'Trump Isn't Mentally Ill; He's Evil'
"Dear public figures, media folks, and journalists, please do not suggest that President Donald Trump is crazy. It is not helpful and, in fact, it is hurtful... not to him but the rest of us."
"There are two main reasons for this request. First, calling Trump crazy is harmful to people who have a mental health condition or who have loved ones with a mental illness; second, it is inaccurate and leads to a serious misunderstanding of the man, his behavior, and it’s origins and consequences."
"Unfortunately, there are a lot of unfair, hurtful, and false seterotypes of the mentally ill that are propagated and repeated over and over again in our society. For instance, media figures and journalists often describe perpetrators of violence as mentally ill. Generally speaking, this is not true. Study after study points out the the mentally ill, in fact, are not violent. Indeed, they are more likely to be the victims of violence than perpetrators of it. Most people with mental health diagnoses are law-abiding contributing members of society. Epidemiological research indicates that 97% of those with mental illness do not commit violent acts."
"Nor are the mentally ill immoral. It is somewhat commonplace to find public figures, journalists, and other 'experts' express that a person who commits a horribly immoral act must be mentally ill. This is a faulty presumption. Mental illness does not necessarily affect moral reasoning or understanding. It is pretty common to hear or read that those whose behaviors are irrational, unpredictable, or erratic must have a mental health condition. This, also, is a harmful and erroneous stereotype. After all, irrational thinking is pretty common. We are all irrational some of the time and in some situations. and also rational and predictable in others. Irrational thoughts are completely normal. Researchers sometimes point out that some kinds of mental illness may include a deficit in common sense or deviations from social norms but not a deficit in logical thought or 'reason.' "
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-evil-not-crazy
= new reply since forum marked as read
That's what I dislike about discussions of "evil."
Many of us don't have the same religious background, and as a result we get tangled up in word definitions. On DU I've made a few jokes about Chump being the "anti-Christ," however I don't think anyone took me literally. (If anyone did take my jokes literally, I apologize. They were stupid jokes.)
I believe that a forum such as DU needs to keep the conversation free from religious references. We have plenty to talk about and share with each other without dragging God, Satan, Jesus, the Bible, or evil into it. I respect everyone's personal religious background, and I feel that we need to keep it private, most of the time. It's not relevant to political discussions, most of the time.
Also a licensed attorney would never charge Chump with being "evil" or acting "evilly."
Why? because this is a subjective word that is loaded with emotional context. I think that was the point I was making. I'm neither a lawyer nor a doctor, but I appreciate the careful, professional manner that most of us adopt towards one another when communicating on DU.
Which is why so many of us relate to "trump is evil, personified." I'd say we see him (and the word) reflective of the world in which we reside most often, perhaps. Dark Triad is often used to describe him in the clinical sense. But that means nothing to a large majority of people.
I think we lose touch with others when what we have to say needs to be so much on point that we lose that point with all the words used instead of the one, hard-hitting word that everyone understands what it means - in one way, or another. "Defund the police" was never about doing away with police forces across the U.S. But we used all the words we meant for it to be, and got our clocks cleaned with one easy to understand phrase.
As I've gotten older, and even more cynical, I tend to try to use fewer words in saying something... writing not withstanding! 
despite the fact that it's been legally adjudicated to be true.
