What ever happened to the word,
”
dissident?
”
John Bedell and Joseph Stack were dissidents who were
labeled
”
mentally ill
”
or
”
crazy.
”
Dear Editor,
What ever happened to the word, “dissident?” John Bedell and Joseph Stack were dissidents who were labeled “mentally ill” or “crazy.” Bedell’s parents publicly stated that their son’s actions were the result of “illness” rather than a “character deficit.” It must be upsetting to have family members label you “mentally ill” simply because they differ with your political opinion. Both Mr. Bedell and Mr. Stack made mistakes in choosing violence to bring attention to their political opinions, but this does not make them mentally ill.
No one seems to remember the good old days when the Soviet Union sent dissidents to mental hospitals in Siberia. Anyone recall how outraged the U.S. media and politicians became when another writer was sent to Siberia? Who knew the same attitude would prevail in the U.S.A. in 2010! People who have anti-government political opinions have to be careful – questioning authority now means you’re bipolar or schizophrenic!
In my own case against the criminals in the U.S. government and their counterparts in banking and real estate, one of the first attacks was a Court Order for a Mental Competency Evaluation. My court-appointed attorney told me that I would fail this evaluation which gave me the opportunity to evade the Evaluation and the subsequent attachments of a false label.
Destroying a person’s credibility by labeling a dissident “crazy” is not a new tactic used by oppressive governments. The psychiatrists who evaluate people are complicit when they willingly and falsely label dissidents in order to keep their government-issued licenses and to receive their insurance payments.
The U.S. media has caught on fast by labeling people they’ve never met as as “crazy.” Perhaps they are just following orders. These pundits love to concoct imaginary political groups as well: extreme right or left;radical fringe; left or right of center. These terms have no meaning in reality but establish a code of who is and who is not acceptable in the political realm.
It has become dangerous in the USA – land of the free? – to express political opinions that are in opposition to the U.S. government’s policies or official explanations of events. Hitler and Stalin are grinning in their graves and welcoming more oppressors to history.
Judith M. Hansel, Reno, Nev.
