Let me preface this entry by saying ‘these are only my opinions, I have come to these conclusions based on the evidence presented to me (i.e. as hear on that radio show) I have never met Fez or Ron.
A lot of you that are listeners of the Ron and Fez show are painfully aware that Fez ‘has issues’ (which is putting it hilariously mild) I am viewed as being vastly critical of Fez based on my tweets. This is true. But here is why.
Fez is not ‘mentally ill’ but ‘emotionally ill.’ He is clinically depressed (which he has admitted) but what a lot of people don’t understand that depression comes with a lot of symptoms that go beyond what the drug commercials warn us of.
Depression and general anxiety is usually experienced by everyone at one time or another. In my experience it usually becomes lifestyle altering due to a trauma. I know this because mine began in 1997 due to an emotional trauma.
Typically, depression and anxiety come with the ‘usual’ symptoms…
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Joint pain
- Fatigue
- Loss of pleasure in hobbies
- Thoughts of suicide
- Panic attacks
What they don’t tell you about is the extreme paranoia that comes with depression.
Fez is extremely paranoid. But not in the cocaine fueled paranoia most people joke about. (the-dog-would-have-barked–if-someone-was-at-the-door kind of thing)
Fez is paranoid that people are ‘out to get him’ in the jokes they make. And because Fez is so depressed that he can no longer laugh at himself, and then everyone must be laughing at him right?
I’ve listened to him go off on wild contrary opinions about things he has obviously done zero research on, and when beginning to lose a discussion, he turns that person’s stance into a personal attack on himself (i.e. homophobia)
I get frustrated with Fez because his tolerance for misery is astounding. It’s almost as if he enjoys his misery. And when something physically happens to him (another heart attack or his back problems) He feels safe in those physical ailments because it garners him sympathy (which he wants) and it gives him a break from, what he perceives, is emotional attacks on his life or opinions. (Who would mock out a guy who had a heart attack, really?)
If you go back and listen to Ron and Fez shows from even 2008 you will see a vast difference in Fez.
Back then, Fez never minded the jokes about him and his assumed lifestyle. He made himself the butt of jokes and laughed right along with people. Now he just screams his opinion with no knowledge and weeps when he imagines he’s being attacked.
Fez has to get sick of the misery. Get sick of being depressed and fight it. Pills and therapy can only help so much. It’s a daily struggle to keep that paranoia at bay. It’s a lifetime of working to remain emotionally healthy. If you want to be emotionally strong and ‘be funny’ again, you have to fight to be that way. No shrink is going to make you better Fez, only you are.
I’m not talking out of my ass here either. I struggle, sometimes painfully, every single day to keep that darkness out. I use the coping skills I was taught in therapy and work on staying emotionally healthy, for myself and for my daughter and husband. To be the best I can possibly be. It can be done.
Rant over
Cheers
~QE
twitter.com/queenelisabeth
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