hi. i don;t usually do this but i’m sharing this article because it’s about an incident that i think will slide under the radar for many people and i want to emphasize it.
And Now They Are Coming for the Unhoused: The Long Push to Expand Involuntary Treatment in America
mass shootings in this country do not happen because of ‘untreated mental illness’.
there is a cynical agenda to associate ‘schizophrenic’ people or people having psychosis with the ubiquity of violence in america. this story is rooted in fantastical stereotypes and bears pretty much zero relation with violence’s actual sources (overwhelmingly, families and the state).
we should not accept this narrative nor accept any story which allows the state to abduct and drug people based on subjective assessments. or at all, obviously.
forcible ‘treatment’ of people who seem visibly crazy in public has a long and disgusting history in america and in other places.
it’s about whitewashing real estate for the rich. it’s about purging homeless people from the subways and sidewalks. and scapegoating social problems on the vague and blatantly subjective category of ‘the untreated mentally ill’.
people who think a state policy of forcible ‘treatment’ is any kind of acceptable lesser evil versus leaving people ‘untreated’ are ignorant of what ‘mental health’ (and overall medical) infrastructure even exists in america, what it entails, and what effects it in fact has on an overwhelming majority of people involuntarily committed.
having no policy at all is better than having this kind of policy.
there are endless horrible things happening on any given day but it’s still stunning how easy it is for people across a political spectrum to reveal that they don’t give a shit what happens to ‘crazy people’ as long as they don’t have to be around or see them.
