Quote:
Originally Posted by Grath
I disagree, I think "mentally ill" is an accurate label for someone like the Las Vegas shooter – however a very broad one. I think if someone is called mentally ill if their mental state and actions aren't on the normal, "healthy" spectrum the average person's are on, a serial killer can certainly be called mentally ill (as their thoughts and actions luckily aren't those of the average person).
However, by no means does that mean that all or even the majority of mentally ill people are dangerous. It's only a tiny fraction.
Exactly, that's the real problem. Because "mentally ill" is such a broad term, throwing everyone with a mental illness into a basket with the worst outliers really damages the image society has of people with mental problems. I think this problem is caused more by how uninformed most people are about mental illness than by the portrayal of the media though.
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Do you believe all killings must be done by a mentally ill person then? Or even all killings such as the Law Vegas shooting? If so, how did you come to that conclusion?
"Mental illness" actually has a very defined definition as I stated above. The fact that people speak or assume without doing research first does not negate that, it simply makes them ignorant and unwilling to learn. Not ignorant in the derogatory form - but ignorant in the true sense of the word "lack of knowledge".
The people who (like my previous example) say "all Mexicans are thieves" truly believe their statement to be factual. Have they done research and therefore have evidence to back it up? No. They have "what they think" and "what they feel" and "what they have experienced from the majority" - but see, on that last statement it switches from "all" to "majority", yet that doesn't phase them. With mental illness though, because mentally ill people are by and large ignored by society (even family members), the only real way it becomes visible is if someone does something horrible. The problem though is - there is never any testing done before that person is labeled as mentally ill. The Las Vegas shooter never had any records of being mentally ill or criminal background. But he is portrayed as having been mentally ill.