I'm fully aware that the image here is rude, but my point is evident in that Lisa could've very well been objectified upon entering the mental health system where a protester that I met insisted that she needed to go, but she was instead held for seventeen days by the Scientologists before she died. I then realized that, by serendipity if you will, that Lisa offers us a perfect case example of the problem that exists with what is commonly referred to as "mental illness" and the means that's used as "treatment". The system is comprised to be of pure expedience, to not mince words. It's known that the concept is a social construct where there's a category of human cognitive ailment where a person will behave in bizarre fashions, maybe even equivalent to inebriated, but the person isn't drunk or "high" from taking an illicit substance (that's proportionate to the person's reaction, at least. It also could be obvious that a person is exaggerating in that aspect). A person could inadvertently hurt themselves or unintentionally hurt someone else (also to varied degree of intent and/or injury inflicted on someone).
In short and to the point, is that a person's behavior could be embarassing to family & friends, but (initially) not criminal. It is more common now, especially in the digital era where information about a perpetrator of a violent crime will be public within hours of an incident, that the person will be labeled as "mentally ill". Over the last few decades the term is associated more & more with violence. There is also a noticeable aversion to being considered as such and yet simultaneously it's become the only culturally accepted label to place on someone (even one who's committed no wrongdoing) and it's immediately associated with a person being inferior to everyone else. The person might be told exactly what rights they continue to have, but in any event it's accepted that whoever is in the person's immediate proximity is the authority of that aspect (if they can find the time, anyway).
So... On March 1, 2024 I was walking through my city on my way downtown and got distracted by people who appeared to be protesting and I asked them if they've ever read a specific book. They answered that they haven't. I told them that I have and that it's actually good. I told them that they should read it since it was associated with the entity that they were protesting. We talked back & forth a bit and as I was walking away the young man yelled out to me that I needed to see a psychiatrist and that I was mentally ill. It was at that very moment that the young man was no longer merely protesting, but engaging in an act of civil disobedience. The term he used is associated with violence and so subsequently the inevitable idea is that I would need to be restrained or incapacitated. (It's a vigilante posit.) So since the term that he labeled me while I was being broadcasted on a video feed that he controlled was intended to deem me as inferior to him, insinuating that I was committing some wrongdoing, implying that I'm unnecessarily violent, etc., ... I have a right to defend myself, and my reputation. So my going back there, even on the third time he pointed out that I was approaching him, is completely within my rights. (At any time all the young man needed to say to me is that he understood what I was saying to him and he'd figure out a way to incorporate the issue into his activism.)
I cover some of this in my "thetan.news" page; but I watched the video of when Jay was contacted by city police and it astounded me the way that he spoke to them. It was entirely opposite of the way he speaks to others and that tells me that the way he usually speaks to people is feigned while his behavior toward police is his true self. Engaging local city police in an issue which is decades old and where the protests consist of a handful of people is not reasonable. When the main lead protester is speaking to his live video feed audience about getting some "merch" to have available to sell them then the idea of him merely engaging in humanitarian, peaceful protesting is thrown out of the proverbial window.
I will link to the Wikipedia article, "Fundamental attribution error", here since it's applicable in this issue. A person who is upset, but not about the exact same thing as a protester is upset about, is stigmatized as being inferior and immature, etc., instead of being considered as having a valid point, is putting themselves at physical risk and then that in turn is frightening and yet people are going to insist that they just calm down and chat awhile about humans suffering. But I digress... I did need to point out here that in Lisa's case, she gave us the perfect example of risk to her of continued emotional/physical injury if she allowed herself to be admitted into psychiatric hospital treatment. Actually, I realized, it also eamplified an application of the rudimentary philosophy of "Theory of Forms" where the institution of "psychiatry" is brought up by protesters in a way that implies that it is a perfect system (or maybe if it's not then that isn't of their concern), when the absolute reality is that the system is rife with abuse, and always has been, which is really the crux of the whole issue. Lisa's case is our example and so let us play it out in a thought experiment of what might've happened to her upon entering a psychiatric hospital in a reasonable scenario...
The events that led up to Lisa being first admitted to the emergency room became public and inevitably the circumstances would've been noted in her admittance paperwork which many people would have access to while she was a patient. Although it would be ideal if all the hospital staff personnel were mature professionals, without one malicious employee among them, there is always possibility they all won't be. That idea may seem to be incredibly hurtful to hospital staff but in the human/social services field(s) it is customary to present possibilities from the outset. The people who work in the psychiatric system that are truly professional understand the possibility that there may be another that isn't so professional, but with that stated it could also be pointed out that with patients who are distressed and suffered trauma in their lives then there could be an unintentional slip or misspoke word, etc., that could be misconstrued by a patient, and could cause them to have an emotional outburst. The staff has authority to isolate and even restrain a psychiatric patient in a locked cell. That is a reality and the patient is not ever charged with any crime to where they'd be offered an attorney to represent them. A person in a psychiatric hospital has less rights than a criminal.
To address an argument that Lisa may not have been traumatized when she was younger (the "mental illness is just a type of disease" ideology aside here), but maybe it was the Scientologists themselves that traumatized her somehow, I would like to point out that she sought out the organization. She very well might have known a little about what their belief system was, and was a willing participant.† She was considered to be clear, and actually wasn't is really analogous to psychiatric care outcomes to where a person will be stable for a good period of time but some event or series of events will cause a mental breakdown ... at that point it's important that the distressed person's cognitive state isn't needlessly exacerbated. The psychiatric system is priced, and services rendered, according to socioeconomic status too, where a lower income person would be expected to submit to medication, receive minimal psychotherapy, and experience noticeable degradation in their quality of life. Side-effects of psychotropic medicines have been historically terrible, with weight gain being common. All too often a person will gain so much weight, so quickly, that by the time they are fully aware of their (new) problem it's to late for them to do anything except do their best to maintain their overall health. They have to accept a diminished quality of life and are at risk of being harassed and ridiculed. Their personal relationships with their family is forever changed. (They're scapegoated.)
When there's an outcry about Lisa being "held against her will" but in a dignified environment where access to her was strictly controlled, and then insist that she be forced into circumstances that the majority of protesters would avoid and vehemently deny ever needing, like it'd be something completely beneath them, is so hypocritical that only a complete moron would deny the contradiction. It all becomes obvious that the protesters desire to find some notoriety and the issue is a culturally acceptable, and even an esoteric niche, where the participants can experience a sense a self-worth & belonging & altruism that they'd refuse to give up at any cost. It'd be so helpful, if even out of sheer accident, that they'd protest against shock treatments. It'd be wonderful if we all could avoid the "it's bound to get worse before/rather than it gets better" on this subject since it's a serious issue for trauma-informed advocates, internationally.
† I mentioned the movie "The French Connection" to the protesters because in the movie the protagonist, (Gene Hackman's character), is a detective who's investigating heroin smugglers and they get him addicted to the drug. His friends have to lock him up in a decrepit, urban hotel room for a few days to wean him off. The point is that the "medical" way of treatment isn't always in a person's best interest. People have to have a better understanding of human physiology themselves to know that the word "patient" (a person in a hospital) and the word used as in: "be patient" aren't alike by mere coincidence. People who are introverted and timid (which is typical of those who've experienced trauma in their lives) can be convinced to sympathize with the medical staff in a hospital setting and give consent to taking medications that have atrocious side-effects. Psychiatry is experimental medicine with corporate interests involved. In the conflict of psychiatry and Scientology, it's the former that poses the greatest danger to low-income people and consists of a disproportionate representation of people of color. The other aspect is that oftentimes when people in the general public discuss the field they don't take into consideration the people diagnosed with "mental illness" in the prison system. Again, that is indictive of "Theory of Forms" where any of the exact details, or intricacies of an issue can be ignored by people in the general public when they engage in an argument (about other humans suffering).
See also: The Wikipedia article for "Fundamental attribution error".
One of my old counselors, who held a MSW from Regis with decades of experience in the human services field, told me the following story. It might be a true story, but if it isn't then it's certainly plausible ... but I will let the reader be judge of that.
There's a family, father, mother, and three children, teenager to adult (where the youngest is seventeen and in high school). The oldest of the children, who's twenty-one, is killed in a car accident where they're at fault. It was a single car accident and drinking involved. There was no life insurance or any other death compensation for the surviving family members, and there was only the legally required amount of "liability" insurance for the vehicle. It's a tragedy and an unexpected financial hardship for the parents since they need to pay expenses for memorial service & cremation. They do all of that, maybe borrowing some money against their house. (This is before the internet had GoFundMe ... I'm not trying to be funny in mentioning that. In context here the family wouldn't be able to ask for donations from anyone, even extended family).
So they get through the ordeal and life returns to as close to normal as it could be after a few months pass. One day a manufacturer's rebate check arrives in the mail that's addressed to the eldest who died. Apparently the eldest had bought a computer and there was a manufacturer's rebate for it that amounted to maybe fifty dollars. That would be difficult for the parents to see but obviously it's something that could be trashed (ephemeral) and never brought up to the other children. Instead the parents (or one of them ... the father) makes it a point to exaggerate the issue (blow it out of proportion) and wants to cash the check because the manufacturers are scamming people and it's all really just to get a person's information on their mailing lists, and so on. Well, that last part could be a legitimate concern since the family could continue to receive junk mail that emanated from that rebate correspondence, but any normal person would deal with that aspect as it arises.
Now, it would be natural for the reader of this to think of ideas for the parents to help them cope (hence "thought experiment") and a number of ideas may be feasible and helpful. They could see if the post office would intercept the mail that's addressed to the deceased, for example. They could even mail back requests to have the eldest removed from the mailing lists ... of course, an idea that would extend from that might be to ask extended family for assistance in that aspect since there'd be less emotional toll and it wouldn't be about asking for money, etc.
Here is the part that gets tricky... See, now this fifty dollar rebate check and all that it entails begins to dominate the lives of the surviving family members because it has become a contrivance for the father to punish everyone for his loss in the midst of his grief. That gets obvious to everyone and people even explain that to him but he ignores them. The aforementioned ideas on how to handle the issue are presented to the father and he viciously repudiates and rebuffs everyone who attempts to talk to him. In fact, it gets confusing for his friends and family because in an attempt to first define the problem in simple terms, with a question like: "Have you been able to get your address removed from the mailing lists?" would cause the father to go off in a tirade with the first immediate reply being some embellished, twisted, explanation that is racked with some conspiracy theory which is nonsensical. He can even put it in such a way to where it seems like he figured out a way to resolve the problem and will go on talking about who he's spoken to about the check. He may then even go on and explain that a person is supposed to keep track of who they talked to about it, the person's title and position in (whatever) company or entity he contacted, and when, & so on, & so on ... Again, the issue is now a contrivance or device for the father to use to get people drawn into his drama. The applicable term for the father's behavior here is "toxic shame" and this can go on for months to years. It is an unresolvable problem for him and the overall emotional toll, as well as inevitable increased financial hardship ... Oh, I didn't mention that the father has joined some consumer support advocacy group that requires him to spend money on whatever he can spend the family's money on that doesn't really make sense to anyone exept him. (Yeah ... don't ask! We'd be opening a can of worms there!)
In the interim during all of the subsequent drama, the older surviving child moves out and the younger one is over eighteen but unable to afford an apartment alone. The father is noticeably and increasingly irritated with the youngest child's lack of progress toward independence. The younger one can't seem to maintain healthy relationships with other people (so roommate living situations haven't materialized) and romantic relationships that could blossom into permanent cohabitation (or marriage) doesn't seem possible for reasons that aren't mentioned. The older child is now estranged from the father and has stopped speaking to both the parents. The relationship between the father and the youngest child is voltile. The youngest cannot manage to live outside of the family home for very long and moves in & out quite often.
At this point the youngest child's life is in complete turmoil. The person is conscientious and tries to stay optimistic but the emotional toll of being scapegoated by the father is causing manifestation of exhibited behavioral problems by the youngest. The person may have conflicts with coworkers and/or work supervisors, for example. This is an excellent point to verify with the reader of this story that the events and overall circumstances for the youngest child seem realistic and plausible. The scenario that I've laid out here could be considered as the youngest child's socioeconomic factors, or "material circumstances", or environmental factors. The "socioeconomic" term may not seem applicable but if the family was wealthy to begin with then the father probably would've had a lawyer handle all of the issues.
The youngest continues to have difficulties, legal issues due to alcohol abuse and trouble maintaining even low paying employment, etc. When the youngest reaches about the age of twenty-five or so they survive a suicide attempt and end up in a psychiatric hospital and are diagnosed with major depressive disorder. They are prescribed anti-depressants and are enrolled in a community mental health center to have access to therapy and other support services. There is a bit of renewed optimism (hope) that is exhibited by the youngest, but now there is a label of "mentally ill" to contend with. In the succeeding months & years there are times of stability for the youngest intermixed with various episodes of arguments with the father and problems maintaining employment. Living outside of the reliability of the family home hasn't worked out well for the youngest, though.
This thought experiment here is not meant to digress into a horror story; or an unrealistic, inspirational, sudden epiphany tale either (like maybe the young adult goes on to find the perfect job and the perfect stable living arrangement, or whatever). Let it suffice to say that the youngest one never marries, never has children, and never owns a house. The crux of the issue here is the questions that could be asked: Should the youngest family member be considered as the sole person to be blamed for the difficulties they've had? Is the person just weak or lazy, or is it merely a "mental illness" that caused their lack of success in life? Furthermore, is it possible that there was a history of real emotional and even physical abuse that was endured by all the children in the household, even before the death of the oldest sibling? The oldest one wasn't being very responsible by drinking and driving and that isn't normal behavior for a well raised, successful young adult. The main point here is that if a person, that isn't any kind of medical professional or social/human services worker, would use the label of "mentally ill" to describe the youngest child's overall problem then the term is being used as being equivalent to like "loser", or some other derisive label that is meant to ridicule. The fact that the youngest child's world was turned upside down with the event of their oldest sibling's death and the subsequent behavior exhibited by the father is not being acknowledged with the label. That's downright cruel! The events that followed the older sibling's death would be difficult, if not impossible, for the youngest to talk to anyone about since it all would seem so trivial and the youngest probably would be considered as being selfish. It is for that reason that the youngest had problems with relationships with friends, etc., since in any converstations about their past they'd be expected to concede that they had their own personal responsibility that they didn't live up to in their adult lives.
Incidently, the author of this page was once instructed to not return to a Bible study group held by members of a local North metro area, working class populated church, for not agreeing with them that the Westboro Baptist Church was doing a good thing when they protested Matthew Shepard's funeral. (I told them that rest assured, the church would reveal their true colors in the future and they're now known to be a right-wing fringe organization.)
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Photograph of my old department crewmembers & I displaying our
Battle Efficiency Award onboard the now decommissioned USS Wabash AOR-5
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
~ James Madison
"We want and are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens: The right to earn a living at work for which we are fitted by training and ability; equal opportunities in education, health, recreation, and similar public services; the right to vote; equality before the law; some of the same courtesy and good manners that we ourselves bring to all human relations."
~ (Dr.) Martin Luther King, Jr. from August 6, 1946 letter to editor of Atlanta newspaper.
The biggest danger to our rights today is not from government acting against the will of the majority
but from government which has become the mere instrument of this majority...
Wrong will be done as much by an all-powerful people as by an all-powerful prince.
~ James Madison
Class conflict is another concept which upsets the oppressors, since they do not wish to consider themselves an oppressive class. Unable to deny, try as they may, the existence of social classes, they preach the need for understanding and harmony between those who buy and those who are obliged to sell their labor. However, the unconcealable antagonism which exists between the two classes makes this "harmony" impossible. ~ Paulo Freire
Because it is a distortion of being more fully human, sooner or later being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so. In order for this struggle to have meaning, the oppressed must not, in seeking to regain their humanity (which is a way to create it), become in turn oppressors of the oppressors, but rather restorers of the humanity of both. ~ Paulo Freire
To impede communication is to reduce men to the status of "things"—and this is a job for oppressors, not for revolutionaries. ~ Paulo Freire
"Only a lively appreciation of dissent's vital function at all levels of society can preserve it as a corrective to wishful thinking, self-inflation, and unperceived rigidity"
The Wrong Way Home : Uncovering the patterns of cult behavior in American society | by Arthur J. Deikman, M.D
ISBN 10: 0807029157 ISBN 13: 9780807029152
Force has no place where there is need of skill.
~ Herodotus
"Make a person disappear and no one will ever miss you." - Megadeth "Hook in Mouth"