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"The Giffords shooting sickens people like me as much as it does you. But because of it, many of you support the passage of new laws which, after you send men and boys off to fight, and possibly get killed or maimed in defense of our way of life, will strip them of liberties under the Bill of Rights for coming back damaged.
I know because I belong to a minority that is so widely feared and loathed that every time there is a dramatic and tragic shooting, at a post office, a school, or a public meeting with Arizona Rep. Giffords, the call goes out to further deny us the Bill of Rights. Never mind that it's the same kind of bigotry that would judge all black men by the example of Willy Horton. This bigotry is politically correct, especially for liberals.
I speak of those of us who have serious mental illness. Many of you fear and loath us so much, you would and have given Doctors the unaccountable power to veto the Bill of Rights for us under the color of Medicine. Using the rather unscientific criterion, "Are you thinking of hurting yourself or anyone else". Which can be used even if we think only of defending ourselves against the kind of violence that has created and/or exacerbated our illness.
This criterion is unscientific and unconstitutionally broad because it applies to the wide majority of those with mental illness who may be as angry and upset at something as many of the rest of you, but have no history of or real propensity or intention for violence. Anyone with access to the Internet can find the scientifically valid medical criterion in the National Library of Medicine database for journal articles, www.PubMed.gov. Searching on the terms "serious mental illness" or SMI, "crime" and "violence" will show that only the tiny minority of those who are mentally ill, and don't have or take needed medications, and are involved in alcohol or illegal drugs, have any propensity or intention for violence. It will also show that the rest of us, who you tar with the same brush, are more likely than the rest of you to be victims of crime and violence.
So, after you send someone off to war, they are subject to the same realities if they go and/or come back with a mental illness, like depression or PTSD. They will be more likely to commit violence if they don't get treatment and get involved with illegal drugs or alcohol. They will be more vulnerable to crime and violence than those who sent them. After sending them off to fight, get wounded and die, you would strip them of the right to defend themselves against criminal attack when they come back a part of minority that you fear and loath. And exemptions from this fear and loathing on the basis of military service would only short those who have been abused as children and/or raped, maimed in car wrecks or plane crashes or terrorist attacks, or have endured such threats of death as cancer.
It would seem that after making racial hatred unacceptable and letting gays mostly out of the closet, even vampires, many of you still need someone to hate who can't easily fight back. Denied employment in most places and often living on disability, most of us can't afford lawyers. Lawyers aren't willing because they either can't get paid or don't believe they can win against fear and loathing or share the bigotry.
Why don't you go pick on somebody your own size?"
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