The truth about Dr. Frank Brady and Fischer

Dr.Brady has to my knowledge written two books about R.J.Fischer, Profile of a prodigy and Endgame.  Its particularly this last tome that has aroused my curiosity, for in the title Dr.Brady intimates that Fischer descended into insanity (he calls it madness).  If anyone has read this (personally I refuse to do so) what empirical medical evidence does Dr. Brady cite with which to substantiate the claim that Fischer was as he put it 'on the edge of madness', for personally I have never heard nor read of any credible medical diagnosis.

This begs the question, why would Dr.Brady do that?  Why would he employ tabloid style sensationalistic journalism in the title of his book? and the answer is quite simple, because he is simply someone else trying to make money from the name of Robert James Fischer.

It has been claimed that Brady intimately knew Fischer.  While this may have been the case when Fischer was younger i remember reading an article in which Fischer, angry that Brady had described him as being Jewish in his book 'Profile of a prodigy', asked Brady to remove or amend the reference.  Brady bowing to the pressure from publishers refused to do so and Fischer cast him off as the disloyal treacherous fast friend that he evidently purported to be!  Now the consequence of this is, that if true, the claim that Brady knew Fischer intimately is demonstrably false, for he certainly had nothing to do with Fischer later in Fischers life.

These are just two instances which casts serious doubt both on the accuracy of Bradys writings and the claims that people make on his behalf to defend those writings.  If you know anything about it, let it be heard!

I often hear people claim that Fischer was autistic, but he has none of the characteristics of autism that usually shows signs early in life, although there are a few rare cases of late onset, but in I don't believe Fischer had autism. People assume because he was so brilliant that he must be a savant or autistic.

yes, this is a well known claim for which as far as I am aware there is absolutely no credible empirical medical evidence.

Who was the fast friend?  Brady published something true, and because of it Fischer wanted nothing to do with him.

Sure Brady was after money... that's why people write books.

It's generally accepted that Fischer went nuts... "nuts" isn't a medical diagnosis, it's just the paranoia and conspiracy theories Fischer bought into were themselves not seen as credible.

If you could legitimize the Worldwide Church of God as it existed in the 1960s, which Fischer was a believer, or if you could work to prove the Holocaust didn't happen (Fischer became a vehement Holocaust denier) then it would very much improve the public's view of Fischer.

The debate about Fischer being Jewish is a very long one and i will not debate it here. He may have been so called 'ethnically Jewish', itself a debatable position but Fischer was a Christian by faith and wanted represented as a Christian. That Brady would not acquiesce demonstrates where his allegiance lay.  The point is of course that Fischer cast Brady off and any claims that Brady had with reference to knowing Fischer intimately as his fans claim is demonstrably false, that is the point, not whether Fischer was Jewish or not.

'Its generally accepted', is a logical fallacy, a  so called argumentum ad populum, because many people believe it, therefore the proposition must be true.  As yet you have not provided a shred of credible evidence that Fischer was, nuts, insane or mad and i doubt very much if Brady has either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum

I am uninterested in improving the publics opinion of Fischer, I am intertested in logic, reason and empirical evidence.

Correct.

I am not arguing Fischer was crazy.  I never met Fischer.

I'm arguing that if the public's view of Fischer was improved, then authors like Brady would likely be forced to retract their statements regarding his mental health.

Fischer's views are well documented.  I merely suggested you work to legitimize those views.  In any case it would do more good for Fischer than complaining in a forum.

However I will not help you e.g. find evidence to deny the Holocaust or that the world is controlled by a secret Jewish banking system.

The public's view of Fischer is not what this thread is about and even if it was its ludicrous to think that's its indicative of anything.  Ask the Icelanders what they think of Fischer and he's a folk hero! you think America encompasses the entire realm of public opinion? 

Now what its actually about is claims made on behalf of or by Dr. Brady in respect to his understanding, relationship and presentation of material on Robert James Fischer.  Essentially it appears to me that he's nothing more than a tabloid journalist and should be writing a column on airhead celebrities for the New York Post  rather than a credible account of the life of Robert James Fischer.

Have you evidence that Fischer has denied the holocaust for what I have read he has merely stated that Jews are not the persecuted but the persecutors and if anyone objectively looks at the very recent events in Gazza it becomes rather apparent that he was absolutely correct.

Now I understand that this is a sensitive issue and we are warned against debating religion and politics on chess dot com, but these things can be empirically established.

Can anyone provide a shred of empirical evidence which Brady uses to substantiate his claim that Fischer was on the edge of madness?

There is no debate about Fisher being Jewish. Both of his parents were Jewish.

Of course Bobby Fisher had mental problems. Do some research and you will find psychiatrists stating so.

And yes Fisher denied the holocaust. You can find him denying it on YouTube.

I have done research and i can find not a shred of credible medical evidence and it appears neither can you.

No, I can't give you evidence to substantiate the claim that he was on the edge of madness. I can give you the link to this video though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_11Cdxvtfo

You can watch and listen it carefully. You will hear Bobby say words that deny history as it happened. I will not claim that he was a madman, but he sounds very tormented to me.

I am asking for evidence, what is it about that that you fail to comprehend, i even included a proviso, that being and I quote, 'if you know anything about it then please let the matter be heard'.

Thats fine but everyone knows and acknowledges that Fischer distrusted and disliked Jews, that does not make him mad, it merely makes him anti-Jewish.  A more interesting question is just why Fischer abhorred Judaism and Jews as a whole.

Also, Fischer believed that he was personally the target of a malign Jewish conspiracy.  He was delusional and paranoid, at the very least.  

It doesn't take a medical degree to discern the obvious.

Evidence if you please.

Fischer certainly wasn't mad like the homeless peopole one sees on city streets speaking loudly and weirdly to no one in particular.

But these days a clinical diagnosis of mental illness can be a psychiatrist ticking off six out of nine boxes in a DSM checklist.

It's a slippery business.

I think there was something wrong with Fischer which kept him fixated on paranoid obsessions about the Jews and his Bekins storage locker, and prevented him from living a more normal life and playing chess publicly like the champion he was.

I wouldn't call it madness though.

Here's an excerpt of his last interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EuxVOgrEig . He sounds quite cogent.

A sociopath that has a few dozen murders under his belt will sound quite cogent too.  So will someone with PTSD who nonetheless is miserable to the point that most thoughts are about suicide.  That really has nothing to do with it.

Although yes, it is a slippery slope.

SK: Fischer sounded better in that interview than I expected.

There are plenty of deluded Holocaust deniers right here in the U.S. and as far as I know, many of them have not received a clinical diagnosis of mental illness on that basis alone.

Though imho, they should.