Mental health, really? If you think the science of global climate whatever is up in the air, wait until you delve into the looney world of mental health. The mental health profession is full of quack "therapists" and quack theories; few things there are settled science; and that profession is as subject to the vagaries of the winds and tides of fashion and politics as any other. Let us not forget the uses of psychiatry in the dead and unlamented Soviet bloc. Even, however, without going back to the USSR, I would point out that my father was a psychiatrist, and in his old Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals (DSM) homosexuality was listed as a disorder, "a sociopathic personality disturbance" to be precise. It was a disorder or mental disturbance until it just wasn't . . .I think that the progressives will have to define their terms a little better since, of course, it is they who have made "crazy" into "normal."
I was struck, in particular, by reading a weird little news account in which,
A transgender former banker claims to be the first and only person to have both ears cosmetically removed as part of her ongoing quest to become a 'dragon'.
Born Richard Hernandez in Maricopa County, Arizona, the 55-year-old has undergone a number of painful procedures over the past few years including nose modification, tooth extraction and eye colouring.
She also has a forked tongue and a full-face tattoo as part of her transformation into a 'mythical beast'.The article runs some disturbing pictures of what this "woman" has done to "herself." My first thought was that the doctor(s) who aided this "woman" by amputating "her" ears and making other bizarre modifications to "her" face should, at a minimum, have his/her/their/its medical license(s) revoked, and even go to prison. The problem with that argument, naturally, is that the way things are now, a doctor refusing to do as asked might get labelled "racist," "homophobic," "transgenderist," etc., and, likely as not, suffer a federal civil rights investigation, prosecution, and go to the slammer.
This sorry story encapsulates so much of what has gone wrong in Western civilization that it is hard to know where to begin. One thing this dragon tale does tell us, however, and in unequivocal terms, is that we no longer, apparently, have the right or ability to label somebody as "crazy."
Well, I exaggerate.
It seems, getting back to my point at the outset, that progressives have reserved for themselves the right to determine that. Just as they redefine and refine words to suit and please their agenda of destruction, it seems they will decide which of us deserve to be labelled nuts and worthy of the special attentions of the state. Just as we see Democrats contemplating legal action against "climate change deniers," we can easily see a time when wanting to own a gun or just disagreeing with the ruling orthodoxy will be labelled a criminal or mental disturbance. We already have bakers and pizza store owners who have refused to cater a gay wedding having their businesses targeted and destroyed, why not go one step further and declare them insane? Will my daughter's refusal to use all-gender restrooms get her expelled from school and a trip to the loony bin? You can all come up with many more examples demonstrating the death of what we once called "common sense."
The Brave New World is here and insane.
We are an unserious people living in unserious times.
ReplyDeleteWell, not all of us, of course. But gone are the majority of people who would smack someone like this and tell them to grow up.
What REALLY scares me is that this person is 55, a decade older than me -- I honestly expect better from people at that age.
The US has been too successful for too long with no real, genuine adversity to deal with, so people complain about who uses what bathroom instead of being thankful they have enough to eat, and roofs over their heads.
When real adversity strikes, and the feckless Obama Administration has ensured that will be sooner rather than later, these people will either do a lot of growing up, or a lot of dying.
As always, great post, sir!
Well said!
Delete- reader #1482
Hear, hear! Maybe the current furor islamicus is what will get our foolish and unserious era to wake up.
DeleteI'm of similar generation (58) and lived in Rochester, NY when in 6th grade (do the math, you know you want to). There was a mental institution a block or 2 south of us on Fort Hill Terrace. The buildings are still there, just used for something else.
DeleteWe were cautioned to leave the people ambling about in bathrobes alone and we did. They were later released into the wild ("mainstreamed") to free up funding for LBF'nJ's "Great Society". Thus sprung forth the legions of homeless. So no, it wasn't the GOP.
According to Einstein, insanity is repeatedly performing the same act and expecting a different outcome. Using this measure, our current government is loaded with wackos ... Including the looney tune at the top.
ReplyDeleteIf you think that that is bad, try googling either Mexican Vampire or Maria Hose Cristerna. A pretty lady lawyer (what else?) that has turned herself into a triple X rated, adults only sideshow freak.
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Mail article is here but there are plenty of pictures via google for those of a strong stomach disposition ...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2481092/I-different-Mexican-lawyer-undergoes-extreme-body-modification-Vampire-Lady-complete-titanium-horns-inserted-head.html
But how wicked of you to JUDGE her! (the ultimate crime, nowadays, to disagree with someones lifestyle choice).
Phil B
un-employable?
DeleteNot at all unemployable. I wouldn't be surprised if this woman, if that is the noun I want, were a federal judge by next month.
DeleteThe original motivation of the "punk" hair styles in Britain was to demonstrate that these people were unemployable and pleased about it. Eventually, the fad caught on and became another fashion statement.
Delete"The article runs some rather disturbing pictures of what this "woman" has done to "herself."
ReplyDeleteSadly the anxiety ridden damaged-goods citizen nowadays cannot possibly endure the psychoanalytic hour, nor the reel-verk necessary to identify and treat their maladaptive Defense Mechanisms. Instead, they self-medicate with evermore bizarre neurotic, if not psychotic schemes to deny harsh reality seeping in to their sick minds! It's enough to drive one to go home and kick the dog!
OW~~~
Indeed, Dip, it turns out that Huxley and Orwell must have been endowed with divine inspiration as prognosticators.
ReplyDeleteVirtually everything described in BNW and in 1984 has indeed come to pass.
Graham
Heinlein beat them to it: "The Crazy Years".
DeleteThe rise of progressive politics gives so many incentives to be a victim or part of a new-wave oppressed minority. It therefore can hardly be surprising that people are inventing new ones; that said, I didn't quite foresee the dragon thing.
ReplyDeleteThe train these people are riding goes from madness to oblivion and they must ride it. They also must make everyone else agree and go along (by force if necessary) to salve the nagging doubts of their own consciousnesses.
ReplyDeleteFor those that think these people will come to their senses, I say that's a fantasy.
James the Lesser
Madness to oblivion--the path of Stalinism. The deeper the doubt the more severe the method.
DeleteFollow the money! It starts with the Universities where "self governing' loons employ themselves and others of their kind to spread outright lies and distorted imaginings to the youth of our countries. The money they spend is gifted to them by inattentive governments and now largely safely dead donors. This feeds in to everyone having the 'right' to sustenance no matter how unemployable they make themselves. If we do not allow natural selection to work in our societies (the death by starvation of the mentally and spiritually incompetent), then the world will naturally de-select our societies as being non-survivors. We have to stop giving money and the vote to demonstrably incompetent people.
ReplyDelete[Kinda/Sorta/Maybe] OT but "Our Lot" I think might, could use some cheer. Received in my email:
ReplyDelete[A] new bumper sticker for BOTH political parties.
This hottest selling political bumper sticker comes from New York State:
"RUN HILARY RUN"
Democrats put it on the rear bumper.
Republicans put it on the front bumper.
***
Recall Hillary and the White House (among others) ridiculing Cruz' suggestion that what's needed is "carpet bombing ISIS"?
Deletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/fox-host-scorches-cruz-over-carpet-bombing-isis-rhetoric-it-proves-you-have-no-military-experience/
Well. What a difference a few months make:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2016/04/09/b-52s-arrive-qatar-join-isis-bombing-campaign/82829600/
***
I'm an FFL. The people "not right in the head" who come into my store are pretty easy to spot. ATF regulations allow me to refuse to sell to anyone for any reason *I* deem appropriate.
ReplyDeleteSadly and irritatingly, those "not right in the head" often are young men accompanied by their mother. I kid you not. I do not understand a parent who is so desirous of pleasing/connecting etc. with their disturbed kid, that they would support the purchase of any kind of weapon.
I would just refuse to sell to anybody registered as a Democrat or who votes that way. Murder is overwhelmingly a product of Democratic constituencies.
DeleteMental illness, much like climatology, has morphed from pseudoscience to a political weapon.
ReplyDelete- reader #1482
Recommended reading: "The Death of the Grown Up" - Diana West
ReplyDeleteWise man say: He who buys forked tongue is Drag-on society.
ReplyDeleteM1
You need to ask God to forgive you and feed all the starving pygmies in New Guinea, amen.
DeleteThe American Left has leaned well from their Communist idols who were a minority themselves until they took the name "Bolshevik" and branded themselves the majority.
ReplyDeletePeople deny that there's any such thing as standards of good and evil, so when they don't like some kind of behavior or some attitude, they call it mental illness. This is where moral relativism leads.
ReplyDeleteInstead of his/her/their/its perhaps she/he/it or maybe shorten it to s/h/its?
ReplyDelete