🎨 Artcow Iconoclast / Jonathan Mack Sweet - The Chris-Chan of Arkansas

[ASU]

ASU, I am kind of interested to hear more about dating on campus. Of course no one believes Sweet's crazy phone dating scheme was normal but he has said some other weird stuff, like that "the system" didn't like offcampus girls, maybe some other stuff I'm forgetting.

This is one of the things that displays just how screwed up Sweets mental image of reality is. Girls there were no different from girls anywhere else in the US. Some were easy, some weren't. You didn't have to "date" to get laid, it overall wasn't that religious, although there were def some women there that took the whole "no sex before marriage" thing seriously. There were athletic women, there were hippies, there were clubbers, there were rednecks, and there were everything in between. There were nerds, there were girls that were semi-mentally handicapped that would sleep with just about anyone. It was just a standard college in that respect, I think. The kids there came from all over the State, so, it wasn't nearly as backwards on campus as it was off. The idea that phone sex was some kind of "essential college ritual" is completely ludicrous, I don't know any other way to put it.

The "called the wrong person at the dorms" thing is probably true. I had a friend who was very outgoing and he'd meet women like that, although in practice, the only people he ended up meeting that way were very unattractive on a lot of levels. I wouldn't be surprised if this lady he talked to was sub-average in the looks department, because there would have been no shortage of 18 year old reasonably handsome country boys for her to screw, just like any other college town.

There was a comment here a while back where someone posted "it was probably some bored chick who thought she'd give it a try but then realized Sweet was some kind of complete weirdo and backed out of it" and that seems like the best explanation for it that I've seen so far.

 

[Chan the Wizard]

It all kind of runs together after a while, but did he even meet her in person? was there more than one phone call?

 

[ToroidalBoat]

It's not.

I think you messed up who you quoted there.

About the cats - why am I not surprised that Sweet isn't responsible? At least cats can take care of themselves better than dogs, but still - I hate it when people treat pets like crap.

 

[ASU]

It all kind of runs together after a while, but did he even meet her in person? was there more than one phone call?

If I remember correctly they did meet once. He showed up wearing purple pants and possibly some other inappropriate attire and she left, although I could have the details kind of fuzzy because it's been a month or three since I started reading this thread.

For her this was probably just one out of hundreds of college dudes she had dialed up looking for easy sex. For him it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for china, denied.

 

[melty]

It all kind of runs together after a while, but did he even meet her in person? was there more than one phone call?

He said they talked on the phone for months and then met in person once. I think when they met IRL, they talked for a few minutes and she made some excuse to go somewhere else and said she'd meet up with him later. Then never showed up again.
He mentioned something about possibly having offended her with a comment, I think asking her for sex?
Of course my theory is she never saw pictures of him or anything so like ASU said, she realized she could get any reasonably handsome country boy and backed out when she saw him in all his glory.

 

[Scribbler]

He mentioned something about possibly having offended her with a comment, I think asking her for sex?

He said he brought up the death of his father and tried to use that to get pity sex from her.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

He said he brought up the death of his father

While wearing purple pants and the cap (from his late father) studded with novelty pins and buttons, IIRC.

 

[Picklechu]

I think you messed up who you quoted there.

Yeah, I just noticed that. I clicked "quote me now" like I always do, so I'm not sure what happened.

EDIT: Mentioned it in the technical issues thread, just in case.

 

[ASU]

He said he brought up the death of his father and tried to use that to get pity sex from her.

That's sexual manipulation, isn't it? But I don't think we could describe him as having a pattern of sexual manipulation without other examples. We could absolutely describe him as having a pattern of non-sexual manipulation, though, from his actions and threats against the newspaper staff since his departure, right?

Something I don't believe I've seen brought up is borderline personality disorder. People with BPD tend to have depression issues, abandonment issues, inability to maintain close relationships, and a pattern of manipulative behavior.

We don't know if he's sought any form of therapy, do we? So I don't think we can postulate on whether or not he's been resistant to treatment.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

How did you track down a witness to the flash incident?

Back issues of The Herald are available to the public on microfilm from at least two sources. Harvesting names from the masthead, bylines and photo credits from editions printed in fall 1996 and spring 1997 was not difficult.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Back issues of The Herald are available to the public[...]

I wonder how many articles by Sweet are archived there.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

What kind of buttons did Mr. Sweet wear on his famous signature hat?

There was some speculation about this earlier in the thread.

One source doesn't remember his impressive chapeau at all. The other recalls it, but remembers the wording on only one of the buttons, solely because it was not something a normal person would wear in public on a college campus.

Here you go:

"I snatch kisses . . . and vice versa."

I'm almost certain that this button, featuring the subtle and sophisticated wordplay one would expect of an English major with a genius-level IQ, was worn by all of the leading conservative intellectuals in the 1990s.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

Keep in mind that MCCC may have offered more courses, perhaps enough for an associate's in psychology (do those even exist?), back in the mid-90s, which the online catalog wouldn't reflect as it seems to only go back to 2006.

Good point. A little more checking reveals that MCCC merged with a trade school in 2003 to become Arkansas Northeastern College, still a community college that offers only Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees -- no Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degrees were or are offered in either of the school's incarnations. Since this merger, the course offerings have expanded over what was offered at MCCC.

Here's a link to the courses offered by MCCC (pre-merger) that would transfer to Arkansas State. Only two psychology courses are included. This list has to be from before 2003, and can not too far removed from half past 1997.

My main point, which I should have made clearer, is that Mr. Sweet, in different places on the Internet, claims to have: a BA in English and an BS in psychology, with the BS coming from a school that does not and never has offered bachelor's degrees (link); just a degree in English, with no mention of a psych degree (on this page earlier in this thread); degrees from Arkansas State University "where he majored in English and psychology," (link) indicating that he has degrees in both from ASU.

There are doubtless other academic claims out there for those interested in looking. He might have a couple of mail-order master's degrees by now. Maybe we should have a contest.

I guess this topic wouldn't be so compelling if Mr. Sweet could keep his lies from contradicting one another.

 

[Shadow Fox]

His fear of everything, paranoia, and so on, is what makes me wonder if there wasn't some kind of legit abuse or fear of abuse in his early childhood. I've known "crazy" kids, and even diagnosed schizophrenic kids, but the ones who acted terrified of everything usually had some parent they were afraid of, either because of constant shouting back and forth between the parents or worse.

This reminds me - I don't think Sweets has ever mentioned much of anything about his father, save that he died when Sweet was young. I wonder what their relationship was like.

 

[John Titor]

Every time he mentions his laryngitis, he manages to blame it on someone else, too. At one point he said that if his brother hadn't pissed off Dale and made Dale skip town, then Sweet wouldn't have had to work outside in the hot, hot sun without proper hydration, resulting in his throat being permanently wrecked. Apparently nobody ever TOLD Sweetums that he could bring water outside the house with him while he worked. What happened to all those sports drink bottles that his adoring public offered to him? Did he fill them all up with piss while he was watching his stories on the picture-box?

And it's not as entertaining or informative as the material posted by @Dr. Merkwurdichliebe and @ASU recently, but I wanted to comment on one of Sweetie's latest posts over at AJM:

1. The first couple lines of the post are in reference to a previous comment about a Snickers commercial featuring a Brady Bunch parody. Sweet, with his usual humility, thinks his trite, uninspired one-page comic gag is superior to it. I mean, say what you will about the candy bar ad, but I don't think Sweet's work can ever accurately be said to be better than anything.
2. NEUTER YOUR FUCKING CAT(S), YOU ASSCLOWN. Then again, I suppose he thinks animal control is just another liberal ploy to infringe on his rights. More seriously, I get that pet ownership in the deep south is probably vastly different from the way it is in most other parts of the country, but it seriously disgusts me to see someone bragging about letting their animals breed out of control like that.

Actually, he earlier in this thread, complained about how controlling the government is when you are required to have your dog fixed before allowing them in the dog park. Keep in mind, he's bitching about a state he doesn't even live in (I believe it was Georgia)

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

You've suggested autism, and given his general cluelessness about how people actually act, that might be accurate. He's never mentioned hallucinations or any form of psychosis, so perhaps he WAS diagnosed with Autism Specturm Disorder, but therapy is either not affordable, or perhaps he refuses it. He does seem to desire social interaction, but he's bad at it. So the clues are there. Since we're just speculating here, Narcissitic Personality Disorder is also possible. It would explain why he's apparently insufferable in person as well as thinking the world owes him something, and that he was a big man on campus when it's obvious no one liked him at all.

It's a possibility. And a diagnosis would make him eligible to be nudged along by a tugboat.

For those unfamiliar with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, here are the main symptoms, many of which fit Mr. Sweet:

• Being jealous of others
• Appearing to be unemotional or tough-minded
• Believing that you are better than others
• Having difficulty maintaining healthy relationships
• Believing that others are jealous of you
• Being easily rejected and hurt
• Expecting constant admiration and praise
• Having a fragile self-esteem
• Taking advantage of others
• Setting unrealistic goals
• Believing that you are special and acting in that way
• Expressing disdain for others that you believe are inferior to you
• Fantasizing about success, attractiveness and power
• Taking advantage of others
• Exaggerating your talents or accomplishments
• A failure to recognize the feelings and emotions of other people.

My major objection to this diagnosis is the following:

"Narcissists will be thrilled to hear that as a group they are rated as more attractive and likable than everyone else at first appearance. Simine Vazire of Washington University and her colleagues found that narcissists have a distinct physical signature. They're considered more stylishly clad, cheerful, and physically appealing at first sight than are those who score lower in narcissism."

I wonder how many articles by Sweet are archived there.

Working on it.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Working on it.

Thanks for the informative contributions to the thread. It's interesting to see the story of Sweet from the perspective of people who aren't him.

 

[Holdek]

Shit, I remember that. That happened not long before Columbine, IICR. Wow. Would Sweet still have been at ASU when that happened or would he have already gotten the boot?

It happened in March '98, so Sweet would have still been there.

I would like to know where on earth he got that idea.

Autism.

As far as I can tell, aside from ASU and the shop fiasco, as well as some attempts at publishing the comics and stories he writes, probably not.

Well he also got his right to manage his money taken away, got in a fight with his brother and ended up in the hoosegow for a while, and was going to move into an apartment at a doll shop his mother and another woman were going to start but that fell through (of course causing Sweet to be even more embittered).

 

[DrJonesHat]

Back issues of The Herald are available to the public on microfilm from at least two sources. Harvesting names from the masthead, bylines and photo credits from editions printed in fall 1996 and spring 1997 was not difficult.

Excellent detective work Doctor. I eagerly await more information. I do hope Sweet is following this thread, and is watching his lies being exposed one by one.
I got bored, so I searched the AJM forums for posts by Sweet, and found this:

You idiots think I actually physically break out in hives if I actually have to lean new information. No, what I am afraid of is being lied to, which, in The System, I was perpetually.

I made the comment that Chris is more techno-savvy than Sweet, and made the remark that Sweet probably breaks out into hives if he has to learn new information. He took it literally, much to my surprise, as it should be obvious I was being figurative. Inability to comprehend idiom and figurative speech is a symptom of autism, so this would be evidence in favor of that. It's still possible he has other disorders co-morbid with it, which would explain his bizarre behavior. Does being referred to in one of Sweet's posts make me part of The System now?

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I fell for a lie, and ended up losing everything, winding up weak, sick, broken, and slowly watching my freedom die in my hands.. For that she has to pay.

I've heard that living with grudges all the time can be physically unhealthy.

Also, it amazes me how Sweet still apparently thinks there's an evil System of "stupid progressives" that conspires to personally ruin his life - despite the evidence.

Maybe Sweet really does have some kind of filter hardwired into his brain that automatically converts criticism he doesn't like into that (arguably racist-sounding) "stupid talk" he uses to imitate it, thus sustaining his worldview?*

Spoiler: The More You Know ===*

*No, I don't literally believe that there's such a filter in Sweet's brain. Just like I don't think the pie-throwing incident in that one comic really happened.