It is slightly chilling to realize there are rational, functional people up there employed to spot, nurture, and exploit those down here among us who are irrational and can barely cope. If you want to know how stupid you’re perceived to be by the people up there, count the unsolicited junk mail you receive. If you get a lot, you’re perceived to be alluringly stupid.

Friends are the fruitcake of life - some nutty, some soaked in alcohol, some sweet.

We have to understand how the extremists got the way they are. Without that kind of understanding, we'd never really get to know them. I put in nothing about their childhoods. But what I have put in is stuff about the weird symbiotic relationship between us and them.

In the midst of a burning-hot shaming, calling for patience and context and understanding and empathy can really land you in trouble.

Sometimes labeling is only useful, like with OCD. Once you're labeled you can be treated. On other occasions labeling leads to tyranny, like with childhood bipolar disorder in the U.S.

At first, I did stories on people who were maybe just eccentric. Omar was a natural progression from that.

‎I have panicked unnecessarily in all four corners of the globe.