There seems to me to be a bit of a hit-and-miss response around here to the use of common terms like "nutty" or "crazy" to describe a person or an idea or a movement.
Sometimes it's condemned, sometimes not at all.
Now in my humble opinion, calling an idea "crazy" doesn't reference (nor trivialize) genuine mental illness any more than calling an idea "dumb" or "stupid" references or trivializes, say, Down Syndrome. But call the wrong person a "nuttycake" and watch out!
Meanwhile, over [url=http://rabble.ca/comment/1131190/Ultra-Right-INSANE]here[/url] we have a pseudo-scientific article, using logic that would be the pride of a climate change denier, that sets out to demonstrate that the far right "might be" INSANE. Of course this article is just genuine research into mental illness, and not, say, a backhanded attempt to call the far-right "nuts" or anything, right? And strangely, the article is being applauded, not condemned.
Huh.
Anyway, does anyone have a few permissible words that we can all use to describe irrationality or wrongheadedness, or an apparent disconnect from reality, that won't run afoul of babble law? If it's not too bowdlerized, I'd be happy to join everyone in using it.