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Time to bring back asylums?

wsj.com

1–10 of 397 posts

Re: Time to bring back asylums?

#3
I wonder how much of an increase in taxes the folks at the WSJ would be willing to pay to bring back asylums? The longer I live, the more the quote "the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" comes to mind. I don't really understand what the asylums were like, but I see that old America that they resided in as a very different place that believed more in public investment. These days, the idea of compelled vaccination is pretty controversial, so the idea that we are going to take away peoples' liberty and force them to take psychotropic drugs after we've imprisoned them seems beyond belief.

None of that is to say I don't think it's probably the right answer, rather that I just don't see it happening in modern America.

Re: Time to bring back asylums?

#5
> These days, the idea of compelled vaccination is pretty controversial, so the idea that we are going to take away peoples' liberty and force them to take psychotropic drugs after we've imprisoned them seems beyond belief.

This is already happening. Compelled vaccination is completely different than a mentally disturbed member of our society roaming the streets unhinged. I have been party to several title 36[1] cases and it's very, very difficult to get dangerous people "petitioned". It requires coordination between disparate agencies like hospitals, Fire/EMS, Police, community mental health orgs, etc. None of them share a database.

Once they are found to be incapable of living on their own, what do we do with them? Jail? Hospital? Half-way house/Assisted Living?

I will tell you... They end up back on the streets and it isn't pretty. The underbelly of every American city is a nasty, grimy, horrific place. I need to retire.

[1] https://www.azleg.gov/arsDetail/?title=36

Re: Time to bring back asylums?

#6

> These days, the idea of compelled vaccination is pretty controversial, so the idea that we are going to take away peoples' liberty and force them to take psychotropic drugs after we've imprisoned them seems beyond belief. This is already happening. Compelled vaccination is completely different than a mentally disturbed member of our society roaming the streets unhinged. I have been party to several title 36[1] case…

You should write more on this topic.

Re: Time to bring back asylums?

#8
A person does not belong to society or to the government. Sane or not, a person who chooses to not get mental, physical or preventive treatment (like vaccines) or other social manadates should not be compelled because humans lack the authority to do so.

What should happen is they should be expelled from society. Expulsion was very common in historical societies. The famous version of this is leper colonies. The land of thr country belongs to them, so designate a place for them to live in isolation except for volunteers that wish to visit them and offer aid/help.

People should be asked that in the event they are deemed by professionals to be incapable of making their own decisions that they delegate the power of decision making on their behalf to the courts or society.

This is a pervasive issue, even things like not wanting to be dependent on tech for day to day survival is a person's right. Compelling a person to do anything means you have deprived them of liberty and subjugated them, and to do that, having a good and legitimate reason is not enough, you also need authority.

In communist governments for example, people are subjucts of the state and the state assumes authority even over what people belief. But in the US at least, the government that derives all its power and authority from the governed has not been granted such unlimited authority over law abiding citizens, or authority to pass laws to manipulate peoples bodies, regulate their beliefs and convictions or imprison them when they have not broken a law "for their own well being and without their prior consent. The people did not consent to have their wellbeing and safety taken care of against their will. If insane people, unvaccinated people, naked people and other people are considered to place a burden to society or to cause harm in the future, simply forbid them from coming into contact with society and only enforce complelled measures when they persistently refuse to comply.

Re: Time to bring back asylums?

#9
post #8

A person does not belong to society or to the government. Sane or not, a person who chooses to not get mental, physical or preventive treatment (like vaccines) or other social manadates should not be compelled because humans lack the authority to do so. What should happen is they should be expelled from society. Expulsion was very common in historical societies. The famous version of this is leper colonies. The land…

There isn't much difference between expulsion and putting them in an asylum, no?

Re: Time to bring back asylums?

#10
post #6

> These days, the idea of compelled vaccination is pretty controversial, so the idea that we are going to take away peoples' liberty and force them to take psychotropic drugs after we've imprisoned them seems beyond belief. This is already happening. Compelled vaccination is completely different than a mentally disturbed member of our society roaming the streets unhinged. I have been party to several title 36[1] case…

You should write more on this topic.

There is no shortage of writing on this. The Supreme Court decisions of the early 1970s on mental health were well-intentioned but disastrous.
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