scapegoat

[H2O Man]

“And then they start looking for a scapegoat, because someone has got to ‘take the weight’ for people’s lack of moral consciousness and their low level of being. For the tyrant-politician knows what most people do not even suspect: that hatred is the greatest pacifier of this entire planet earth; that all you have to do is to make the people hate a common enemy and they will soon forget about everything and everyone else ……and particularly their own low level of being.”
-- Rubin “Hurricane” Carter; letter to H2O Man; 6-26-1979.

Years ago, I accompanied a young man to a court hearing near Syracuse, NY. He was one of the people on my caseload at the county mental health clinic. Although this fellow was enormous, fierce-looking, and suffered from a psychotic disorder, I knew him as a gentle giant who did his very best under circumstances that would cause most people to simply give up. The court personnel saw him as mentally ill.

On the ride back, we stopped for lunch at Onondaga. While we ate, Chief Paul Waterman came into the diner, and joined us at our table. Soon the young man was telling Paul about how painful it is to be labeled and treated as “mentally ill.” Paul told him that this was not his true identity; that at Onondaga, he would be recognized as Gerald, the wood-cutter, who treated everyone with respect, and who at times had to deal with a mental illness.

I think about the way society sees people. For example, consider the distinctions between the following two statements:

{1} Some mentally ill people are dangerous and violent.

{2} Some dangerous, violent people are mentally ill.

As a society, our focus should be on reducing the ability of violent, dangerous people to commit crimes of brutality. This includes all violent, dangerous people -- not just one subgroup -- and it includes focusing on the tools of the trade.

And it includes not falling for the lies of the weapons industry’s point guard, like the specimen who delivered the NRA’s talking points yesterday. They will continue to try to distract and divert our attention from their agenda, by trying to spread hatred and fear, and to identify the most defenseless of scapegoats that they can find.

Keep your eyes on the prize.
H2O Man