Now seems like a good time to share my analysis of someone like Kanye West and his use of social media. I am not diagnosing anyone; my opinions are my own, not anyone else’s. Typically, I would give some background, but since most of you know who Kanye West is, I will start with the controversy and then roll into my analysis of this type of behavior, leadership (or lack thereof) and use of social media.
In 2014, Kanye married Kim Kardashian. They have four children together.
In 2019, Kanye revealed that he has bipolar disorder, hallucinations, and paranoia.
Kanye made a few controversial statements and media appearances.
Kanye and some of his supporters have also attributed some of his negative (and positive behavior) to being a genius.
The Controversy
Kim filed for divorce in early 2021, and by November 2021, she began dating Pete Davidson, a comedian on Saturday Night Live. Kanye indicated several times that he did not want his marriage to end, and he then commenced to engage in destructive online behavior directed at Kim and Pete.
The following are a few examples:
He called Pete names like "Skeet."
He shared private communication between himself and Kim.
He accused Kim of hiding the location of their daughter's birthday party.
He promised that Pete would never meet his children.
He claimed Pete sent intimate photos of Ariana Grande, a famous singer, to her ex-boyfriend. He was implying that what ultimately happened to her ex-boyfriend was because of this.
He released a song titled Easy, claiming that one reason God saved him was to harm Pete.
He posted an image of a man having another man in a chokehold, which could reference a fantasy involving him and Pete.
He posted a message which read, "Upon my wife's request, please nobody do anything physical to Skeet. I'm going to handle the situation myself."
He shared a post suggesting that Pete had a relationship with Hillary Clinton.
He posted a message suggesting that people should pay attention to their spouses because they never know when someone like Pete will be around the corner, waiting to destroy their family.
He engaged his fans to scream at the top of their lungs if they saw Pete in real life.
He released a music video for the song Easy on March 2, 2022, when Kim was legally declared single. The music video depicted clay animations of characters representing Kanye and Pete. One character was dragged, buried alive, and turned the other into fertilizer for flower seeds by the end. The sprouted flowers are then cut and put into a pickup truck. This depiction looked like Kanye's image of a pickup truck full of roses outside Kim's house just a month earlier, on Valentine's Day, 2022. At the video's end, a message appears on the screen stating, "Everyone lived happily ever after except Skeet. You know who. Just kidding. He's fine." The video crossed out the name Skeet.
Kim and Pete broke up in August 2022 to which Kanye responded on social media with a fake New York Times front page with a headline that read, "Skete Davidson Dead at Age 28."
Kanye has also made other claims like “They Want To Put Chips Inside Us” in response to the coronavirus response.
In October 2022, Kanye wore a "White Lives Matter" shirt at his fashion show. He often states that his wealth is underestimated implying that others do not respect his Kanye's billionaire status. Following the show, he went to a popular news show on social media and a podcast, suggesting that he was exposing Jews.
Analysis
Behavior
It appears that someone like Kanye is violating boundaries, communicating threats, and eliciting allies. Kim and Pete were bearing the consequences of Kanye's behavior. Kim asked Kanye to stop several times, and she told the court that Kanye's internet posts were causing her emotional distress. He claimed he would be taking accountability for his actions, but when I first did this analysis, his behavior seemed to continue. He then claimed he would "go away and get some help."
The video he made for his song depicts a murderous act, and the fantasies expressed in the video are eerily similar to real life. Anyone who sees themselves as described in this fantasy could reasonably perceive that there is a threat in real life.
In addition, despite Kanye's statement about nobody doing anything physical to Pete, his video communicated an atmosphere where Kim, his fans, and supporters may have thought about giving him sympathy and attempting to win his favor. His kind of behavior may tempt his fans to vocalize or act on taking a side or showing their support. Someone helped him make the video, so he has access to people with the skills, time, and desire to support a fantasy of rage and revenge.
His type of remarks is ambiguous yet clearly racially directed at his personal and business issues. In most of the interviews, Kanye seemed short of breath and nervous. He suggested his business deals with Gap and the fashion industry were negatively influenced by Jews. Yet others believe that Kanye was challenging to work with, citing eccentric requests like at Gap, demanding that the stores sell his clothing line from trash bags. He implies that Pete (part Jewish) influenced negatively like making her more sexualized despite that Kim released a sex tape decades ago in another relationship with someone of the same ethnicity as Kanye. He seemed to make broad generalizations about an ethnic group despite being outspoken in the past against President Bush and many others for making similar generalizations about his ethnic group.
Mental Health
Genius
Some fans may be attributing this type of bizarre behavior to some aspect of being a genius. In general, a genius is someone exhibiting an exceptional intellectual or creative ability in which their intuition gives them the insight to produce desirable outcomes. Highly creative people often ascribe seemingly uncommon connections to resolve a problem. In this case, Kanye has described himself as an average student and college dropout, so I guess his geniuses must be created. Kanye's type of behavior exacerbates the problem. It is not unheard of that some people who are geniuses also have some mental illness that could impact their behavior. However, being a genius alone does not result in behaviors like Kanye's.
Bipolar Disorder
Some people in support of Kanye explain his behavior by attributing it to an uncontrollable outcome due to bipolar disorder. However, actions like Kanye's do not seem to align with bipolar disorder, and bipolar disorder leads to mania, depression, and sometimes psychosis.
During episodes of mania, a person would have a sense of euphoria and energy above average. They would be excessively reckless, impulsive, and full of energy. The irresponsible behavior is usually to further some grandiose idea, for example, a get-rich plan or starting a business overnight. Essentially, they feel like they have all the luck in the world, and everything will go their way. They are unbeatable with supreme confidence. They are so confident that often, they do not take any precautions or good advice.
During episodes of depression, a person would have sadness, a feeling of worthlessness, and a lack of energy. A depressed person would not generally have the power to launch a campaign of harassment or to make music videos. So, they may not feel confident doing anything, much less completing anything.
Psychosis occurs when a person has a break from reality. Someone who is psychotic may hallucinate and have delusions. Psychosis can motivate certain types of dangerous behavior. Still, the behavior is usually based on the delusion that follows a pattern, for example, a paranoid delusion, grandiose delusion, or persecutory delusion. It would be unusual to have a fantasy that involves revenge against a romantic rival. Divorce is a complex and emotional motive, not something based on irrational fear; instead, it is an unwanted outcome. In addition, psychosis usually appears when somebody is either manic or depressed, not when they are between episodes.
Victim Narcissism
Even though actions like Kanye's are irrational, they do not seem to come from being a genius, an over-abundance of energy, or a lack of energy. They seem to come from arrogance, attention-seeking, and desperation. So, one opinion would be that someone like Kanye has personality traits consistent with a victim narcissist who is resentful, vengeful, insecure, and blames everyone else for the problems that he creates.
Someone like Ye would believe that his rights are more important than the rights of others. He would feel entitled due to his victim status, what is owed to him and who should support him. He would believe that he can do things that others cannot and get away with things that others can't. He would think that some people are trying to hold him down or impose limits on him.
Social Media
Online activity is a "record of your reputation," especially when discussing a conflict. It’s difficult to be nuanced and explain feelings on-line. On the flipside, it’s easy to be baited, taken out of context, and purposely “misunderstood”. In this case, it’s easy to give into impulsivity when the conflict is ever looming in your pocket at your fingertips. People can easily create social media posts and digital content on impulse or when angry. Because online behavior can be recorded, viewed repeatedly, archived, and manipulated, people can spend an inordinate amount of time revisiting bad decision or trying to explain their posts. s. And followers (including your children and future loved ones) could view unkind, hateful or vulgar posts in the future, setting a bad example of what to do in situations like this. Knowing that these posts are not easily erased, possibly manipulated or a reminder of the past can lead to anxiety, regret and other negative emotions.
Someone like Ye, could use a tool to draft posts that he or someone else can postpone and edit for public statements.
This situation highlights problems off-line that can become evident on-line like the following:
poor self-insight from having an inflated self-image
lack of social appropriateness in multiple failed relationships
not solving problems or coping well with the demands of reality
anxiety and poor impulse control
In situations like this, it is best to seek the help of mental health professionals. It is best to learn and act on the following:
respecting others' boundaries
have self-control and not respond impulsively
using negotiation, influence, and leadership without communicating aggressively or violently
using technology to motivate and gain knowledge instead of venting or publicly shaming
address anxiety and the time to say what you mean to say in complete sentences
Those are my thoughts on someone like Kanye West using social media.
You have revealed his years of erratic behavior in a nutshell. He has so many people who naively trust him and practically worship him that they blindly follow whatever he says. I have a 20 something year old kid who insists that Kanye is a misunderstood genius. Oh my.
I did not know all those details about his behavior towards Pete. So very unacceptable. I can see why Kim would be concerned about what he might do. Kanye sounds like he is a step away from actually physically doing something harmful (or having one of his followers do the dirty work). Why people continue to stand behind him and support him is a mystery to me. He needs professional medical help and perhaps medication. I enjoyed reading your analysis. I really admire your writing. It's just so well written and easy to understand.