This Aint News

So we were encouraged to talk.  Some did, and some didn't.  My question is whether we are prepared for what we hear when we encourage talking toward such an obscure subject.

It could be the hardest thing ever for the human mind to comprehend if it meets the definition of healthy.  How can the normal be expected to understand a people who live in a different reality.  There is only one way really.  That is empathy.  A characteristic that is lacking at the best of times, but toward this subject it can become a near impossibility.  It's hard enough to stop from laughing when someone falls down a flight of stairs, and this involves a feeling we all know.  How do you empathize with someone who isn't even in the same reality as you.  Much as we can say we want to talk.  One has to wonder if we are prepared for what we will hear.  If people are not prepared maybe it's better for the ill to watch their tongues closely around some.

The attitudes of some toward mental illness is still much like a child to broccoli.   We cringe and push it away for the most part.  If we can't push it away though the general reaction seems to be fear.  We can see this by the trumped up floozy who blew her way to a position at the CIA, and then started fear mongering at post-secondary institutions after the Virginia Tech. incident.  It's hard to pinpoint the errors of how she went about, "making schools safer."   I would say the main problem is that her focus was on identifying troubled students who may become violent rather than using a loving technique of helping any troubled student.  This single minded focus on only the problems that make news is one of the major things detracting from a good understanding of mental health issues.  It focuses the spotlight on an infinitesimally small number of the true people with mental health problems.  Not only that it may even push some further down toward depression by convincing them they are killers for having issues.

I for one suffered when I was going to school, and I remember this puppet for mob behavior doing her unholy rounds.  I saw it in the news, and when I saw that the focus was on violent mental health issues I became inclined to hide any past issues I had from those around me.  This would have been different had the focus been on all issues, and a push toward human kindness which can if not cure insanity it can make it much more bearable for those suffering.

On TAN I have even seen how some say Wolffe is a possible school shooter because he is socially misaligned, and owns a gun.  Then you see Mmateri an angry chauvinistic gun owning loudmouth who just got ditched by his wife, and no one says a thing.  Likely because he fits into the mold of a typical man with a typically limited IQ.  The general thought is a gentle troubled man is worse than a crass smelly angry fatso.  I for one find this to be wrong. 

We must show kindness to all people equally, and not equate mental illness with violence.  After all some of the craziest people I know are perfectly function, and therefore would pass as sane.