“The madness of liberalism is that it always shifts the blame away from the perpetrators [of evil] to America. We are the only nation that has this developed sense of self-hatred, an irrational self-loathing that borders on the mentally insane.” — Ellis Washington
The rhetoric concerning guns, the 2nd Amendment and mass shootings are focused on the wrong target. Those who feel (and I stress “feel” since the arguments are based on emotion and void of facts) stricter gun laws would make everyone safer, may sound reasonable, but is neither rational nor carries any empirical evidence to support it.
The real problem we now face, is another product of the 1960’s rebellion. One based in nihilistic and self-serving worldviews that tainted all of academia. But none so perniciously as those against Psychiatry and the Mental Health Sciences.
We are replete, not only in NYC but in all cities, towns and villages across this nation … with a variety of mentally ill individuals among us thanks to the influence of several individuals. Psychiatrists David Cooper (South African trained Marxist revolutionary, working in Britain), R. D. Laing (from Scotland), Theodore Lidz (from America), Silvano Arieti (from Italy), but most influential in the US: Dr. Thomas Szasz.
One of their arguments was that “schizophrenia” and psychosis were understandable, and resulted from injuries to the inner self-inflicted by psychologically invasive “schizophrenogenic” parents or others; it was sometimes viewed as a transformative state attempting to cope with a sick society.
In other words: Being sane in an insane place. People trying to adjust to a crazy world, which made them “appear“ crazy. Those who were unable to cope with everyday life were seen as sane victims, in a sick society.
The answer from anti-Psychiatry believers? Set them free … they can take care of themselves.
This anti-psychiatry movement was the catalyst that brought about President John F. Kennedy’s Community Mental Health Act of 1963, which led to the release of many mentally ill into our everyday communities. Today, between 30-50% of homeless people in the United States are people with mental illness. This push for deinstitutionalization had many advocates, but few as diligent as Thomas Szasz (and Citizens Commission on Human Rights [CCHR], an institution set up by Scientology and Szasz).
Anti-psychiatry advocates spread their corrupt ideas in many ways throughout society. One of those proponents was author Kenneth Kesey, who wrote “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. The book, play and movie were based partially on Laing’s thinking. Kesey didn’t believe that these patients were insane, but rather that society had pushed them out because they didn’t fit the traditional ideas of how people were expected to act and behave. He used entertainment to portray an anti-psychiatry philosophy leading to a public disapproval with residential mental facilities resulting in further deinstitutionalization policies.
These “progressive” thinkers viewed mentally ill individuals as having their dignity and freewill diminished by being categorized “mentally ill” and being confined. Their influence spread to Liberal academia and further infected politicos, who to this day continue to close State mental health facilities and release these perniciously unstable people into our midst … and the result has been catastrophic. Incident after incident of people being pushed in front of subway trains (147 last year), bludgeoned with a brick (Times Square 1999), mass murderers (Sandy Hook, Columbine, Aurora, etc), and more recently the shooting death of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield in TX by a mentally unstable man (who wanted to kill himself and his family in Sept., was institutionalized and released). All these were found to have mental illness confirmed by their actions toward others and themselves.
So, what do many of these mentally ill do now that they’re not inpatients? Well, your local State social workers drop them off at Malls, shopping centers and restaurants. They have even given them tickets to fly south for warmer climates. Isn’t that precious?
Now, I believe in personal responsibility. Every individual is responsible for their behavior. That being said … having people who are clearly unable to function normally and are in need of therapy AND medication … I believe it is appropriate and condign to place a great deal of blame upon Liberals and their policies. These suffering individuals are being kept from leading normal lives because they are being used as pawns in another social experiment of the Left’s failed ideology. Strategies that are favorable toward miscreants and any element of society that just might hurt innocent people.
The bottom line is this: Our woes have a source. It’s not a weapon that can be locked and loaded. It’s a disastrous ideology that continues to be implemented, expecting different results … yet the results remain the same.
I believe Einstein called that … insanity!
Image: Ken Kesey, Miami Book Fair International, 1984; author: MDCarchives; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
