'Mental Illness,' the passionately memorable
and oft-used boogeyman of The Powers That Be,
is being resurrected once more in the wake of
YET ANOTHER mass shooting.
Once more, as guns have been used to randomly
murder people going about their day, idiots with
microphones wish to focus solely on the shooter
(and their limited, subjective view of his 'profile.')
We're still not talking about a pervasive gun culture.
We're not talking about desensitization to gun use
through the indoctrination process of video games.
We're not speaking about accessibility on a wide scale.
We're not addressing gun laws--or the lack thereof.
(WHOOPSIE! Texas just made a liar out of me! Wait,
what?!?! Are you kidding me? Passage of a law
ALLOWING open gun carry?!? Man, you can't make
this shit up.)
But no...we need a talking point--a singular focus.
A patsy.
An easy target.
A red herring, more palatable to the folks who should really
be on the firing line.
Like 'Commies,' 'The Blacks,' 'Pushy Dykes,'
'Reefer-Madness Kids,' and of course, D. Trump's fave,
'The Illegals' before us, the 'Mentally Ill' are set to be America's newest on-paper Plight.
Get us catalogued.
Get us branded.
Put the WANTED posters plastered on every corner.
The 'Unstable' are coming for you and your kids...
even as gun aficionados and those deemed fit by the
state's less-than-rigorous background checks are actually
doing the damage. (Not to mention the government
sanctioned 'protectors and servers.')
Too bad there's nothing that could be done to reasonably
and responsibly prevent such potential problems with folks
with chemical imbalances or personality disorders....you
know, like, I dunno... easily accessible mental health services,
assistance with meds, availability of counselors, teaching
understanding of mental illness to the public at large, and
eliminating the stigma and misinformation around mental
health issues.
You know....Preventative care, up front, instead of good ol'
American Hindsight and clean-up.
But, you know...I guess that's just Crazy Talk.
