(Mad in America)
January 25, 2013
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] Scapegoating is an ancient human practice that probably dates from the time the first human beings decided to circle their huts — what we fondly term the dawn of civilization. When things got tense in the compound, penalties got handed out to one or more individuals or families, those usually at the low end of the pole, the politically powerless or vulnerable. It beat killing one another and rending the social fabric, that thin veneer of civilization.
Americans, despite our vaunted exceptionalism — or maybe consequent to it — have been aces at the practice and have always had a long list of candidates.
The list has evolved and grown since 9/11, but I’ll stop with the most recent candidates for marginalization, those persons presumed to be mentally ill and excluded from Joe Biden’s list of “. . . law-abiding responsible Americans [who have the right to] bear arms . . .”
How ironic that folks who are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crimes will now occupy a prominent place in the Federal gun background check data bank.
Entire article:
Scapegoating Persons Labelled Mentally Ill: The Politics of Marginalization
Posted with Blogsy
Planet of the Blind 