Quote:
Originally posted by sycamore
mental illness
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That sort of trivialization is downright dangerous. Classifying that what we cannot culturally and socially understand or fear as 'ill' is an oversimplification in the extreme.
If someone is desperate, angry, and sufficiently afraid, they
will do anything, including taking their own life. Read about kamikaze pilots, or how suicide bombers are often systematically indoctrinated. Were all kamikaze pilots mentally ill? Are all suicide bombers?
Never classify something that you find abhorrent as 'ill'. The Nazis weren't mentally diseased either, yet a lot of them were able to take part in despicable acts.
I recommend the German-Jewish author Hannah Arendt, especially her writings about the 'Banality of Evil'. A link to some of her work is <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/arendthtml/essayc1.html">here</a>.
X.