Affirming Mentally Ill People, The Norm?

 I sat and watched some podcast in the past week....here was a person who seemed a bit 'odd' (even by Alabama standards).

Eventually, they got around into the conversation to some point where they felt they'd explained things, and then wanted you to 'affirm' them.  I stopped watching at this point, and went to resolve my feeling over the word 'affirm'.

In military lingo....when you 'affirm' something....it typically meant you were going to swear an oath.  

In this use of the word with the fragile person....'affirm' means that you support them or agree that their behavior is pretty weird but I can go along with it.

After a while, I started to think....well, usually in Alabama with wild and crazy folks....you just show them some patience and 'blessed-understanding', but you don't pat them on the back, or say it's OK.

Then it occurred to me....if you were that far off the track....why do you need affirming?  You obviously know you have some type of mental disorder, so why bother getting my affirm 'nod'?  

It's like saying you know you are crazy, and recruiting for more people to be crazy like you.  

Bottom line?  Once a guy or gal has done their ten minutes of mentally ill chatter, and ask about affirming.....just tell them that you will be praying for them and offer them a shot of your closet-whiskey (that you'd typically offer to relatives or best friends).