not mental illness

it seems every suicide is blamed on mental illness. they say it in a patronizing way “oh we need more treatment for mental illness” and “oh we need to end the stigma of mental illness” but they’re actually feeding into the ‘stigma’ even more by blindly lumping all suicides together under the banner of sickess so they can sweep it under the rug.

the people who were burning to death in the world trade center and chose to jump to their deaths instead… is that mental illness? of course not. how about a 77 year old who’s suffering an incurable painful disease and eats a bullet.. is that mental illness? of course not.

now lets wade into murky water. how about a single mother of 6 children, one is severely disabled and requires constant supervision, deep financial troubles, no professional skills or talents that would lead to any job opportunities better than answering phones at minimum wage… she takes her disabled daughter on a camping trip… they both turn up dead. Murder/suicide scream the newspapers. Mental illness. there it is again those 2 magic words that allow society to remove the offender from the herd.

but anyone with half a brain can see that she was just as trapped as the jumper on the world trade center, or the 77 year old terminal patient. or you or me.

not all of us are mentally ill, whatever the fuck that means anyway. it’s just a label so society can feel like the problem is someone else’s. nothing to see here, just another mentally ill person. tell you what, to make things easier why don’t we just call it leprosy.