Going Deeper

RUSH LIMBAUGH recently called himself a genius on his radio show, but then again, he also said that the magna charta was signed "in the fifteen hundreds", so, its hard to tell. Or maybe not that hard. Rush flunked two semesters of college, then never went back, and it might have had nothing to do with his self proclaimed genius. Rush, like many a perfectly intelligent but non genius, would benefit by going to college, though he would never admit it, would never admit there is anything he doesn't already know that is of any importance. Rush's lack of trained, critical thinking is likely what leads him to assert that mass murderers are all mentally ill, so if society keeps guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, and allows everyone else to have them, the killing will stop. Anyone who believes this might be suffering from a lack of finely honed thinking and analytical skills. The mentally ill are out on the streets, among us, because ronald reagan turned them loose, and the public does not want to pay to support and treat them. Some are diagnosed, some are not. At any given moment, who's to tell? Mental illness, like physical illness, can often times be hidden or disguised. Mental illness, like physical illness, afflicts everyone, at one time or another. Most of us sail through it, and on to better things, some do not. The problem is how to predict which is which? If we embark in america on a massive program to identify and render harmless all mentally ill people, the mass murders will continue. Twenty, during the past five years, with more to come. A culture, not of mental health, but of anger and violence. Competitive culture of alienation and loneliness. Identify all the mentally ill people, round 'em back up, treat 'em,'make 'em harmless. Problem solved! No, I don't think so. It just plain goes deeper than that. It goes, whether we want to admit it or not, far deeper than that. It goes to our culture. It goes to us all.