Putting Santa on trial

Well said, Ed; and, thanks for that.

I’d encourage us all to focus on how to solve this current dreadful trend of mentally ill people, mostly young adult or teen males, who are acting out as they are, so violently against others.

It’s not solving anything to refer to mentally ill persons as “evil” because, well, perhaps ALL illness, sickness, lies, all of that ARE evil but it doesn’t help those suffering from mental illness — or evil — to ignore it or worse, to ridicule them.

In the case of this young man responsible in Newtown, it sounds as if he was given a huuuge amount of extra caring helps and attention in sensitivity to HIS sensitivity, while no one expected him to act out so violently.

Perhaps it’s his now-also-deceased mother who was aware that he WAS acting out violently (the video gaming activities, particularly, which she surely was aware of) and was desensitized to the violence herself, to her own ruin.

We as a nation have to address mental health conditions.

Lourdes on December 18, 2012 at 12:31 PM

Happy Nomad on December 18, 2012 at 12:44 PM

I COMPLETELY AGREE that the deeds done in Newtown were “evil” — “an evil act” as you write. I completely agree with that.

And I’m the last person who needs evidence that evil exists in this world and that some people are motivated by it with little saving grace or appeal to change…I’ve seen it, I’ve witnessed it, believe me, short of naming names, which I won’t do on the internet, I’ve seen people who are motivated by, “possessed by” evil, to use a Biblical term.

I’m only saying that referring from a problem-solving or solution-finding frame of reference to this shooter in Newtown as “evil” satisfies a more profound defintion of the deed and what motivated him but it doesn’t do anything (if not is also counter-productive) to continue to refer to him and his (yes, evil) deeds as “evil” and to avoid trying to understand and then to treat what the mental complications involved were.

I don’t know the answer, I’m not a physician, but our nation does have a budding if not an erupted problem today of — especially evident in — disturbed teen or young adult males who are resorting to violence against others, against society. Guns aren’t the problem, their state of mind is and that’s my point: we must address the causes and the conditions present in this segment of society who is acting out so desperately and hatefully (and violently) against others.

WE can discuss it from a theological perspective and it’s right and good that we do, but the issue of functionality is something that needs to be addressed more broadly.

I guess on a “government” level — as to all this talk among politicos about “government solutions” and all that after Newtown — it seems that the dangerous condition today is in the mental health area, not in the area of tools such as “guns” or whatever else as to tools a mentally disturbed person would and does use when they’re acting out.

Lourdes on December 18, 2012 at 1:04 PM

They lack a conscience and no amount of pharmaceuticals or interventions will change that. The only protection from them is permanent involuntary institutionalization. Are we ready to go in that direction?

chemman on December 18, 2012 at 11:43 AM

I was talking with my brother-in-law, who is a psychiatrist, about this very topic. His comment was that the only thing they know that helps these people is “lead therapy”. Since lead poisoning can affect the nervous system I thought that perhaps there was some innovative use of lead in treating these types of patients. But when I said “Really?”, he made a gun with his index finger and held it to his head.

So yes, perhaps we have reached that point.

lovesthesun on December 18, 2012 at 1:11 PM

Antipsychotic meds help many who suffer from a psychosis such as Manic Depression and sometimes, Schizophrenia. People often have what’s called “a dual diagnosis” with both those conditions simultaneously, and they can be managed with medications, as long as they continue under medical supervision.

It’s tough, I realize. It’s the people who never are in contact with physicians in these regards who are the biggest concern.

This guy in Connecticut, from what I’ve heard, had a lot of EXTREMELY CARING, CONSCIENTIOUS attention from adults but it looks like he never got in contact with a physician who was able to diagnose the guy’s mental issues properly if at all. Or so I’m assuming from the little I’ve read so far about the guy.

Lourdes on December 18, 2012 at 1:18 PM

…how do you treat an entire city? To a certain extent I think as a nation we are all suffering from a type of mental illness. It has manifested itself in many ways among them the decline in traditional values, the political polarization, and the fact we only react to violence in cases like Newtown or Aurora and not when that violence occurs in ones and twos over any given weekend in any given city. How do you treat a nation for mental illness.

Happy Nomad on December 18, 2012 at 12:44 PM

I agree that the increased denigration of and suppression of the sharing of Christian theology and beliefs – including organizations that are sponsored by such but are being held to task to cease associating with such – is part of the problem.

Scouting, for example, helped many a young person for decades but the marring of that org. continues. Same with ROTC in higher education combined with the replacement of “real” social relationships like that with the artificial realm of violent media.

And increasingly urban environments and overcrowding, limiting resources for all and confining more of us with every generation.

There’s a lot to be said for being raised in rural areas and small towns, kids grow up with more adults available to them on ratio in a population, for starters, and learn a great deal about empathy and socialization from agricultural activities. Urban lifestyles eliminate so much from what many of us need as to being able to relax and relate well to others.

Lourdes on December 18, 2012 at 1:26 PM