A Week of Frustration and Depression...

For some reason this week has been very difficult for me. I feel like I’m battling ignorance and prejudice at every turn. I think that the biggest issue has arisen from several accusations that my views are “Marxist”, “socialist”, or “commie”. Although I do admit to having the occasional Marxist tendency, I generally try to keep those tendencies in check when talking with friends and students. Now, it’s not that I’m upset at being called a “Marxist”…I don’t think that’s necessarily anything to be ashamed of, but I am rather distraught by the prevailing notion among the people I’ve talked with this week that any argument for equality, equal rights, inclusion, universal health care, or other issues of social justice is tantamount to fomenting radical socialist revolution. When did issues of equality become so warped in the minds of Americans? (Don’t answer that, because I’m about to…)

Actually, we have a long history of not understanding equality beginning with the Founding Fathers. Most rights enumerated out the founding of our country were specifically written for the benefit of the wealthy, white, landowners who wrote them, and their friends. Although the Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, they were really only talking about rich, white, men. Women, African American slaves, Native Americans, immigrants and other groups were not covered by this inspiring vision of liberty and equality. It has been an extremely slow and excruciating process to try and expand this vision to all classes, creeds, and colors of people in the United States and we still haven’t quite achieved it. Individuals with disabilities, including mental illness, are still the most frequent targets of discrimination and abuse in the world today (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/21/mentalhealth.socialexclusion and http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-7933918_ITM )

Individuals with disabilities and mental illness are still frequently deprived of their fundamental rights without their consent. When people with disabilities want to vote, they are still turned away because of ignorant poll workers. When an individual with mental illness needs a sick day they are laid off and called “lazy”. When an individual with mental illness talks to him/herself they lock them away and medicate them into a stupor...and these examples are only the tip of the iceberg. So why do we do this and why do we continue to allow it to happen? Don’t all people deserve to be treated as human? Shouldn’t we all have the same fundamental rights? I think we should, but a lot of the people I’ve talked with this week feel that we shouldn’t be coddling or helping people who can’t take care of themselves.

This notion that we shouldn’t take care of those who can’t take care of themselves seems to be the idea that’s been depressing me this week. Am I the only person in the U.S. who believes that we should at least be trying to do a better job of protecting oppressed populations in our country? Am I the only person who thinks that in this day and age of remarkable medical technology that we should be extending the benefits of this technology to everyone who needs it? Am I the only person who feels like the profit motive should be removed from the health care equation? Am I the only person out there who believes that everyone should be treated equally regardless of health status, age, color, creed, size, shape, sex, race, or culture?

Are you out there? Are you listening?