Introduction to the Kooks Museum

Though I have great affection for kooks, the term is usually used by others on a pejorative basis; the word is often invoked but rarely aimed at oneself. Granted, there are people, self-styled or corporate-styled bohemians, who by virtue of their desire to belong to a particular in-crowd, call themselves kooks as easily as saying, "I'm weird" or "I'm crazy." I am not concerned here with a trendy or self-conscious usage of the term.

Being assigned kook status is inherently a matter of perspective, relative to history and culture. A kook of the 19th century might become a scientific hero in the 20th. Take the example of geologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930), who hypothesized continental drift. In his day, Wegener's theory was dismissed as a "fairy tale." More recently he is honored for originating the theory of plate tectonics. More frequently, a person presumed to be a genius in a previous century is regarded a kook in today's. In the 19th century, phrenologists were as respectable as psychiatrists are today.

Similarly, the beliefs and mores of one culture are mocked as kooky or even sinister by another. On a large scale, the projection of these attitudes can mobilize millions into warfare or cause governments to deploy military assaults against "cults."

What distinguishes "kook" from other dismissive and stigmatizing terms? The various words denoting insanity -- "crazy," "psychotic," "schizophrenic," etc. -- are not, for my purposes, interchangeable with "kook." An obsessed murderer may be considered psychopathic or crazy, but more often than not these words categorize action, not belief. The obsessed serial killer is not necessarily a kook.

We must also distinguish kooks from quacks, frauds and hoaxers, for kooks are invariably sincere. Their main intent is not to deceive or defraud; to the contrary, they are trying to impart an essential truth. A kook's thoughts rarely turn to profit; some squander personal fortunes to investigate or spread The Word. A New Age personality who channels a wise entity from the Pleiades is not a kook if his channeled voice is designed to attract funds.

Finally, it is important to differentiate a kook from an eccentric. An eccentric is defined as someone with an unorthodox lifestyle, which may or may not include unorthodox beliefs. Is a hermit a kook? Can we call a scatological fetishist a kook? Not necessarily, especially if they haven't codified their own preferences as an eternal truth.