I really appreciate the nuance and emotion you were able to weave into this post Eneasz. This is one of the best articles I have read all year. I had similar thoughts on Scott Alexander's post, and I think you expressed them very well. Me and my girlfriend live in a city with a high homeless population, and we both take transit to work. I struggle with this issue a lot, because I have firsthand seen how many people who are homeless are some of the best people, and have been truly victimized and need support. We have also how many people suffer from mental illness, and though it is not necessarily their fault at all, they are dangerous to themselves and other people. For now, I am grateful that me and my girlfriend work at the same hospital and can travel together, but there are times when it would make sense for her to travel alone, but she simply does not feel safe and I don't blame her.
These things are really complicated, and I really appreciate all of the nuanced discussion on the issue going around. Thanks for your contribution!
So, in the end, you admit that your brother was saved by resources and people. Then, rather than promoting an expansion of the social safety net, you demand a prison system that would needlessly abuse millions of people, some of whom served this country.
Honestly, you are a sociopath. If that prison system is ever built, you should be its first inmate.
I think everyone should have a mother with the dedication and resources to spend nearly all her energy on saving her son over multiple years. If you can make that happen, I applaud you.
No one person should have to do all of that. We need to make our social safety net big enough to accommodate people who require lifelong care.
And, you aren’t giving your brother enough credit for his success. He’s not just a passive recipient of care. The hard work he has done to improve his life should be recognized and appreciated.
That's true, he also struggles, part of the success is his!
>"We need to make our social safety net big enough"
Can you define "we" here? Is it you? Are you willing to make one person's well being, someone who you don't know, don't love, and aren't related to, so important and all-consuming that it will take over your life for years? It basically takes a mother's love to do that, and a mother that doesn't have other responsibilities at that (all her other children were grown at this point, and she no longer needed to work). If you would need to be paid to do this... how much would you need to be paid? Especially recognizing that, since this person isn't someone who has life-long memories of being your son, there is a good chance they could become violent with you. Frequently.
If you aren't willing to do this, and aren't willing to pay someone else the amount of money you think you would need to be paid to do this... how many other people are you willing to force to work for free so they can bankroll such an intervention? Are you going to try to convince them to sign over that many hours of their labor through argument, or use force?
Until we have post-scarcity there are compromises that society makes between what is needed to save one person and how much of their lives you can ask/force other people to give up.
And again, if you CAN make this happen (without force), I applaud you. It means society is getting richer and stronger.
If there’s money for cages (I’m speaking theoretically, here. None of the ableist bigots will sink 300-400K per person, per year into a system of psychiatric gulags.), there’s money for permanent housing and voluntary care.
And, Mad people are usually the last to become “violent”. If psychiatry couldn’t immediately cage or drug law-abiding people, it would be forced to care for people in a humane way. That alone would reduce the abled violence that leads to Mad violence. Our society also needs to change. If you and Brian Kilmeade are free to call for Mad people to be “executed”, Mad people should be equally free to “threaten” you or your deplorable “audience”. Otherwise, EVERYONE should be held to higher standards of behavior. And, we need to be realistic about the consequences of enabling unchecked capitalism. If we choose to live in a country that monetizes every basic need, from deodorant to housing, vulnerable and marginalized people will be neglected and brutalized. And, some of those people WILL strike back. Human needs do not disappear when an economic system makes the reckless decision to price out the underclass. If a society doesn’t share enough of its resources, it will share the reckoning of its malice and greed. Veterans like your brother understand that better than most of us do.
I really appreciate the nuance and emotion you were able to weave into this post Eneasz. This is one of the best articles I have read all year. I had similar thoughts on Scott Alexander's post, and I think you expressed them very well. Me and my girlfriend live in a city with a high homeless population, and we both take transit to work. I struggle with this issue a lot, because I have firsthand seen how many people who are homeless are some of the best people, and have been truly victimized and need support. We have also how many people suffer from mental illness, and though it is not necessarily their fault at all, they are dangerous to themselves and other people. For now, I am grateful that me and my girlfriend work at the same hospital and can travel together, but there are times when it would make sense for her to travel alone, but she simply does not feel safe and I don't blame her.
These things are really complicated, and I really appreciate all of the nuanced discussion on the issue going around. Thanks for your contribution!
Narration of this post:
https://open.substack.com/pub/askwhocastsai/p/of-cowards-and-grandmas-by-eneasz
So, in the end, you admit that your brother was saved by resources and people. Then, rather than promoting an expansion of the social safety net, you demand a prison system that would needlessly abuse millions of people, some of whom served this country.
Honestly, you are a sociopath. If that prison system is ever built, you should be its first inmate.
I think everyone should have a mother with the dedication and resources to spend nearly all her energy on saving her son over multiple years. If you can make that happen, I applaud you.
No one person should have to do all of that. We need to make our social safety net big enough to accommodate people who require lifelong care.
And, you aren’t giving your brother enough credit for his success. He’s not just a passive recipient of care. The hard work he has done to improve his life should be recognized and appreciated.
That's true, he also struggles, part of the success is his!
>"We need to make our social safety net big enough"
Can you define "we" here? Is it you? Are you willing to make one person's well being, someone who you don't know, don't love, and aren't related to, so important and all-consuming that it will take over your life for years? It basically takes a mother's love to do that, and a mother that doesn't have other responsibilities at that (all her other children were grown at this point, and she no longer needed to work). If you would need to be paid to do this... how much would you need to be paid? Especially recognizing that, since this person isn't someone who has life-long memories of being your son, there is a good chance they could become violent with you. Frequently.
If you aren't willing to do this, and aren't willing to pay someone else the amount of money you think you would need to be paid to do this... how many other people are you willing to force to work for free so they can bankroll such an intervention? Are you going to try to convince them to sign over that many hours of their labor through argument, or use force?
Until we have post-scarcity there are compromises that society makes between what is needed to save one person and how much of their lives you can ask/force other people to give up.
And again, if you CAN make this happen (without force), I applaud you. It means society is getting richer and stronger.
If there’s money for cages (I’m speaking theoretically, here. None of the ableist bigots will sink 300-400K per person, per year into a system of psychiatric gulags.), there’s money for permanent housing and voluntary care.
And, Mad people are usually the last to become “violent”. If psychiatry couldn’t immediately cage or drug law-abiding people, it would be forced to care for people in a humane way. That alone would reduce the abled violence that leads to Mad violence. Our society also needs to change. If you and Brian Kilmeade are free to call for Mad people to be “executed”, Mad people should be equally free to “threaten” you or your deplorable “audience”. Otherwise, EVERYONE should be held to higher standards of behavior. And, we need to be realistic about the consequences of enabling unchecked capitalism. If we choose to live in a country that monetizes every basic need, from deodorant to housing, vulnerable and marginalized people will be neglected and brutalized. And, some of those people WILL strike back. Human needs do not disappear when an economic system makes the reckless decision to price out the underclass. If a society doesn’t share enough of its resources, it will share the reckoning of its malice and greed. Veterans like your brother understand that better than most of us do.