Good article. People with mental disorders are far more likely to be the target of violence and discrimination rather than the ones who instigate it.
And we must keep this in mind when considering the purpose of mental disorder diagnoses. Many have argued that we must be able to accuse celebrities of mental disorders, because how else are we supposed to condemn immoral behaviour?
Like any form of bigotry, I believe it is a distancing tactic. We want to believe that people like Trump and Biden are apart from us somehow, and that no one could possibly support and commit such atrocities unless they are unlike us, and ableism is so prevalent in our society that it has become the “acceptable” way of expressing bigotry. It also allows us to avoid the bigger issues.
That’s why I’m also not supportive of the diaper narrative (many fine people have conditions that require wearing diapers/pads), the body shaming narrative (who cares if someone is orange or has tiny hands – again, there are many fine people with those physical traits), the age narrative (being old or young does not turn someone into a fascist).
The majority of people who cause harm in this world are neurotypical people who willingly and consciously cause harm, who often look “good” and “normal,” and even if Trump has one or more disorders, those are not the reasons we should hate him. Don’t get me wrong – I’d piss on his fucking grave – but that has nothing to do with any disorder or physical trait and everything to do with him being a shite human who’s hurt a lot of people, willingly and with the full awareness and responsibilty for what he does.
I believe that in our modern age of supposed reason, certain biases from the old way of doing things remain. Perhaps they are human nature, or perhaps they are simply the result of our post-roman culture. But either way, there is a massive tendency within our society for people to expect doctors to do ALL the jobs that priests and witch hunters once did. We no longer believe that autism is caused by the fey stealing babies, and we do not believe in possession by evil spirits either. We believe in scientific medicine instead. But for some reason, we expect scientific medicine to let us act exactly the same as those old myths. We want to believe that mental disorders from the DSM possess people with the spirit of evil and justify lynchings. We want to believe that people with NPD are essentially vampires - inhuman, predatory, corrupted by unforgivable sin. We want to believe that science and medicine can show us wickedness and sin, and tell us who to kill for being different. Superstition didn’t go away, it just changed its face.
Good article. People with mental disorders are far more likely to be the target of violence and discrimination rather than the ones who instigate it.
Like any form of bigotry, I believe it is a distancing tactic. We want to believe that people like Trump and Biden are apart from us somehow, and that no one could possibly support and commit such atrocities unless they are unlike us, and ableism is so prevalent in our society that it has become the “acceptable” way of expressing bigotry. It also allows us to avoid the bigger issues.
That’s why I’m also not supportive of the diaper narrative (many fine people have conditions that require wearing diapers/pads), the body shaming narrative (who cares if someone is orange or has tiny hands – again, there are many fine people with those physical traits), the age narrative (being old or young does not turn someone into a fascist).
The majority of people who cause harm in this world are neurotypical people who willingly and consciously cause harm, who often look “good” and “normal,” and even if Trump has one or more disorders, those are not the reasons we should hate him. Don’t get me wrong – I’d piss on his fucking grave – but that has nothing to do with any disorder or physical trait and everything to do with him being a shite human who’s hurt a lot of people, willingly and with the full awareness and responsibilty for what he does.
I believe that in our modern age of supposed reason, certain biases from the old way of doing things remain. Perhaps they are human nature, or perhaps they are simply the result of our post-roman culture. But either way, there is a massive tendency within our society for people to expect doctors to do ALL the jobs that priests and witch hunters once did. We no longer believe that autism is caused by the fey stealing babies, and we do not believe in possession by evil spirits either. We believe in scientific medicine instead. But for some reason, we expect scientific medicine to let us act exactly the same as those old myths. We want to believe that mental disorders from the DSM possess people with the spirit of evil and justify lynchings. We want to believe that people with NPD are essentially vampires - inhuman, predatory, corrupted by unforgivable sin. We want to believe that science and medicine can show us wickedness and sin, and tell us who to kill for being different. Superstition didn’t go away, it just changed its face.