 | Yesterday there was an alert mentioned on the news. Two children were abducted by their birth mother. She had previously lost custody and only allowed court-supervised visitation. The father, who had full custody, reported the abduction to police. No Amber Alert was published. Even when the 10pm local newscast mentioned the serious situation, they did not refer this crisis as an "Amber Alert". Was it because the abduction was committed by a woman? Was it more likely to be given the higher alert status of "amber" if the man had been the dangerous fugitive? Two weeks ago I and a group of community leaders held a townhall meeting & had the Tulsa County Sheriff and jail medical staff present the new mental health treatment plan and facilities at the jail. The $15 million mental health pods were built to house themost serious of the 600 men in the jail who are diagnosed and being treated for serious mental illness. A full 1/3 of the male population is mentally ill. But less than 5% of the 250 women in the jail are diagnosed & treated for serious mental illness. So the men are going to be in the segregated pods built for those in that condition. The most serious mental health cases among the women will then be housed in the jail infirmary, which has about 10% of the capacity for inmates. |
After hearing the full presentation, a prominent Tulsa social justice warrior said something to the effect of "they built a facility for the men but not for the women... that will definitely result in a lawsuit.". Others standing by concurred. They seemed certain that women were being blatantly underserved.
But if they were really using the good senses that most of the mental health advocates around them exercised, they'd have been asking;
But if they were really using the good senses that most of the mental health advocates around them exercised, they'd have been asking;
"Why are men being arrested for mental breakdowns at a rate of 10 times that of women?"
Men & women develop serious mental illness at relatively similar rates. Mania, and Psychotic Major Depression are certainly as relevant for women. But police seem to find a pretense for arrest more often when a man has a psychotic meltdown. this is dispite the fact that the mentally ill are no more violent than the population as a whole. Infact, they are more vulnerable to being a victim than the general public.
I think this says more about our societal fears than our realistic response to actual public dangers.
I think this says more about our societal fears than our realistic response to actual public dangers.
Many of the 'sociologists' on the left still believe that it is impossible for a member of a racial minority to be a racist, because they reason that a minority never attains the power to enact racist behavior. But we have to put away our preset presumptions when we seek to attack the social ills around us. Because sometime's we fall ill to the very sickness we label others with.
