It’s evil, not mental illness, that causes killings
Living with mental illness is an unrelenting, unforgiving and mostly unsympathetic battle. Instead of being seen as courageous and persevering, the mentally ill are stigmatized as though they chose to be stricken. The worst attacks recently are coming from President Obama and the media pundits. It seems these folks have an uncanny knowledge of what constitutes a homicidal profile – mental illness.
What these purveyors are neglecting to recognize is that unforgivable evil occurs on a daily basis. ISIS is filming its beheadings. Syrian President Bashar Assad is killing his own people. Iran’s leaders have proxy armies killing in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been killing in Crimea, Ukraine and now in Syria. Are President Obama and the pundits ready to declare all of them mentally ill?
The White House, news anchors consistently and immediately attribute mass murder to the mentally ill. The overwhelming majority of those diagnosed with a mental illness are non-violent. Daily, they fight for survival. Evil, on the other hand, thrives.
Ann Greening, Clovis
This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 10:30 AM with the headline "It’s evil, not mental illness, that causes killings."