"Let's just make people scared of the mentally ill.Thanks media, fucking thank you for erasing years and years of work to erase the stigma."
We posted it to Twitter.
Then to Facebook.
And then we started a comment, and as the comment grew longer, we knew this was the place for it.
This rant, if you will, is related to the tragic event known as the Sandy Hook Massacre (December 15, 2012).
You can't turn on the TV without hearing about it. CNN has been gleaning every dark nook and cranny for information that can be sought. It's rating feeding frenzy Goodness even knows what's being said on Fox News. We shudder to think.
Today, on a treadmill, we finally reached a breaking point. One of the journalists of CNN was interviewing a man who said that the mentally ill should be locked up.
Some things are better said in a Tweet.
Sure, lock up all the mentally ill; but how do you choose which ones, without including yourself. Mental illness can develop at any time.
— Just Call Me Frank™© (@JustCallMeFrank) December 19, 2012
Watching the news this last week, listening to people bang on about mental illness, we have become...deflated, sad. Maybe even a little scared.
Some think that the mentally ill should all be locked up, but how do you choose who is "too mentally ill"? The child who had one violent outburst? Two? Three?; The person on anti-depressants?; The person on anti-anxiety medication?; The person who went to a therapist once, twice, three or more times? The person with a 10 year old diagnosis of schizophrenia, who hasn't been on anti-psychotics in years...
It's not the mental illness, it's the person. A person in not their mental illness. A person is a human animal, with urges, and desires. Sometimes that's sadness, sometimes that's anger, sometimes that's frustration.
A man gets angry, and hit his wife once. Is he mentally ill?
A child gets angry, and kicks a wall. Is the child mentally ill?
A mother screams out of frustration, throws a book against a wall. Is she mentally ill?
A little girl comes home from school, locks herself in her room and cried of frustration. Is she mentally ill?
A woman goes through a divorce, and needs anti-depressants. Is she mentally ill.
A college student is anxious about their future, and finds comfort in anti-anxiety medication. Are they mentally ill?
Any one of these people could be capable of committing a violent crime. You could be capable. You just don't know it yet.
Under the sheets in an Orwellian nightmare, this country has managed to turn everything that makes a person themselves, uniquely them, into a mental illness. The only feeling and emotion not considered a mental illness is happiness...as the country shovels happy pills down their throat. A billion dollar industry.
Who is mentally ill to the point being lock-up, and who isn't. Are mere threats of violence enough? Did the boy who shot up the theater in Aurora Colorado have violent tendencies (no). Who gets to decide? Call us crazy, but the government shouldn't be the one, and neither should you, or me, or us. When you start locking people up because of your irrational media driven fears, that's just another freedom taken away.
Some people who fear the loss of their gun rights are deciding that they could easily blame the mentally ill, instead of take some responsibility, and embrace a little compromise; perhaps, we should just lock up "the crazies"...because people who hug their guns tight, despite glaring problems, are obviously the sane ones.
No, we're not anti-gun, we've written numerous times here that we aren't. We are pro-regulation. Guns have a purpose: hunting and home security. Assault weapons, and many semi-automatic, are not designed for any of that. They are designed to kill a lot of people, fast. That's it. (A real man can kill a deer/animal, with a simple rifle).
People are people, they've been killing in the name of religion, in the name of land ownership, in the name of love, in the name of war, for all of existence. And it's never been considered a mental illness before.
There will never be an easy solution in country as large as the United States, with such a diverse population. There can be compromise, but the compromise shouldn't be blaming the mentally ill.
Some think that the mentally ill should all be locked up, but how do you choose who is "too mentally ill"? The child who had one violent outburst? Two? Three?; The person on anti-depressants?; The person on anti-anxiety medication?; The person who went to a therapist once, twice, three or more times? The person with a 10 year old diagnosis of schizophrenia, who hasn't been on anti-psychotics in years...
It's not the mental illness, it's the person. A person in not their mental illness. A person is a human animal, with urges, and desires. Sometimes that's sadness, sometimes that's anger, sometimes that's frustration.
A man gets angry, and hit his wife once. Is he mentally ill?
A child gets angry, and kicks a wall. Is the child mentally ill?
A mother screams out of frustration, throws a book against a wall. Is she mentally ill?
A little girl comes home from school, locks herself in her room and cried of frustration. Is she mentally ill?
A woman goes through a divorce, and needs anti-depressants. Is she mentally ill.
A college student is anxious about their future, and finds comfort in anti-anxiety medication. Are they mentally ill?
Any one of these people could be capable of committing a violent crime. You could be capable. You just don't know it yet.
Under the sheets in an Orwellian nightmare, this country has managed to turn everything that makes a person themselves, uniquely them, into a mental illness. The only feeling and emotion not considered a mental illness is happiness...as the country shovels happy pills down their throat. A billion dollar industry.
Who is mentally ill to the point being lock-up, and who isn't. Are mere threats of violence enough? Did the boy who shot up the theater in Aurora Colorado have violent tendencies (no). Who gets to decide? Call us crazy, but the government shouldn't be the one, and neither should you, or me, or us. When you start locking people up because of your irrational media driven fears, that's just another freedom taken away.
Some people who fear the loss of their gun rights are deciding that they could easily blame the mentally ill, instead of take some responsibility, and embrace a little compromise; perhaps, we should just lock up "the crazies"...because people who hug their guns tight, despite glaring problems, are obviously the sane ones.
No, we're not anti-gun, we've written numerous times here that we aren't. We are pro-regulation. Guns have a purpose: hunting and home security. Assault weapons, and many semi-automatic, are not designed for any of that. They are designed to kill a lot of people, fast. That's it. (A real man can kill a deer/animal, with a simple rifle).
People are people, they've been killing in the name of religion, in the name of land ownership, in the name of love, in the name of war, for all of existence. And it's never been considered a mental illness before.
There will never be an easy solution in country as large as the United States, with such a diverse population. There can be compromise, but the compromise shouldn't be blaming the mentally ill.
Well said. I know for a fact there have been times I have been diagnosed with something that would translate to many as "mentally ill". It terrifies me to know that in a society some people would trade EVERYTHING for... that time in my life, when I was much younger than I am now, would see me locked away for the 'safety' of others.
ReplyDeleteLove you, Frankie. This too shall pass, and eventually, be better.