Derleth:
quote:
Are you telling me that we as a society don't have the power to stop you from being, and I quote, 'dangerous to yourself or others'?
Yeah.
The "dangerous to yourself or others" finding is an opinion about what a person might do.
You most certainly do not have the right to mess around with my brain, interfering with my thoughts and my feelings, on the basis of your opinion (or Dr. Shrink's professionally informed opinion for that matter) that I, in my current state of mind, might hurt someone if you don't.
I have an acquaintance who is an "anarchist". Not the same way I'm an anarchist, i.e., a person who believes a social order not based on a hierarchy of authority is both practical and desirable, but someone who believes in sabotage of industry and vandalism against the property of multinational corporations. He supports actions agains the international trade organizations.
Guess what? It isn't legal to inject him with chemicals that would numb his mind to the point that he would be unable to maintain the anger and the clearheadedness of strategic planning necessary to carry out such activities.
In part, because he hasn't done anything yet.
But guess what else? Even if he actually DOES something and gets arrested for it, tried, convicted, and imprisoned for these illegal activities, you still can't shoot him up with chemicals as described without his consent.
We are entitled to the same rights. Our biochemistry is none of your goddam business, and even if we've disturbed the hell out of you with our disruptive behaviors, we should be subject to the same laws governing permissible and arrestible offenses and the rest of you. In short, schizophrenics, bipolars, paranoiacs, and depressives should have the same right to act like a jerk and not be incarcerated for it as salesmen, fraternity brothers, and sailors on shore leave.
The population of people diagnosed with some form of mental illness are not spectacularly more violent than a comparable control group, and we tend to suffer violence at the hands of "normal" people as often as vice versa.
quote:
If you try to kill me because you aren't on your meds (assuming for the nonce you are, in fact, a candidate for the kind of meds I'm talking about) I would be well within my rights to kill you. If you try to kill anyone else when I'm around, I would be within my moral rights (if not my legal rights) to kill you.
If you come after me with the intention and equipment to forcibly medicate me with psychiatric meds, I already assume you would kill me, as you are in the process of attempting something comparable. If you come after someone else with similar intent, and that person appeals to me for help, I woudl be within my moral rights (if not my legal rights) to kill you then, too. (Given the opportunity, though, I'd inject you with the stuff you brought with you instead and see how well you like a headful of Prolixin)
Original SDMB thread - Dear Sister, please take your lithium
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