This is exactly how this whole mental-health vs. violence should be viewed. It isn’t a matter of a bunch of new institutions and drugs and doctors. It’s a matter of proper therapy and treatment (that shouldn’t be so hard to get or balls-ass expensive).

The Life You Save May Be Your Own

I’m a member of MoveOn, a progressive group. They do a lot of online petitions, and today they sent me this petition about addressing the root cause of mass shootings: poor mental health care.

Here’s the response I sent MoveOn as an explanation of why I refused to sign this petition.

It’s a good idea in theory, but the reality is that increased funding for mental health will only result in more incarceration and drugging of people with mental illness. These approaches isolate people with mental illness from their communities, and isolation–not mental illness–is what breeds violence.

It’s entirely possible for someone to be legally sane but also hate-filled and violent. We feel more comfortable blaming mental illness for violence because it provides an easy answer to what is actually a much more complex issue. That greatly increases stigma against people living with mental illness.

Most people with mental…

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