Some of the biggest human rights violators preying upon individuals with mental illness/disability (or those labeled with mental illness because it’s easier to beat them up than to admit they’re political dissidents) are: Turkey, Pakistan, China.

But obviously human rights violations don’t just happen with regards to mental health issues. And they piss me off just as much.

We’ve long complained that Amnesty International is, well…..FULL OF SHIT. They pick and choose and base things on their own political agenda. Persons with mental illness are never part of anyone’s political agenda because it’s easier just to turn away and pretend crazy folks don’t exist. And that’s basically what Amnesty International does.

A lot of violations go unnoticed (or more precisely, deliberately ignored) because they might not fit into the current frenzy of a certain kind of political correctness. If you haven’t seen it mentioned elsewhere, I have officially said F.U. to the idea of political correctness. I’m sick of it, and even though I’m not entirely comfortable with it, it does extend to bad mouthing persons with mental illness (or more politically correct: persons diagnosed with psychiatric disability). I like the term crazy folk much better and it’s easier to type.

No emails please. As a crazy folkette myself, I’m allowed. It’s like the N word: it’s not okay to use it, UNLESS you’re black and then it’s the cat’s pajamas and you’re allowed.

I am allowed because this is the law of the land.

While mourning the loss of the great Alexander Solzhenitsyn, I think back to a good friend in St. Petersburg, Russia.

My friend’s name was Ol’ga and she had lovely, waist-length blond hair. She was so typically Russian, loved to drink and could drink me under the table, enjoyed art and good poetry and literature. Yet underneath was that sadness that so many Russians carry with them. In some ways, I think it’s part of the Russian soul.

No matter how drunk you are, how crazy you get singing drunken songs, no matter how happy you are in the moment, it’s always under the surface. Melancholy.

I actually didn’t know the person who died in the psychiatric gulag in the 1980s. It was Ol’ga’s husband, a man who died before I knew her. He had been quite an accomplished artist, a great talent. But he didn’t always paint “approved” art. He was a dissident and used his art to criticize the communist leadership.

He was warned, but some Russians refused to conform. Eventually, they are taught a lesson, sent to a gulag, or sent to a psych ward. My friend’s husband was pronounced severely mentally ill and sent to a psychiatric gulag.

She visited him as often as they would allow, and his spirits were high. They could control his person, but could never control his mind, despite the heavy drugs and other tortures.

One day, on her scheduled visit, she arrived at the “hospital” and was told her husband had died. Just like that, told in the same way you’d tell someone “Nice hat.” He had hung himself, they said.

She simply walked away, went through the motions of burying her husband’s body, and day by day the sorrow lessened. She didn’t become a martyr for dissidents and scream “They killed my husband.”

In the Russian tradition, she simply accepted her lot in life and pushed on. But she knew there was no way her husband killed himself. He had reasons to live, and he wasn’t despondent. They killed him and called it a suicide. It wasn’t unheard of. Sometimes it’s apparent that you can’t break someone, and it’s easier to just get rid of them.

That’s how her husband met his end. Convenience of the state.

He was, after all, mentally ill.

I’ve got to ask one question of those calling for a total boycott of the Bejing Olympics:

Where have you been the last ten years?

I’ve got to think this is just a case of jumping on the bandwagon at the last minute, not really giving a damn about what’s going on in China until it became a cause celeb.

Did you boycott Google when it basically sucked the dick of the Chinese government? Remember that? Google, in conjunction with the government, has a special Google for Chinese users, with censored results. How would you like it if Google worked with President Bush to censor any sites critical of the Iraq war? If you support a boycott of the Olympics, then you hopefully aren’t Googling. Read more…

I disagree with the conclusion of this writer, that out of solidarity, athletes should not attend the Bejing Olympics. As I’ve said before, for many athletes, the window of opportunity is short. By the time a more politically correct Olympics arrives, they may be past prime and out of the competition.

I’m sorry, but that’s too much to ask of the athletes.

I say that as someone who has always loved the Olympics, and as someone who loved an Olympian and had a long-term relationship with him. I attended two Olympics to watch him compete Read more…

Today’s big suicide bombing in Iraq allgedly featured two mentally retarded women with bomb strap ons.

Why doesn’t anyone give a damn that now the terrorists are using women who might not even know what they were doing???

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UHNN081&show_article=1

I went to Amnesty International’s site and they had nothing about it. They seemed more worried that Saddam Hussein had an unfair trial.

There’s no point in rehashing the whole story. Is it a human rights violation? Yes it is, because this poor girl lost her life by not pleasing daddy dearest, who insisted she wear hijab.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019122.php

You probably missed it in the mainstream media because it’s on the list of things the MSM does not cover. They have their own “No Fly” list, only it’s secretly called “The Topic Non Grata List,” and is only known to certain members of the secret cabal. I know the secret code and have been able to get a peek at the list.

I remember a decade or two ago, a young Palestinian girl was killed by Daddy Dearest while Mommy Dearest watched. (No Wire Hangers! Only in this case it was You MUST stop hanging out with black dudes and working at McDonalds.) You know that old proverb, right? It says: Tis better to be a suicide bomber and blow up an ice cream parlor than work at McDonalds and if you disagree, we slit your throat. Read more…

Why a section on human rights, and why so much about honor killings among Muslims, along with women’s rights in Islam?

Because I just can’t remain silent. I so wanted NOT to rant about things not related to mental health, so let’s just say you can’t have good mental health when your fundamental rights are violated. There’s surely a study out there somewhere that would back that statement up. If you find one, let me know. Read more…