I’ve been hesitant to respond to this for several reasons.
Firstly, I arrived after that thread got closed, and I’d prefer not to press-my-luck by re-creating that discussion, because that could close down this thread. Secondly, I didn’t want to make this about any one poster or any one phrase. I too sometimes let a “crazy” or “deranged” or “unhinged” slip from my tongue.
In general, working to de-stigmatize mental illness and reduce abelist language are evergreen issues that I think help all of us be more articulate, thoughtful, and inclusive in our speech. So, I left out quoting people in order to focus on the casual ways we let euphamisms for mental illness stand-in for actions we don’t understand and for people we fear.
Still, Sir Platanoides, you’ve several times now opined that you only saw one instance where someone invoked mental illness. By my reading, I saw many, by many posters. Again, I’m not desiring point out any of these people, because in general I think most of these were casual, off-hand remarks. But here goes, copy-pasta:
"not getting the psychiatric care they should've received"
"I'd be surprised if the rate of psychosis among suicide bombers wasn't much higher than in the general population."
"perhaps mental illness makes some more prone to adopting fringe ideologies"
"This guy may be a lone wolf nutcase"
"I hold out that it could have easily already been mentally unstable"
"the lone nut usually just has it all in his head"
"I'd contend that just about anyone who goes on a random shooting rampage, especially as a loner, is mentally ill."
"He's a murderer, and probably crazy, too, it seems to me."
"certainly I see that the crime and hate and murder are symptomatic of mental illness"
"Mental health issues are race-blind, anybody can get one."
"That does not make the killer any less crazy in head."
"He could also be mentally ill."
"perhaps extreme racism is a type of mental illness"
"They seem mostly harmless but like any group some members are wackadoo."
"And, well yes, killing bunch of people because of the colour of their skin (or their religion, or their gender, etc...) is a crazy thing to do in that it is not rational, not actually justifiable according to rational thought -- and in that sense someone who does it could be said to be "crazy.”"
The casual manner in which euphemisms for mental illness are thrown about only create more stigma. Speculating about Roof’s mental wellness adds little to the understanding of this case, or the broader phenomena of mass shootings. It’s not a matter of tone-policing, it’s a matter of accuracy.
A 2001 study looked specifically at 34 adolescent mass murderers, all male. 70 percent were described as a loner. 61.5 percent had problems with substance abuse. 48 percent had preoccupations with weapons. 43.5 percent had been victims of bullying. Only 23 percent had a documented psychiatric history of any kind—which means 3 out of 4 did not.
Even if we had a perfect mental health care system, that is not going to solve our gun violence problem. If we were able to magically cure schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, that would be wonderful, but overall violence would go down by only about 4 percent.
Even in this thread, we use the phrase “people who do these things are somehow not all there” to communicate the belief that what failed in this case was something in Roof’s brain. Maybe is wrong with his brain, maybe not, I don’t think we know that yet.
But what’s clear to me is that he had a failing of the heart. He was full of hatred, and despicably acted upon it. And there was a failing of his community - friends and family that knew of his threats, of his plans, and didn’t intervene. Did they not love him enough? Did they also hate who he hated?
We have plenty of words for the failings we know: cruel, inhuman, despicable, horrific, incomprehensible, reprehensible, beyond belief, heartless, cold-blooded. They work just fine, or better, in communicating just how impossible it is for most of us to understand what Roof did, and why.
