your ideas violate my "safe space"
please cease immediately

TWSS


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I agree, we have gotten far off topic here, apologies to the OP.

One final comment and I'll leave it alone.

Your example of Columbine is perfect. It represents the difference between emotional instability and lack of self control versus true mental illness and the societal changes that have allowed it to become commonplace.

In the not too distant past we were all taught, trained if you will, to conduct ourselves within the confines of logic and reason. This had the effect of stifling emotional displays and outbursts. We were taught to control our emotions, to think before acting.

Of course, some people had difficulty with this. I'm not saying it's bad or good, but we have to admit that it exists and caused some people difficulty. I don't think I need to go into the myriad problems this caused for those affected.

I believe it was in the 60's that the psychiatric community began pushing the notion that allowing people to "freely express" their emotions would solve the problems these few individuals faced. To an extent they were right, those people "felt" better. As so often happens, they sought to apply this theory to everyone. What gearheads like me refer to as the Stroker McGurk Theory, which states that: "If some is good, and more is better, then too much should be just right!". A recipe for certain failure.

This has had the unfortunate effect of creating a generation that values emotion over logic, compassion over reason, feelings over reality. It allows them to put selfish desire before societal obligation, and feel righteous about it. Thus, they feel that if they are "wronged" in some fashion it's OK to lash out at those around them, since "someone else" is to blame for all their problems. They always seem to fail to take into account that their own decision to live or act outside of societal "norms" may be part of the problem. This isn't meant to excuse bullying, but I think we can agree that if you act oddly you make yourself a target.

This is exactly what I meant about societal boundries being blurred. Those that are truly mentally ill cannot help themselves and require help. Most of the violence we see is created by people that refuse to exercise self control.

Agree, with the caveat that the extreme opposite of "holding it all inside" ends up not being healthy either. Just because there are feeling doesn't make the reaction ok but I do think that science has shown it is important to talk about feelings rather than not. There are a number of possible angles for the Columbine shooting and I find it an interesting case study but I will refrain so we can get back to the original topic.

So to summarize my main point about Trump's position, I just think that his comment that we need to actually do something about mental illness ends up being an empty statement.