Talk:Amok syndrome

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 11 January 2022 and 29 April 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Sunflowerkarli (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Lauralim13, Aalle176, Comfort06.

Comment 1

From what I know, it is not the Zamorin, who had the 'Chaver'. It was from Walluvanad kingdom. Zamorins were attacked by the Chavers.

Also I do not think, this explanation, needs to come as a part of Amok.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.200.144.114 (talk) 03:18, 25 October 2004

References

Could the editor who added the references from Skeat and the old encylopedia give proper citations please? Who is Skeat, where and when did he say this; and which old encylopedia, date of publication etc. I've added the disputed tag in the meantime, and I'll remove these quotes in a few days if no references are found. I also removed the tag saying the article should be spit, as I think it can stand alone as a single issue. Hope no one minds that I removed that. Please say if you do. I'm going to try to expand the article a bit, as it's an interesting issue. Slim 01:12 & :14, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

Videogame

Amok is also a nice mecha action game for the Sega Saturn by (now defunct) Danish developer Scavenger. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.227.168.224 (talk) 05:26 &:27, 4 January 2005

Chavers

chavers were suicide squads which were employed in malabar especially during the chola wars in the 11th century. these would ambush the enemy and fight until death, typically against overwhelming odds. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashokmenon (talk • contribs) 03:25, 16 May 2005

Meaning of the word Chaver

chavers were suicide squads made up of members of the nair caste,and were employed in malabar especially during the chola wars in the 11th century. these would ambush the enemy and fight until death, typically against overwhelming odds. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashokmenon (talk • contribs) 03:27, 16 May 2005

Amok

In the April 25, 2005 edition of the Newsweek Magazine the word Amok is used in a special report to express the chaos and violence that are destroying Rio de Janeiro City. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.52.211.220 (talk • contribs) 05:17 & :20, 26 June 2005

Dispute?

What exactly is being disputed in the article content? If the dispute can't be summarized here, the tag should be removed. Jpatokal 07:53, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Amok, Iich'aa Going postal

There is an ongoing project which includes Amok, Iich'aa, Going Postal and other sudden violence events. Cabin Fever was a sudden instance of one cabin mate going berserk and attempting to kill the other during the early 1800's. This happened when trappers, mountain men, wintered over in too-small cabins.

There is no reference in the article that these other similar behaviors happen around the world but have different names.

Going Postal is listed as a slang term but it is considered a Culture Bound Syndrome of the United States.

Amok happens where traditional longhouses are used. Entire villages living in single-room housing provide many opportunities for exposure to Visual Subliminal Distraction.

It is rare because of the masive exposure required to cause the psychiatric effect.

Like Jumping Frenchmen of Maine, Amok is disappearing as those crowded too-close longhouse living arrangements disappear,

The project site (URL below) has links that are too numerous to use in a Wikipedia article.

http://visionandpsychosis.net/Culture_Bound_Syndromes.htm

There is a psychology demonstration that will allow you to experience 'habituation to extinction' of awareness of movement in Subliminal Peripheral Vision.

http://visionandpsychosis.net/a_demonstration_you_can_do.htm

L K Tucker 20:18, 17 October 2005 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.215.234.39 (talk)

Amok as 'suicide by cop'

68.150.52.86 22:11, 7 February 2006 (UTC) When I was growing up in Malaysia-Singapore in the 50s through the 70s news reports of a Malay man running amok were quite common. The reason why someone would go into a frenzy and kill a complete stranger(s) in broad daylight was thus. The Koran forbids a Muslim from committing suicide. If conditions become so unbearable that the person feel he can find relief only in death then the religious-cultural solution is to murder a stranger. This is done in the open so that there is no mistake as to his crime and the mandatory penalty is execution. Its the Malay equivalent of "suicide by cop."
Kelvin M. February 8, 2006 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.150.52.86 (talk) 22:11, 7 February 2006

... And that's why they call it the Religion of Peace. -- amok —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.101.112.44 (talk) 11:00 & :02, 16 October 2006

References to Malabar and Zamorin are grossly erroneous

Please note that the article's references to the custom of Zamorin committing suicide is absolutely fictitious. I live in Malabar. Zamorin dynasty figures in our folklore. Nothing of this kind is ever said to have happened, either by the historians or in the orally transferred lore of the land. Savemalayalam 16:30, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

The reference to Malabar and zamorin is pure nonsense. Alexnader Hamilton was no historian. His accounts are apparently unreliable. There never was custom of a zamorin killing himself. It is being removed. Savemalayalam 17:12, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Sentence amendment

'The observations of Skeat about the Malay race are not unique since berserker myths . . . '

As a historian specialising in Norse history, I can guarantee you that berserkers were not mythical. I am altering this sentence. SynthesiseD 04:20, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Derivation

Any thoughts on etymology? I wonder if amok is related to 7mok in Arabic, pronounced like "hammock" with the second syllable emphasized. Mashford 14:54, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Recent recurrence

Do school shootings really qualify as "running amok". Most of those are planned well in advance, with the shooters calm throughout the episode. thx1138 (talk) 20:21, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Amok current occurrences

Amok, a Culture Bound Syndrome, is defined as sudden violence after a period of brooding. In modern society that would include the opportunity to plan the violence.

VisionAndPsychosis.Net argues that the beliefs that lead up to the sudden explosion are or can be delusional. Normal interactions are seen as threatening or evidence of persecution. This is from the outcome of Subliminal Distraction exposure, which can be seen in the mental events of Qi Gong and Kundalini Yoga. Both exercises have mental breaks associated with them for about 3000 years. Although the participants believe supernatural forces cause the mental events they correctly record the symptoms. To find this list Google either exercise with the filter of problems, mental events, or psychotic break. There are several large sites for the exercises that chronicle this aspect of seeking enlightenment.

L K Tucker69.1.46.205 (talk) 18:46, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Running, and "to run amuck"

It sounds like "amuck" is a variant of the transliteration "amuk" (as Webster's Collegiate suggests: var. of amok) but it also has in English the ring of folk etymology, especially in the context of running. Long before i saw any 4-letter spelling, i understood "amuck" as a-muck ("a-" meaning on, in, at, in (such) a state or condition, in (such) a manner, in the act or process of) and thus an analog of "asea", "abuzz", and probably ultimately "aware" (AKA "wary"), abed, afire, aloud, a-hunting, and atingle. And i saw "to run amuck" as evoking a wheeled vehicle (perhaps usually horse-drawn) running (perhaps evoking carelessness including excessive speed) into muck or mire, and getting that vehicle, and perhaps the draft animals, hopelessly "bogged down" (assuming i'm right about the origin of "bogged").
Just as "going postal" evokes the frustration of repetitive work, dead-end jobs, and/or ineffective personnel management, i think i viewed "running amuck" as evoking the frustration of an unmanageable enmirement, and any hint of violence as opposed to inextricability as explained by "snapping" and lashing out in the face of frustration.
Bottom line: i'd like to hear what Dictionary of American Regional English has to say about its regional dependences -- is my picture of its role in English more common in areas where bad roads and draft animals have more slowly been remedied? I'm calling not for OR, but for gathering evidence that may justify hunting down explicit expert assertions of a happy (or confusing) coincidence between "amuk" and "a-muck".
--Jerzy•t 20:33, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

I suggest switching this entry's first two paragraphs

Regardless of spelling, amuk or amuck, the expression as commonly used in American speech is far removed from its original Malay significance. Probably introduced to the English language by British imperialists and explorers who witnessed this display. Likely from the onset its usage in England was popularized by elitist armchair anthropologists and writers who perceived both the odd-sounding word and the ritual itself with snobbish visual humor as a novel expression for 'uncivilized and savage native behavior' and so letting it become a humorous way to describe any system, machine, animal or person gone haywire or 'off its hinges'. Since this last usage is by far the common understanding of the expression among Americans, it should be listed first for hurried searchers who often don't read past a 'top' definition. I also speak German. In that language this same expression is used, but quite expressly with its original element of murder. If a German, for example, checks this Wiki page for its appropriate use in American English, this page gives a serious picture more akin to 'going postal' rather than its far more well-known and common usage as something having gotten out of control and often in a humorous way.
Mykstor (talk) 22:03, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Hrmm, when I grew up in the U.S. whenever anyone referred to "going to run amok" it just meant simply "going to run around" and had no violent, threatening mannerism to it at all. I was quite shocked to find it's real meaning.—  dain- talk   23:26, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

These concerns seem to relate to original research and gut-feeling.137.111.13.200 (talk) 03:40, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

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