"Eccentric" geniuses who were clearly just insane

[mchammer75040]

lol

The Genius:

By age 12, Yukio Mishima had acquired a comprehensive knowledge of Oscar Wilde. At 24, he published Confessions of a Mask, which hoisted him to the top of Japanese literary circles. Over the next 20 years he published another 20 major works, was nominated for three Nobel prizes, and solidified his status as the most recognized novelist in Japanese history.

The Insanity:

The image you see up there is the cover of Mishima's essay, "Sun and Steel", featuring the author himself in his samurai sword/jockstrap combo. We've included text below for posterity, but any further argument for his insanity is probably redundant after having seen that picture.

In 1968, Mishima founded the cult Tatenokai, or Shield Society. The cult consisted exclusively of himself and homo-erotically well-physiqued teenage boys. They spent their time lifting weights, practicing martial arts, and swearing their unconditional devotion, not to Mishima, but to the Emperor of Japan.

On November 26, 1970, Mishima stormed the Japanese defense headquarters with the intention of overthrowing the country by coup. His forces consisted of:

-Four homo-erotically well-physiqued teenage boys

-A sword

With tremendous foresight, he soon realized he was a little under-equipped, and took to the balcony to recruit defense force personnel.

In a fervent speech, he asked a group of bewildered gawkers to hand up their lives for the Emperor, do whatever the Emperor asked of them, and accept the Emperor as divinity. There were two problems with his message:

1. It was 1970. The Emperor held zero political influence over Japan. He existed for people to wave at once a year and was in no peril whatsoever. The idea of dedicating one's life to his protection was the Japanese equivalent of asking people to give their life for Punxsutawney Phil.

2. The Emperor himself was nothing but embarrassed by the cult, publicly refuted his own divinity, and asked only that Mishima and his chiseled cabaret act leave him alone.

Unsurprisingly, Mishima's speech yielded a total of 0 recruits. Mishima stepped down from the balcony, returned to the room which he had barricaded, and committed Seppuku--ritual suicide. We're assuming this was most people's first clue that he was actually serious.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16559_7-eccentric-geniuses-who-were-clearly-just-insane.html

another crazy science related article:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16079_10-craziest-scientific-experiments-ever-conducted.html

Discuss, and post other strange articles on bizarre people/science experiments.

 

[MJ12]

lol'd at the abrupt suicide part tbh

 

[Dog--]

Did you guys just find out about cracked or something?

 

[mchammer75040]

What? Why does there always have to be someone to come along and spam my fckin thread? I thought it was funny/interesting and thought I'd share. Nevermind, close the thread since Dog is not amused..

 

[MJ12]

Because his name is Dog, he plays guitars and eats penis.

 

[CyberPitz]

Hitler.

Obvious reasons.

 

[Dodo]

Jezus.

Obvious reasons....

-dodo

 

[CptStern]

Let's suppose you were high up in social circles and often compelled to give dinner parties. Let's also say you wanted to impress your high-profile friends and reassure them that their good faith and finances were in safe hands. What would you do?

How about hiring a dwarf, dressing him up as a clown, and without any explanation having him sit silently underneath the dining table for the duration of the dinner? Tycho Brahe did it, and he was a lot richer than you.

lol ..

 

[Shakermaker]

lol ..

Still though, to conclude Tycho Brahe was mad, just because he kept a dwarf, is stretching it. I demand more proof for his madness.

 

[CptStern]

ok not direct proof but close, and lol worthy

Tycho also had a tame elk and that his mentor the Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel (Hesse-Cassel) asked whether there was an animal faster than a deer. Tycho replied, writing that there was none, but he could send his tame Elk. When Wilhelm replied he would accept one in exchange for a horse, Tycho replied with the sad news that the elk had just died on a visit to entertain a nobleman at Landskrona. Apparently during dinner[11] the elk had drunk a lot of beer, fallen down the stairs, and died.

 

[Dog--]

Because his name is Dog, he plays guitars and eats penis.

I must've hurt your feelings, you're in a bad mood. ;(

 

[Sledgehammer]

Does every article on Cracked get it's own thread here? Just curious.

 

[lefty]

Does every article on Cracked get it's own thread here? Just curious.

Yes, as well as every video by the onion and every yahtzee review and cyanide and happiness strip.

 

[Sledgehammer]

Yes, as well as every video by the onion and every yahtzee review and cyanide and happiness strip.

Not entirely correct. The Onion videos don't get one thread each.

 

[mchammer75040]

Does every article on Cracked get it's own thread here? Just curious.

I must've hurt your feelings, you're in a bad mood. ;(