longer.blue

There is a real wrongness being perpetrated when people call the Trump cult mentally ill. The following exchange I had over the last couple of days is being shared to give you my individual thoughts about labeling everything evil as mental illness. Posted on a smaller, private social media site: ME: I agree there is something really wrong with Felon47 and he needs to see a psychiatrist AND a neurologist (not that he will, that we will ever have the means to force that treatment on him or that that would not just martyr him.) Regardless of that, he will never see this kind of post. I saw the post below on BlueSky this morning and it framed what I have been protesting and blocklisting for bipolar bigotry in more general terms. It mirrored my feelings and gave them voice: "Sinéad Rhiannon (fae/it/he/they) @sineadthefae.bsky.social "it's mental illness" is a carceral sentiment in probably the majority of instances it is invoked. when folks who do/say evil things are conflated with those living with actual mental illness, it just reinforces the demonization of the already marginalized. stop carrying water for fascists. " ANOTHER: Ree, i'm sorry that you feel that all mental illness is eqated with evil...i think sometimes people don't realize that there is a huge difference between those fightin with all their might against the ravages created by their particular problem, and those who refuse to admit they need help and instead, embrace their wicked impulses. ME: about "their wicked impulses". Bipolar Disorder (which is what I am challenged with) is most often blamed for that. The most visible current example is Kanye/Ye. The thing is mania is like alcohol on steroids. It lowers social inhibitions. But like alcohol, it is what a person is deep inside that will guide the impulses they have. There are men who only beat their wife when they are drunk. Do all drunks get violent? No, there are happy drunks and there are happy manics. There are sloppy drunks and there are sloppy manics. There are drunks who turn into philosophers and you should hear some of the theorizing in our Community. The point is Kanye/Ye turns into a Nazi because that is what he truly is in the depths of his soul. So believing that mentally ill people all have "wicked impulses" is as bad as believing all cops are serial killers or all Black men are criminals. SAME OTHER: i didn't make myself clear there and i apologize for that...the people giving in to 'wicked impulses' are those who can't/won't admit they need help, or don't care how they affect others, and that is NOT the majority of folks dealing with mental illness.....that's what i was trying to say , and it seems i didn't manage it. i am so sorry if didn't make my meaning clear, because i do know that most mental illness isn't evil or dangerous, and that most people with - for instance - depression and/or anxiety are doing their best to deal with any difficulties they have. i hope this is a clearer explanation of what i was trying to say....i also hope that you have some form of help with your illness....i don't know much about it, except that it can be difficult to achieve a balance between the two opposites. ME: and I don't feel I made myself clear enough. Before I try again to explain what I feel is wrong with the "wicked impulses" beliefs, I want to tell you a little more about me and my journey. ME: I do have the more severe form, Bipolar Disorder 1. I am one of the 47% of people diagnosed with Bipolar who have actually ever experienced manic episodes. Many manic episodes. After almost 3 decades of active bipolar including 4-6 month long manias about 3 times every 2 years, I was diagnosed. I stabilized on meds October, 2004 and am very diligent not only in med compliance but also on self-monitoring. I have emergency meds and emergency safety plans. I am in therapy and yes getting all the help I need. Thank you for your concern. Now even though I was manic so often and destroyed my life thoroughly every time. I never physically hurt anyone. I never burned down buildings, never stole anything, was never convicted of any crime. Without a diagnosis (that I was trained to avoid) for over a quarter of a century, I was a good person because that is my nature. Ill or not, I am a good person. I would fit into that idea of people who wouldn't admit they need help. (As on off comment, if my mother could talk from the grave, she's be saying see I told you so - they are coming after the meds, locking people up. Shock treatments and lobotomies are not far behind.) We are on the edge of all the terrors and horrors that were impressed in me before I ever started grade school. That reality is facing me square on. What I was trying to tell you is mentally ill people (whether they are diagnosed in treatment or not) are not inherently evil, do not automatically have wicked ways. Each of us are individuals, like every other human on the planet. We have varied natures like every other human in the planet. We are entitled to have good days and bad days like every other human on the planet. We can be pissed off and still be taking our medications. I'm very likely to experience full mania again after all these years if psych meds are indeed discontinued - although I really don't think the 1.3% of the general population that DOES experience mania are going to be the quiet little sheep RFK JR is planning to send to work farms. If I become manic again after all these years (another almost quarter of a century) I am liable to hitchhike across the country to see the wonders, howl at the moon, walk through thunderstorms feeling elemental, write a 10-part novel (or really conceptualize and start one that will never be finished) but I would NEVER pull the crap that Trump and his cult are doing. To label brainwashed cultists as mentally ill is patently unfair and basically as prejudicial as anything example I could name. It hurts my heart to even reach for examples, much less speak them. My oppression is not worse than anyone's else's except I also feel oppressed by the good guys who cannot see the basic reality that y'all do not see us as people, as anything other than basically evil (only yes that can be suppressed with meds - bitter sarcasm, for anyone who can't read the room.) Rather than perceive that actual evil exists without a convenient explanation, otherwise good and kind people give that a pass with "if they were diagnosed and in treatment, they would not be that way." Evil is evil. A bad soul is a bad soul. People who are brainwashed by Fox News and voted the kitchen table are coming around. Slowly a few at a time but they ARE coming around. The people who were raving racists before Trump will still be raving racists. They are not mentally ill, just poorly socialized.