Mental illness is a serious issue, but in the USA in particular. It was exasperated by the pandemic. Combined with a malevolent wanna-be dictator who may have been mentally ill himself, but at a minimum, saw them as a large, valuable contingent in desperate pursuit of continued hold on power, then you have a recipe for what happened January 6th, 2021.
Mental illness is also used as an excuse for bad and a-moral behavior. The hate mongers who attacked elderly Asian grandmas & grandpas on the streets of this country almost all claimed mental illness. My cyberstalker, who harassed me for nearly a decade, claimed mental illness when she confessed and again when I took her to court because she wouldn’t or couldn’t stop.
I see the mentally ill on the streets of NYC every single day, but I have yet to see one ever once pick on the biggest or baddest dude around. They don’t even pick on me, far from the biggest or baddest dude. But I have witnessed them intimidate a kindly old lady… or anyone looking a bit shy or meek on the subway. At least until someone like me happens along and intervenes. Funny, they have it together just enough to know who is vulnerable and who might make sure their lousy day gets even worse.
Please don’t misread. I have empathy for the mentally ill. I’ve had it in my extended family. It’s the United States of America. Who hasn’t?
But it is also possible to empathize with the truly mentally ill while also recognizing that anyone (including looney QAnon followers) can claim a mental condition to justify their abhorrent behavior or beliefs.
But have you noticed that many tend only to admit their “condition” or seek help when they get into trouble? Until then, the arrogance of their ignorance is loud and proud. They are as convinced and self-assured as only the truly ignorant, spurred on by other truly ignorant (and arguably mentally ill), can be. Not a thread of humility or “I don’t have all the answers” in sight.
They play internet doctors, lawyers, spiritual leaders, climatologists, entrepreneurs, political pundits, and experts of all stripes because they can do so without real-world knowledge or consequences. When proven wrong, which is easy with a stroke of a fact check, they double down or, at best, crawl back down their rabbit hole only to re-emerge later with more outrageous, bogus claims.
But when they cross a line and face some consequences for their words or actions, they claim they are mentally ill and didn’t really know what they were saying or doing.
Nah. They’re not mentally ill. They’re just mentally weak. And you can be as mentally fragile as you wanna be, and I won’t say a word until you cross the line of interfering with other’s well-being.
Put this dude in jail and make him eat prison food, not the organic stuff his mommy said he needs. Let his punishment fit the crime, and please stop mollycoddling this already overly-mollycoddled, cowardly, entitled group of intellectual lightweight, professional victim, misfits.
Those spoiled, loud, bullying, obnoxious, selfish kids you went to school with grew up. And they became people just like this guy. The same credulous people that attacked our democracy on 1/6/21 or applauded and defended the actions of those who did.
I don’t give a damn about them, their supposed mental state, or their feelings. Lock ’em up. A nice long period of self-reflection is just what this particular internet psychologist prescribes.
Article from Reuters HERE
