More bad stuff about Sherlock

While I’m complaining about Sherlock I should point out some other flaws in the show. First, Sherlock is described as a sociopath and given various other psychiatric labels. All of those labels are insults and that’s all there is to them. He doesn’t like pointlessly hanging around with other people? This is good. You shouldn’t waste your time and the time of other people by hanging around with them if you aren’t getting any benefit from it. Describing such behaviour in pseudo-medical jargon is just a way of covering up moral disagreement rather than having an open, rational discussion about it.

Second complaint: the treatment of drugs. Sherlock acts angry when he doesn’t have access to cigarettes. He also seems to imagine that alcohol makes people feel good (Season 3, Episode 2). Both ideas are rubbish. Nicotine and alcohol can’t reprogram your brain and so can’t make you do anything or make you feel good. All the sensations they produce can be reinterpreted.