The decorum of mourning is now thoroughly passe. Quiet reflection and prayer exceeding an hour or two is so last year. Something Must Be Done.
Amidst the predictable, ignorant shrieking for more gun control, there are several prominent voices calling for an examination of how we (don’t) handle mental illness in this country. I applaud this suggestion and wholly agree. But if we really do want to improve the situation, we’ll have to do quite a bit more than throwing a few billion dollars down existing rat holes. And said “quite a bit more” should include rounding up as much politically correct nonsense in this arena as we can find, and incinerating it.
For example, we need to get over this disturbing trend of reclassifying mental illnesses as simply alternate realities. This seems most common with autism. Autism is a defect to be treated. Any sociocultural examination of it should begin with that axiom.
We need to take a serious and sustained look at the kinds of people we stopped institutionalizing, and/or involuntarily treating, in the name of “civil rights.” Some are free and potentially dangerous. Others who should be hospitalized are instead incarcerated.
We need to say, loudly and repeatedly, that things like, oh, a child’s parents being married to each other and living together just might tend to have a positive effect on that child’s mental health.
I’m not endeavoring to give a comprehensive list of what we need to do. There are many other reforms, mostly at the state level, that would be helpful. It occurred to me, though, that I hadn’t seen/heard/read anyone asserting that it might be time to slaughter some sacred PC cows.
Three are above.
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Whew Lordy thank you Bo for writing this. WOW. I agree wholeheartedly and knew it from the bottom of my heart last Friday. People don’t want to look at mental illness because that would mean showing compassion and right now all people want is justice. There isn’t any justice. People want black and white solutions and unfortunately there just aren’t any. God Almighty! I’ve kept quiet with my thoughts on this whole damned thing and I am glad to see someone else feels the same way I do.
Carol, thank you so much, and thank you for being there and feeling that too!
I’ll be back to straightening out the world shortly after the first of the year. For now, Merry Christmas!