Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Keep Taking The Prozac America.

16 years ago the Unabomber  was arrested, remember him? Oddly enough another survivalist  was arrested after years of terrorizing the local population in Utah. (No, I'm not talking about Mitt Romney.)
I don't know much about survivalists, but I don't think they rob peoples cabins to survive or send bombs through the mail.
Troy Knapp was arrested after firing several shots at police officers and a helicopter. They say this guy was a ticking time bomb. Now he's in jail. I'm no psychiatrist but I can guess this guy is probably mentally ill. Jail happens to be a place where a lot of mentally ill people end up.
In 2011 33% of the average daily  inmate  population is mentally ill. Some of the people in jails or prisons might be criminally insane and need to be there. But a lot of mentally ill people end up in the prison system because of  the GOP's Sainted Ronnie Raygun.
Look who gave Ronnie the Medal Of Freedom. How heartwarming.
Yes, Ronald Reagan defunded  the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. An act Jimmy Carter signed into law, Reagan decided to create "block grants" for states to use as they saw fit. Yeah, that worked out great! It is estimated that 26.2 % of the population suffers with a mental disorder. That's 1 in 17. Thanks to the fact that most health insurance offers very little coverage for mental illness if any, I am sure there are a lot more ticking time bombs waiting to go off with no help in sight.


The irony isn't lost on me that Reagan had  mental health issues himself, check out Reagan's America, by Garry Wills who gives some insight into how Ronald Reagan would move between the imaginary world of his movies and reality. No wonder the Republican party is imploding if he is their hero.

More irony, Reagan was shot by a mentally ill person. You would think that would be a life changing event that you would use as an example of when things can go terribly wrong. That's how we got the Brady Bill. Unfortunately, studies show that the Brady Bill had no impact on gun violence. Just like his "block grants" to help those who suffer from mental illness. Useless.
Now we have the NRA coming out with more useless BS and a nice marketing ploy for gun manufacturers to put armed guards in schools. I wonder if the NRA even thinks one of their guards could be mentally ill and they shoot up the school? Just a thought.
 Meanwhile, mental health issues in this country are being addressed by locking people in prison, IF they are caught before they shoot someone. This seems to be working out great.
It seems like we have very few options for people with mental illness. Jail, hide out in the woods and live off the land, like the rugged individuals we worship in this culture, certainly being homeless can be a symptom of mental illness, which I guess is kind of the same option as hiding out in the woods, only more urban. I am no rocket scientist, but it seems to me we really need to address this issue. Uh oh, that will cost money, saving money is more important than the cost of untreated mental illness and access to firearms. That seems crazy to me.
So, happy anniversary Unabomber, I hope you are getting treatment now that you are behind bars. I wonder how many more people are out there with no hope and no help. Sadly, it won't be long before another mass shooting is in the headlines while we refuse to do anything about the problem of mental illness. Just ignore it and it will go away.

3 comments:

  1. Do you know where Kaczinski is? The Federal Super-Max at Florence, Colorado - Along with John Walker, Jonathan Pollard, the Underwear Bomber - Abdullah whatever, and a host of other hoodlums, drug dealers, spies, and low lifes.
    I hope he turns into a mushroom there.
    Now, as to the mental health issue -Oh, you are right on target with that post! There was one carzy-ass freak up in Indianpolis - His appearance changed everytime you seen him, - shaved bald, beard, corn rolls (Carl was white) -Explosive temper - Hooters fired him as a cook! The man was going to law school.
    He came into Hooters drunk dressed like a black kid - pants down below his ass and had a 32 caliber pistol hanging out of his back pocket.
    I silently pointed that out to Molly, the assistant manager on duty and she called the cops. Well, the cops eat free at Hooters and the agreement is - We Hooters asks for help - THey come like the Calvary! They did and hauled his ass off to jail - I later learned that he had a open warrant on him for drugs - Is Carl getting mental health treatment in prison?
    Doubtful....

    One thing for sure - People with mental health issues don't need to have guns!

    Good Post!

    Carry on!


    Sarge

    ReplyDelete
  2. With the rise of private prisons for profit, and the cheap labor the inmates afford for corporations, it's not on the radar to improve mental health in this country.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is estimated that 26.2 % of the population suffers with a mental disorder. That's 1 in 17

    Being a pedant, 26.2% is just over 1 in 4... I think you have a typo here. That being said, the treatment of the mentally ill in this country is disgraceful. The real tragedy of Ted Kaczinski is that he was a brilliant mathematician before he lost his grip, his victims were largely people who were like him when he was healthy. If only he could have been helped before he embarked on his spree...

    ReplyDelete