I remember watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and thinking that mental institutions were cruel and needed to go away.
By the time that movie was made, mental institutions were already being emptied out, but as with many people, the movie stuck with me and still haunts me to this day, as it does for many people. It struck a chord because it emphasized the helplessness and vulnerability to cruelty that patients in institutions often suffer.
So what replaced mental institutions? The answer is simple: basically nothing. There was a lot of talk about group homes and outpatient care, but the former barely exists, and the latter is...ineffective. After all, we are talking about people who by definition are incapable of exercising autonomy in a way that is compatible with life in society.
The result is something far more cruel than what existed before we emptied out the institutions, and much worse than what we can provide to patients in our much wealthier society today. People who suffer from chronic and debilitating mental illnesses now litter our streets as homeless people camping outside, or wind up in prison under worse conditions than anybody suffered in the heyday of mental institutions.
Beege, Duane, and Ed have each written about the horrid case in Charlotte where a madman killed a Ukrainian refugee in a fit of...rage? Insanity? I don't know.
Pravda Media has assiduously avoided covering the story, and Wikipedia editors are literally trying to erase it from the web. Bluesky liberals are calling the attention "white supremacy," and Axios has done their "Republicans Pounce" story.
Here’s a list of all the news networks who have NOT covered the Charlotte NC story:
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) September 7, 2025
- NYTimes
- CNN
- Washington Post
- MSNBC
- NPR
- USA Today
- Reuters
- Axios
- ABC News
- PBS
Every single one of them wrote stories on Daniel Penny...
…do you get it yet? pic.twitter.com/gr7MJx0NsX
You can't hate the media enough.
But what is striking to me, most of all, is how little attention has been paid to the fact that the perpetrator is a schizophrenic. Not only is he diagnosed as one, but it is also obvious from the video. The man lives in a world of delusion and confusion. I don't say this to excuse the behavior, but rather to say the obvious: he should not have been on the streets, but our legal system pushes him back out the door even after his committing countless felonies and having been diagnosed as schizophrenic.
This scumbag had no fewer than 14 prior arrests — many for violent crimes — and was released WITHOUT BOND by a liberal judge in a Democrat city. He then went on to commit a brutal murder of an innocent woman in public view.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 8, 2025
"MAGA" is not the problem here. https://t.co/9PQYb7agJq
He is obviously a danger to himself and others, but that no longer counts. Until somebody gets murdered, and then the perpetrator will wind up in prison, where he will likely get no treatment other than that meted out by his fellow inmates.
About one half of all prisoners suffer from mental illness, so in effect, we have exchanged mental institutions--deemed too cruel to exist--for prisons.
Decarlos Brown Jr was homeless--of course--and now he will be housed by the state as a criminal. Had we rational policies, he would have been a guest of the state in far less cruel conditions and would have been getting treatment.
Instead, the community has been terrorized by him for years, the legal system has been tied up (not) dealing with him, and an innocent woman is dead.
It is insane.
