capri0mni: A black Skull & Crossbones with the Online Disability Pride Flag as a background (Default)
[personal profile] capri0mni
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?”

Date: 2016-07-26 04:57 pm (UTC)
spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (spiralsheep Ram Raider mpfc)
From: [personal profile] spiralsheep
Individual "carers" mass murdering disabled, incapacitated, and/or elderly people has been a thing that sometimes happens for as long as I can remember and, yes, I think it is an extension of cultural memes about involuntary "euthanasia" for people whose lives are deemed to be worth-less/worthless by mainstream opinion.

Clue: if it's involuntary then it's not "euthanasia".

Clue: there are many good reasons why most cultures have deeply embedded memes against suicide aka "voluntary euthanasia".

I'm not against all suicide, or living wills in which people preemptively decide to choose not to be resuscitated in extreme circumstances, but many of the examples I'm seeing used as arguments in favour of "voluntary euthanasia" look to me more like people who need better care and/or treatment before they make any life-changing decisions.

Date: 2016-07-26 05:30 pm (UTC)
spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (spiralsheep Ram Raider mpfc)
From: [personal profile] spiralsheep
And, while we're on the subject, I need to never see the term "mercy killing" again.

Date: 2016-07-26 05:45 pm (UTC)
spiralsheep: Woman blowing heart-shaped bubbles (Bubble Rainbow)
From: [personal profile] spiralsheep
Yeah, I thought you might agree with that statement.

Re: More trigger warnings

Date: 2016-07-26 09:40 pm (UTC)
spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (spiralsheep Ram Raider mpfc)
From: [personal profile] spiralsheep
::reads and nods understanding::

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capri0mni: A black Skull & Crossbones with the Online Disability Pride Flag as a background (Default)
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