do even more psychotic things as a result of his behaviour? It perhaps overshadows his way of thinking.

Do you know that many psychopaths can hide their lunacy with very straightforward personalities? In Joker's case, he isn't hiding his lunacy and at the same time, he ain't hiding his expertise as well unless the situation calls for it where he may be 'faking' his sanity, not his insanity. Think of all the antics over the years that he has done. Tell me that's not crazy. He kills people for his own amusement and laughs about it. He's also creative about it. In Batman: Dark Knight Returns, he was laughing on his way to death after fighting with Batman. In the Animated series or even in the comics, he has made people die from laughing gas, etc. What does a normal criminal find amusing in all of this? A normal criminal would come in the guise of Joe Chill.

[Sanagi]

I think it's because he dresses like a clown and kills people.