Slashdot Mirror
How To Talk About Mental Illness Online?
An anonymous reader writes: Shortly after the death of Debian founder Ian Murdock, Bruce Perens, who succeeded Murdock as Debian Project Leader in 1996 and was also Murdock's employer for a period of time, claimed very publicly that Murdock died of mental illness, although no evidence has been provided. Without referencing Murdock or Perens, another prominent Debian Developer, Daniel Pocock, has asserted that discussion about who has or had a mental illness is a step too far. To be fair, it sure doesn't sound like Perens was trying to do other than express sympathy in light of a tragic death.
If you want to keep mental illness stigmatized, insist it be kept a secret.
If I die of cancer, I won't have a problem with anybody talking about that. Same with a heart attack. Same with a mental illness.
A brain dysfunction can cause the affected quite a bit of suffering, but sympathy doesn't mean lying. There's no moral failing associated with, say, a neurotransmitter imbalance. These aren't attributed to demons in 2016 - we can see them on PET or fMRI. They're just as valid a medical problem as a broken arm, even if the science of treatment is still in its adolescence.
Now, people who belittle those with mental illness - they should be ostracized. It no better than taunting somebody who gets cancer.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Oh right, mental illness contradicts the assumption that humans are informed rational actors on which under-regulated markets are based, so must be shamed or denied.
The first step requires a significant cultural change, which is always difficult. We collectively need to stop considering mental illness as a failure of character, a visitation by some imaginary deity/demon, or any of the other cruelly fallacious delusions out there. Truth is, the mind is extremely complex, very poorly understood, and probably never quite 'right' in the sense we would want it to be. In other words, we are all nucking futs and we had better learn to be more kind to each other.
After that first step, we most definitely should start talking, openly and kindly, about mental health online and in-person and in all social constructs.
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
If the person suffering is a man, deride and ridicule them. Men with mental illnesses are CREEPY and DANGEROUS. Report them to the police!
If the person suffering is a woman, be supportive even if they are displaying anti-social behavior. Women are BRAVE and VICTIMS. Give them money!
We should always reject and ignore demands/requests for consideration or special treatment of some topics in discussions that take in the general public. Maybe in the workplace it'd be good to avoid some topics, likewise at some special events, but otherwise talk and joke about whatever you want, and if someone must be ostracised it should be those trying to fence topics off rather than those who ignore the fences.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
It's a very big part of the American culture thing to need to fix everyone else.
This can be a very good thing, and I respect Bruce Perens for "daring" to "go there."
Donald Trump, in his own bombastic style also likes to point out broken things, but
he's less interested in fixing them and more interested in pointing out how he's not
broken. [ob mental illness the Donald is clearly a case of NPD waiting for diagnosis].
Bruce did the right thing because he brought a discussion to the forefront... and sure
enough here we are on Slashdot talking about it.
- Should a mental illness be treated any differently than Lamar Odom's condition... or
Patrick Swayze... or Steve Jobs... or... anyone who has a physical ailment? I don't
think so. They are all people and whether they suffer from a diseased liver, a drug
overdose, or a mental demon, they deserve our [something- is it attention, respect,
space, support, leave-them-alone-ingness, or even just a nod of the head saying
you're not going through this alone].
- Should we NOT discuss it, are we not then perpetuating the de-facto stigma that
mental illness is so bad we can't even talk about it... let alone offer help... or just
say we're there for that person.
I did not know the man himself but I respect greatly the contributions he made to my
daily life. (I use Mint Linux and Ubuntu, both of which are Debian variants).
My thought - there are lots of mentally diseased people running for office right now,
but Ian is no longer here.
May his soul rest in piece... and may a dialogue help others in similar situations.
Thanks, Bruce Perens.
Ehud Gavron
Tucson AZ
I'm mentally ill and don't give a fuck. Thanks to socialism they'll take care of me on their dime and I get all the free meds and support I want.
It's fine to make that decision about *your* mental issue. Making it about someone else's, at least while they're alive, is not okay, because it can cost them their job or career.
Especially if they ever hold or want to hold jobs with security clearances, or certain jobs with a very, very public profile where a company is especially sensitive to the PR around a role. A company is much less likely to hire you for a C-level position, for example, if people are openly discussing your mental issues online.
But also just if you make someone's mental issue come up in the first page of google hits, the chances of them making it past HR in the normal hiring process probably also drops at least 10%.
Thinking that we live in a socialist society is a mental illness-- or at least, a delusion.
To me, the only surprising thing is that they would take the trouble to find out from something like alcoholism. I think tracing people out like that should be reserved for crimes, bit 'taint necessarily so.
I said it then, I'll say it again. Before I retired, I would never ever ever have gone to a website about alcoholism, mental illness, or suicide.
If I had, and after they traced me out, my job would have given me a choice of being fired, or seeking treatment. Even with treatment, my job would have forever changed.
What is worse, although my alcohol is limited to less than 1 adult beverage per month, I would at that point be required to pretend actually having a drinking problem, or else I would be branded as resisting treatment. Gar, sounds like a basis for a novel.
People need to quit treating the web as a private place. It isn't. Get help if you need it, but go through channels that will give you a bit of privacy.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.