The Incoherence and Cruelty of Mental Illness as Meme

Overall, his point that "Actual mental illness is grubby, sad, gross, dispiriting, destabilizing, undermining, exhausting, unpalatable, ugly, and definitely not politically correct" is totally correct. But it's couched in a fairly self-righteous tone. I have trouble with that tone because I'm OK with other people having the same problems as I do in finding a balanced and appropriate response to mental illness.

Still, problems with tone aside, this reminds me of the HBO series, Deadwood. There is a tragic and deeply moving scene where Doc wants Al and his ladies to take care of the dying preacher. Al doesn't want to because he doesn't want to take care of a bag of shit, and Doc end up shouting at Al: "A human being in his last extremis is a bag of shit".

I think that this is a hard truth -- sometimes people are basically bags of shit. And it happens when they are seemingly healthy and vital and alive. Examples: an addict who's spiraling down to their bottom, a parent who neglects or abuses their child, Putin's war in the Ukraine. I'm sure everyone here knows a million other examples of people basically loosing touch with reality and destroying themselves and others.

Sometimes, in some situations, I can be compassionate and try to help. Most of these people are salvageable. I've seen some people who are nothing but a burden, who are bags of shit, over time, become decent and upstanding people. It takes the right people in their life, the right environment, etc... But it does happen. Other times, most of the time, I have to write them off and move on with my life. Trying to be compassionate towards people include me, too. I have my limits, I have only so much time and motivation. I struggle with the balance between apathy and compassion, between helping others and taking care of myself, between dealing with my own faults and helping others deal with theirs.

Its such a particular thing. I don't personally deal with broad, abstract class of mentally ill people. All I've ever dealt with is people, individuals; and my response is, naturally, dependent on that particular individual and at that particular time. I wish I knew what the answer was. I think that the best I can say is that it's worthwhile to struggle with these issues -- and that it's important to be compassionate towards yourself and others. But, what that looks like in any particular situation? Who the fuck knows? You just gotta' figure it out as you go along, just like everybody else.