Hey, remember that Reed College student who somehow got national attention for being booted from a class discussion section because he wouldn’t shut up about rape? The guy that right-wing news outlets — including The National Review and the New York Post — heralded as a martyr to free speech, even though it was clear to anyone who looked into the story even a little bit that the guy in question was a bit … off?
Well, Katie Baker at Buzzfeed now reports that Mr. True, now an ex-Reed College student, “was arrested on Thursday by the Portland, Oregon police for alleged sex abuse, harassment, and disorderly conduct” after, er, behaving inappropriately at a girls’ rugby game.
As Baker explains,
According to an employee at Rugby Oregon, a youth rugby organization based in Portland, True was arrested for disrupting a high school girls’ rugby practice. He was restrained by a coach who called the police, the employee said.
I wonder if the New York Post will be writing an editorial this time, like they did last time, demanding Congressional hearings and declaring that, well, whatever it was he was doing at the rugby game was a bold act of self-expression.
Must chime in. Mental illness does not excuse this behavior. I’m going to go out on a limb and state that the majority of the mentally ill harm themselves and do not include others. Perhaps a crucial piece of this article was missed by those attempting to excuse this behavior with mental illness: he had to be restrained.
I love this board SO FREAKING MUCH. My mental health has been an issue since I was about 12. Sometimes, at its worst, it affects my ability to even walk and talk which sucks.
“No, I’m not slurring my words because I’m drunk. I just need to up my meds.” Fortunately it’s rarely that severe.
But recently in the UK a Conservative counsellor genuinely put forward an idea that mentally ill people should wear wristbands, colour coded based on their illness. And every time someone does something crappy, there’s always someone who decides which form of “craziness” they must have.
I’m so glad that there’s a place where that bullshit isn’t tolerated.
And there is already more than one guy in the Buzzfeed comments saying “maybe this is a false allegation.” A field of teenagers as well as a coach who was compelled to restrain True based on what he saw, and “maybe this is a false accusation.” Exactly how many witnesses are required before women are believed?
There are a huge amount of people – some of whom were likely in his class at school – who have experienced anything from mental unwellness to a full-on mental illness as a result of sexual assault.
Sexual assault can cause severe mental illnesses that are extremely debilitating.
Folks with mental disabilities are still responsible for their own behaviours and for their treatments. Just because I want to do something in a fit of madness doesn’t make it okay, otherwise I’d be rocking in the corner of a grocery store all day instead of being a responsible grownup.
If we want to have a discussion about his being arrested and how encounters with cops often fail the mentally ill then we can have that conversation. Being arrested rarely leads to any form of productive treatment but can result in death by cop.
On the other hand he could just be an MRAsshole (love the term) and who knows? He may not know himself right now, so it’s not our place to tell his story for him. If he’s crazy then he needs to learn how to manage it. If he’s not he needs to learn about how his behaviour is exacerbate mental unwellness in others.
Let’s not diagnose folks over the internet. We don’t know their stories.
NicolaLuna,
Wtf? That rivals some of the terrible laws politicians here in the propose. I can’t even. I hope the UK has some medical privacy laws on the books that make this law impossible. In the US it would definitely be illegal under the 4th amendment and HIPAA.
What’s even the logic behind it? Why would you need to know if a stranger you passed on the street has depression or bulimia? What good does it do anyone? Wouldn’t that just make people refuse to seek the treatment they need because they’d want to avoid being forced to wear an id? What a terrible idea.
First time poster here. From a new reader, I wanted to chime in to thank those who argue so cogently again the conflating of mental illness with bad behavior. I’ve gotten pretty good about not doing armchair diagnoses in comments, but afraid I still do so in the privacy of my own thoughts, so it is really good to read clear explanations of why this is a Bad Idea.
I also want to express appreciation to @portlantonio to calling out those who conflate the ordinary ups and downs of moods with bipolar disease. My mother suffered from this horrendous disease for most of her life after the symptoms manifested when I was in my teens and she was in her thirties. (She did have several decades in which medication kept the worse symptoms in check and she was able to hold down a job and care for herself.) Those who haven’t witnessed this devastating disease up first hand have no idea.
Hope this isn’t considered a derailing comment.
Rocking in the corner of a grocery store…before my diagnosis and proper meds i used to rock on the steps in my house. I started aiming my car toward a tree once. Never once did it occur to me to drive to the local high school and terrorize the football players. This man is nothing but an asshole and i hope he gets what he, imo, deserves: put on the sex offenders list.
“But recently in the UK a Conservative counsellor genuinely put forward an idea that mentally ill people should wear wristbands, colour coded based on their illness.”
I try not to compare just anything to nazi germany, but…
More likely he’s mad because he thinks it should be him getting to suck on those nipples for his own jollies, and babies and their nutritional requirements be damned.
It’s always about themselves. Guys like him are the very definition of solipsism.
https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/what-will-the-tories-suggest-next-compassionate-eugenics/
There’s an article on it here. It’s not something that was taken seriously as a law but it’s scary that government councillors think like this.
I am not trying to stigmatize mental illness, and I am not internet diagnosing. I don’t know, I really don’t, it reminds me, as someone who nearly has their doctorate and as someone who has had a lifetime of personal experience with mental illness.
What do we have to gain by ignoring the possibility?
There are thousands of very angry young men, and some of them are suffering from undiagnosed, untreated illnesses. I’m talking very, very broadly here and want to make abundantly clear that it goes without saying that the HUGE majority of people with mental illness obviously aren’t dangerous people and shouldn’t be treated as such.
But when someone is both an asshole and is being put in a dangerous position by having their vulnerability taken advantage of by these MONSTERS online and in person egging them on to do something awful, help is available for them. IF he is mentally ill (in conjunction with being an asshole, the two aren’t non-exclusive) then where is the harm in being treated? He’s removed from the public until such time that he’s in a better place emotionally.
I might be oversensitive and being too clinical about this. I’m going to be a forensic psychologist and work quite often with people like this within the court system. I’ve seen terrible people and basically average people whose problems made them do terrible things. And like everyone, I’ve seen awful things happen to the public when we ignored the possibility of finding help for those exhibiting blaring warning signs. It can’t be something we address in hindsight, after the rape and murder, after the mass shooting, after the murder-suicide.
Please just drop it, Annie. I mean that in the politest way I can communicate using only text in a comment section.
When you’re in a hole, Squidface, first thing you do is stop digging.
Annie Squidface
The possibility is not being ignored. What you have here is a group of people willing to be honest about what they actually know about this guy’s mental health, i.e. nothing. Saying that IF he’s mentally ill, he should be treated is a spectacularly banal observation which does exactly nothing to further anyone’s understanding of what’s going on with this guy.
No one here has suggested that he not be treated if he is ill, or that mentally ill people should not be helped. No one has denied that the mental health system has failed too many patients and their families, or that jail is a shitty way to deal with mental illness. No one has even denied the possibility that True is sick. Please address the actual arguments made here rather than fighting with strawmen.
My, and I think others’, only issue is this: Making the leap from “he has misogynistic attitudes and was arrested on accusations of a sex crime” to “oh, he must be mentally ill” based on treating your speculation as fact conflates criminality with illness and harms the mentally ill who already face tremendous social stigma. That holds true doctorate or no doctorate, and in fact you should know better than any of us that it’s irresponsible to make a couch diagnosis of someone you’ve never worked with.
How about we not derail yet another thread?
The commentariat here has decided discussing the possible mental illnesses of people based on behaviours they exhibit that exist outside of mental illness doesn’t happen here. So drop it. You’re unwelcome to think its completely fucking ridiculous but its what the community has decided upon.
I think not engaging when people do this and instead, holding firm at “Stop it” would be better than rereading the same tired script every time, further derailing the discussion.
Just a heads up, that reason.com link in the post (hyperlinked in the word “off”) has some serious rape apology pieces by a writer/editor called Robby Soave. Do Not go exploring on that site and if you still want to, at least DO NOT read the comments!
Pardn me – in my last post I say “unwelcome” but mean welcome. Sorry.
I’m gonna go do something else until this BS is over.
Regardless of the reasons for the attention seeking, if True had been banging on about burglary statistics, and sending creepy emails to people who said they’d been burgled, the story of one disruptive weird guy wouldn’t have made it to the national media.
@NicolaLuna :waves from another Brit with mental health issues from a young age.
This got posted a lot on my FB page cos I know a lot of people with issues or are friends of us with issues and don’t think like this.
We did have some fun speculating on what colours our various issues should be though.
I went for black for depression, neon puke green for eating issues and then got stuck for social phobia and other anxiety/panic issues.
I laugh that I do not cry..or summat like that.
@policy of madness
Obviously, I know this forum isn’t going to impact the justice system. I’m just looking for consistency. If we are going to, as a society, have lighter sentencing for the mentally ill due to their ilness, then it must be aknowledged that mental illness can contribute to some people commiting crimes. Acknowledging that does absolutely no harm to the vast majority of mentally ill people that do not commit crimes. Pretending that mental illness doesn’t contribute to some crimes though, that makes people not take you seriously.
As for keyboard diagnosis, no one is saying he’s mentally ill due to his beliefs. He appeard to be mentally ill because he has a pattern of engaging in aberrant behavior that is a detriment to his personal and professional life, so i withhold judgement. If my friend is coughing every time he takes a deep breathe or laughs, I don’t have to be a doctor to know that something is wrong with him. I may not know what, but there’s something.
@gilshalos
Red for anxiety disorders, since that’s how it feels when you’re in the middle of an attack. A striped colour for BPD or split personality. Don’t know about schizophrenia. Grey for bipolar, since it’s a mix of black (depression) and white (mania)?
@sunny Hmm. I’d say black/white stripes for bipolar to stress the opposing forces. (Past 8 months I’ve been having manic periods, or at least I class them as manic, for the first time. Not hyperactive, just I talk more and more online, sit happily in a very good mood, then crash heavily and realise I was sitting around trash that whole time and never noticed.)
Though grey might be better for depression. I’ve had times where I would have torn my whole world down around me just to feel /something/!
(Also, have you noticed people don’t take you seriously if you can laugh about your problems ? Or have I just had bad luck ? I mean..you can only have so many public screaming fits before you stop being embarrassed by them!