🚀 go-pugleaf

In message <2f74DrEQRQD8EAGD@the-underwoods.org.uk>, John Underwood
<abuse@the-underwoods.org.uk> writes
>On Tue, 4 Dec 2001 at 15:45:10, Cynic wrote in demon.service
>(Reference: <1007480711.7785.0.nnrp-07.c2d9b7b5@news.demon.co.uk>)
>
>>The strong feelings should be reserved for those who actually cause
>>harm to children.
>
>We have abolished capital punishment in this country, yet it has been
>said here that paedophiles should be locked up for ever or executed.
>
>There is a big difference between saying that sick people
        *ARE* they sick?  In the 1890's homosexuals were regarded as
sick perverts ... in some communities they *still are*.

        I once met a black homosexual, a member of a group some blacks
will deny exists ...

        So ... are they part of the "spectrum" of sexual activity that
goes from paedophilia and zoophilia at one extreme through the various
forms of "heterosexual" activity, such as BDSM and orgies; and
lesbianism and homosexuality to necrophilia at the far end?

>In most cases, treatment will usually lead to a longer period of
>"detention" followed by an even longer period of aftercare
        are they treatable?

        are homosexuals and lesbians treatable?

        Where's the difference?

        I contend =there is none=.
>
>
>I think this is all part of a much bigger picture of fear and prejudice
>about mental illness and the mentally ill
        because their reactions are unpredictable ... I *KNOW* this
because I *AM* one (and know several others ...)

        This unpredictability makes being around us stressful for
others.  Being around others is stressful for *me*, too.

        Drink adds this unpredictability to so-called "normal" people;
try any night bus out of Trafalgar Square and see if you like it.

>the vast majority of the mentally ill are no danger to anyone but
>themselves.
        Possibly, unless they drive or engage in other "dangerous"
activities where others could be hurt by their carelessness or
inattention ...

>If we all could adopt a more caring, positive and understanding
>attitude to ourselves and our fellow men and women
        the argument would be "my fellow men and women aren't
paedophiles" ... similar to "I'm not a racist" ... the people who
*declare* that obviously *are* ... you don't need a word for things if
you don't have them.

> and not project sheer terror
        worry, I'm not terrified.  But there are days when, if I were
two people, I would cross the road to avoid me.

>about this subject those who start to realise that they have a problem
>might feel able to seek help a lot earlier before that problem became
>unmanageable and help had to be imposed.
        Part of the problem's the thinking disorder that makes it
difficult to see for one's self.  Been there ... particularly difficult
for those of us who live alone.
>
>The result might be that some potentially dangerous paedophiles might
>learn how to live with themselves and achieve a balanced way of life
>with minimal
        I don't think that's going to go well politically ...
> or no harm to anyone.
        much better ...

>It might also allow the chronically depressed (who are so in many,
>perhaps most, cases because it is a genetic condition)
        If it is genetic then, presently, it is not amenable to
treatment ...

>many never achieve the potential they could have achieved
        true

> and many others kill themselves because they can no longer cope with
>an illness
        the illness itself isn't necessarily the problem ... the
situation that appears to exist (which may be delusional because of the
illness' disordering of thinking) may well be the problem, was in my
case.

> that they might have learnt to live with.
        I just managed ... but life is not what it was 15 years ago.
>
>It is those who shape the views of society with their condemnatory and
>narrow views about sanity
        Now this, and "insane" are the narrow view.

> and the dangers of the insane

        Why?  Because it's a spectrum ... from those at one end that
*everybody* would agree are insane to those at the other that
*everybody* would agree are sane ...

        The groups at the end, I would argue, are very small.
Completely stable people are rare.  Completely unstable people are rare
... we need a new terminology that isn't black and white.
-- 
Rex M F Smith
http://www.gehena.demon.co.uk