government is incapable of compassion. it falls to us, folks!

i'm sure they would love to round up anyone who dares 'show feelings of an almost human nature' too publicly or acts in any way unusual even if they cannot possibly be posing a threat to others. (as is the case 99% of the time).

 as for the 'danger to self' schtick - well, it isn't the role of the state to be saving people from themselves. that properly falls to the grassroots and further repression has no valid role in this. the problem being, people have been taught to thwart their own inclinations toward direct compassion in favor of leaving it to the 'professionals'.

government lacks the capacity for genuine compassion. its primary function is social control, and all its institutions - including health and 'mental health' care - reflect this function to at least some extent.

perhaps if state repression itself were to end (including the typical response to so-called 'mental health' issues) along with all the interpersonal abuse and violence in the world, you would see the occurrence of so-called 'mental illnesses' virtually disappear. the DSM would quickly be reduced to the size of a supermarket circular and the profession of psychiatry would go the way of the dodo bird.

these human phenomenon do not occur in a social vacuum, much as the medical profession would love to convince us they do. this isn't a medical issue or a 'personal defect' we are talking about here. and the system's reaction is predicated on irrational fear, which is unlikely to result in a fair, just, reasonable or'helpful' outcome.

 people are terrified of madness, insanity, 'mental illness' (call it what you will) and the human tendency has always been to ruthlessly crush what is frightening. and this is a very personal fear as everyone has the capacity within them to experience these things.

 it isn't bad genes or a 'chemical imbalance' or any of these things. it is HUMAN, and universal. no one gets off the hook. and this is why this particular prejudice is so pervasive (and widely accepted).

people believe they are acting with compassion when they really only want to subvert and crush what is frightening to them at a very personal level. the entire system which has been constructed toward this end reflects this in its presumptions, deception, coercion and violence directed toward vulnerable people. we need to be able to do better. otherwise we are all barbarians.

if by 'care'...

If by 'care' you mean imprisonment w/o trial or charge, forced administration of addictive, body and brain-damaging drugs, intensive and invasive monitoring/policing in one's own home, poverty, social isolation, being the target of rampant discrimination and seriously damaged physical health as a result of all of the above, then I would have to say the level of 'mental health care' available is already much more than adequate.

If this is the best we as a society can offer to the frightened, angry, grieving, despairing people in our midst, then we ought to be hanging our heads in shame.

Distressed human beings deserve to be loved, supported and nurtured on their own terms, not caged, brutalized, endlessly policed and told by everyone else what 'their own best interests' are. They need to have their basic rights strengthened and vigorously defended, not stolen away using a medical pretext that is of dubious merit at best.

I am acting on the assumption that participants in this discussion are people with only the best of intentions. Just don't allow your good intentions to provide governments with a back-door route to depriving us of even more of our liberties than they already are.

i write this in the context of last weeks' incidents in Ottawa and Quebec. the 'mental health' advocates feel (as i said, all with the best of intentions) they can offer a kinder, gentler, more progressive alternative to draconian, scurrilous anti-terrorism laws. but given the already oppressive and highly controlling nature of the 'mental health' system, advocating for its fortification opens up the possibility of a whole other kind of police state.

this is a hydra we are dealing with, folks. (the hydra being a mythical serpent with multiple heads - and when you cut off one of its heads it sprouts two more to replace it.) 

there are multiple avenues to control and repression at the government's disposal as a result of these two incidents. we need to approach this whole discussion with prudence and vigilance, keeping the strengthening and defense of everyone's basic rights at the forefront of our consciousness.