At some point, the rights of the mentally ill/criminals became more important than the rights of the "normal" human being. We became more concerned with letting big John have the right to not be locked up or drugged to stop aberrant behavior than being concerned with little Susie's right to live and grow without being attacked.
I understand that the system was widely abused. People were put into hospitals and treatments performed that were unnecessary. People were treated inhumanely. That had to stop.
But there has to be a balance in there somewhere. We have revamped the rules on what it means to be mentally ill; it's time to revamp the rules on treatment of these individuals.
And sometimes, it's not about being mentally ill. It's about being a bad person.
I saw there were claims that the shooter was "hearing voices"; he is the age where schizophrenia is often diagnosed. Hearing voices an easy thing to claim (true or untrue) because you can't prove the voices are really being heard. It's not something tangible that you have video of or can hold in your hand.
So, is he a bad person or is he mentally ill or is he both? And how do we, as a society, find a way to balance his rights against the rights of the other 1,000 people he came in contact with that day?
I don't know, just like I don't know how to fix the gun issue in America. I do know, though, that the only way we are going to fix things is if we stop fighting each other, and start fighting the problem, together. People need to listen to others opinions, and give them the courtesy of trying to understand them; and we need to find a way to meet in the middle. We need to find a way to help those that are mentally ill, protect and care for our citizens, and keep the law balanced so that we all are represented and protected. Until we do that...nothing will change.
I agree with you.
I just want to say, though (and I know it wasn't just you that mentioned it), that a lot of what happened with the "mental institutions" wasn't just about the niceties of not wanting to do bad things to the mental ill anymore. It was largely that they didn't have the money to care for the people or these types of institutions any longer. Many of the buildings were very old and decrepit, as they were built originally to contain contagious diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy, so they were falling apart. Money just wasn't there to sustain them.
As a nursing student in the 1980s we studied this issue of "de-institutionalizatio" and how it was and would be affecting public health. It's been a big issue, and even back then, lots of our homeless were people that formerly would've been in these institutions as they were unable to cope with living in society, holding a job, etc. Today we can add addictions to the growing list of problems that this population suffers.
Here in Boston we have a massive problem since one of these buildings, which was out on an island, closed a few years ago. Many of the city's homeless used to be bussed to this island nightly, where they got food, a warm bed, clothing, social services, and even medical care. (Our class spent time there to learn about the medical services.) Not only were the buildings in disrepair, the bridge to the island was literally falling apart, so it was torn down. So now, that entire population is on the mainland and it's a public health issue for the city.
But people are right, not all of these people are going to be school shooters. BUT not everyone with mental illness will be connected with all the services they need, for a whole bunch of reasons. Even more so, perhaps, children or young adults, if they don't have anyone to support them in doing so. This young man seems like a perfect storm of problems that led him to where he wound up. I've read that he possibly had fetal alcohol syndrome which affects the brain. I'm sure we'll be hearing lots more about him as the weeks and months go forward. I'm not sure we can always plan with 100% accuracy how to help someone who's mentally ill, but that's where others come in, as well. It takes a village.
I think we also need to look very critically at social media, something everyone seems to be conveniently ignoring. We know that our young people are very affected by it. Depression and anxiety have become very common now in our young folks as a result of this 24/7 culture of pressure of how to look, how to act, what others have that you don't, perfect skin, fun and excitement - sometimes doing things they shouldn't, etc. And also violent video games and movies. Hollywood has plenty to say about a lot of things, but then they go and make movies that are just horrificly violent, line their pockets with the profits, then criticize everyone else. To me, that's hypocritical.
