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On the attack in Sagamihara, Japan, today (x-posted from Tumblr)
News article from the BBC (26 July, 2016 ~05:00, UCT) -- TRIGGER WARNINGS abound.
From what little I’ve seen (the largest mass killing in Japan since World War II, and I’ve seen a total of three print news stories about it), this is getting spun as yet another “lone killer with mental illness” story. ...
Yeah.
I am highly skeptical of any claim that all acts of hate must be “crazy” just because they are extreme. In fact, I think that assumption is exploited by bigots, who deliberately perform the expected symptoms of mental illness leading up to their (very rational, carefully planned) attacks, so that they can literally get away with murder.
But:
Even if that were true in this case: The shape of an individual’s mental illness is strongly influenced by the dominant schema of the culture they’re living in.
Four hundred years ago, the fears people were obsessed with were witches, demons, and “fairies.”
Today, it’s germs, extraterrestrials, immigrants, women, people of color, and the disabled.
No way, no how, should anyone foist the responsibility for these horrors onto isolated loners, whose ‘crazy’ beliefs just pop, fully formed, into their minds.
It’s time to stop asking: “How can we fix those people?”
We need to ask: “What’s wrong with us? How can we change for the better?”
From what little I’ve seen (the largest mass killing in Japan since World War II, and I’ve seen a total of three print news stories about it), this is getting spun as yet another “lone killer with mental illness” story. ...
Yeah.
I am highly skeptical of any claim that all acts of hate must be “crazy” just because they are extreme. In fact, I think that assumption is exploited by bigots, who deliberately perform the expected symptoms of mental illness leading up to their (very rational, carefully planned) attacks, so that they can literally get away with murder.
But:
Even if that were true in this case: The shape of an individual’s mental illness is strongly influenced by the dominant schema of the culture they’re living in.
Four hundred years ago, the fears people were obsessed with were witches, demons, and “fairies.”
Today, it’s germs, extraterrestrials, immigrants, women, people of color, and the disabled.
No way, no how, should anyone foist the responsibility for these horrors onto isolated loners, whose ‘crazy’ beliefs just pop, fully formed, into their minds.
It’s time to stop asking: “How can we fix those people?”
We need to ask: “What’s wrong with us? How can we change for the better?”