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advocacy, america, bipolar, discrimination, dylann roof, guns, insanity, killings, media, mental health, mental illness, murder, psychiatry, psychology, racism, stereotypes, stigma, tragedy
I cried yesterday morning. Crying isn’t unusual for me, I cry easily, but the reason I cried is a first. It is a first in my lifetime. It is an amazing time for mental health advocates, and it just might be the beginning of a new world for those of us with a mental illness.
People are not letting it happen. People are speaking out and pushing back. The media tried to say mental illness was the cause of the horrific murders of nine people in South Carolina, and for once, there are writers pushing back on the stereotypes. It’s not going to be allowed to happen this time. Our illnesses are not going to be used as the cause of the violence in America.
You can read an article from The Stranger, here. You can read another article from Salon, here. Read them and mourn for those nine victims and their families, but rejoice that this time, a mass shooting is not going to be tied to the mentally ill.
These are two great articles, but that is not all. I read it on people’s Facebook statuses. The posters I read were vocal about not calling the shooter, mentally ill. They want it to be considered as, and be remembered as, and be tried as, exactly what it is, a crime of hate.
There is hatred in America, and that is the root cause of these tragic killings. I think we would all agree that the real definition of insanity is to go into a church, participate in Bible study, and then open fire on the people you just worshipped with. That is true insanity, and has nothing to do with mental illness.
We must keep the victims of this tragedy at the heart of the issues here. They deserve to be remembered, and they deserve justice, and they deserve a society that works hard to try and change the climate that would make their deaths by a gunman in a church even possible.
We must remember those beautiful lives first, but we must also know that our voices have been heard. The tide is changing. The stereotypes are losing some of their power and hold on the minds of the American people. Now, I challenge you, my fellow mental health advocates, to make sure that you also help eliminate stereotypes about all people whenever and wherever you encounter them.
We gained some territory, but let’s help everyone who is discriminated against, who has to live with stereotypes to gain some fresh ground too. We know what it is like to live with cruel jokes. We know what it is like to have so much misunderstanding, ignorance and hatred thrown our way. Let’s help all the other people who suffer in a way similar to ours.
If one of us wins, we all win. The struggle continues.
I definitely agree with the gist of this post, Rebecca, but I disagree with your statement that true insanity has nothing to do with mental illness. By definition, insanity is extreme mental illness. Therefore, all insane people are mentally ill, but not all mentally ill people are insane.
I might even call hate a mental illness, or at least a mental dis-ease.
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Disagreement doesn’t bother me 🙂 The use of the word “insanity” in my post has nothing to do with any dictionary definition of it. Popular culture has taken over most words that used to refer to mental illness – crazy, schizo, lunatic, insane. I see them in my friend’s Facebook posts all the time and they are not “truly” referencing anything about mental illness. They post things like, “This day has been insane!” I was trying in my post to define what I think insanity really is and separate it from those of us who have a mental illness.
Racism (hate) has not been classified as a mental illness. We don’t need any more bad seeds (those who hate) among our ranks making us look like monsters. Nope, it is the ignorant that hate, and again, that has no relationship to mental illness. Anyone else care to add their opinion? 🙂
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I understand what you were trying to say, and I agree. Though we have gotten very careless and sloppy with language, I believe we seldom mean any harm – like the times I have insensitively exclaimed, “I’m starving,” when I was merely hungry. In deference to those who really are starving, I’ll try to use the right word. I long for a return to the days when correspondence was much more formal, respectful and beautiful.
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I agree with you 100%. We all try to be overly dramatic in our use of language and it really is offensive in most cases. I, too, say things like starving, and worse to me, I use the word crazy all of the time. I have tried to stop myself but it is such a common word used for so many things and situations, it is almost impossible to avoid. I had two friends ask me if they used the word crazy in their writing if I would be offended. I had to say, “Of course not!” I would have loved to have said, yes, but the truth of the matter is that crazy really has lost all meaning. When I am trying to get people to think though, I still include the word crazy in my essays as a word that should not be thrown around. Those essays are more of me trying to get people to think about what they say, and what it actually means, than an example of some real offense that I take. Does that make sense? 🙂
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Yes, it does make sense, and what you are doing is very valuable. We all need to be reminded to stop and think and be a little more/lot more considerate of others.
It’s interesting that at the same time that we, as a culture, have grown sloppier with our words, we have also grown more easily offended. It might do us good to practice being more careful and, in the meantime time, extend grace.
And kick me if you see me write things like “crazy busy,” because I confess that I have.
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I laughed so hard when I read your last post. It is written well, and it struck me as very funny. Of course I won’t kick you. The people I love the most use the word crazy. We all do. It is probably one of the most overused words in our daily lives. “This traffic is crazy! That outfit is crazy!” It goes on and on. Thanks for the laugh. 🙂
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🙂
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You both make such excellent points. Sometimes I wonder, has the media demanded we desensitize life in general by expecting a sterile environment, a politically correct absolute, that things have gone a bit too far?
The other day I was thinking about a good friend I had worked with, years ago, her name is Gay. In this day and age it is rare to hear of anyone naming their child, Gay, but years ago (I’m 63), the name was not uncommon.
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Great post…and yes I did get it first time round but the comment spat was a good read too! Amazing how if we keep talking (keep up the dialogue) many differences/misunderstandings disappear.
I’ve been around for a while now and I too remember the gay old days when people said what they meant and didn’t have to worry too much that maybe they were going to use a word that had changed its meaning. Well that’s only partly true, you see today the speed and coverage of the media means change happens much faster, but it has always happened. I remember as a very impressionable and disturbed 7 or 8 year old having a family friend who grew up on the Channel Island of Jersey, explaining how a word we commonly used in NZ was very offensive to him.
I actually don’t mind too much being labeled ‘nuts’, ‘crazy’, ‘mental’, etc., providing that I am not discriminated against because of it! I mean let’s face it, I am all of the above 😎. What on earth am I on about? Just over a year ago I saw a documentary called “Changing my race”, I still get teary just thinking about it, it was about the obsession many, many Asian women have with wanting to look more western and the extremes they go to to do that (bleaching their skin, having muscles in their legs literally stripped out so they have thinner legs, etc). We are all beautiful (actually I am handsome but I think you get the point), if we start to cover what we are, where does it end? As I said earlier providing I am not discriminated against I am happy to be labeled crazy or whatever, I’ll wear a label on my forehead that says “Depression Sufferer”. Ok now I will get off my soap box …
By the way I have just landed a job as a bus driver …I answered yes to the question about mental illness and medication. They had no problems with it they just said that they would encourage me to keep up regular visits to my psychiatrist to ensure that any changes are managed…no problem with that, they do have a duty of care for the passengers.
I can really ramble can’t I? Again, love your posts and comments….I’ll go now 👀
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Congratulations on your job! That is fantastic! 🙂
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