"American Morning" host implies that mentally ill people are "monsters"?

[bbernardini]

I was listening to CNN on my way into work this morning (on XM), and the male host (I don't know which one is which) said that the materials sent to NBC CLEARLY showed that the VT shooter was a "monster." This was actually part of his introduction of an interview with a mental health expert of some sort.

First of all, I think he should report the news, not give his personal opinion. Second, it's very clear that the gentleman who committed this crime was mentally ill, and I personally think using the term "monster" does a disservice to all those who suffer from mental illness. Was his crime horrific? Of course. But it's clear that he wasn't in his right mind, through no fault of his own. Are all people who suffer in that way monsters?

[Bluebear]

1. Some here describe him as "evil" and filled with "demons"

So there you have it. :(

[EV_Ares]

3. Agree, the MSM is the worst it has ever been. The coverage of this

horrible tragedy goes along with the rest of their coverage; terrible.

They should be focusing on changes that need to be made in our society, not their own unintelligible personal opinions of which they are so always quick to inject into their coverages.

We need to get a better understanding of mental illness, not attack it.

We need to focus on the stigma of the treatment to where people are ok with getting help. I can tell you some people don't get help because if they have medical coverage to assist them, they still have the problem if they are seeking a career. Those that have the money can pay cash for counseling and assistance where it doesn't become a part of their permanent record.

There are all kinds of directions and helpful avenues the MSM could go on this but they as always settle only for the drama.

[trof]

10. That would be Billy Graham's heir apparent on CNN.

Televangelist Franklin Graham on with Blitzer yesterday in full hue and cry.
Cho had 'demons and devils' in him.

[merh]

2. I have to wonder what you folks are listening to:

I have heard no such generalizations, I have heard the shooter referred to in the negative. What a shock! Not.

He was a monster, in the moments he took the lives, he was evil and disturbed and misguided and heartless.

To describe this sick man this way is accurate and is not to be confused with describing all with mental illnesses this way.

I consider POTUS & VPOTUS to be mentally ill and evil and monsters, describing them in such ways does not equate a condemnation of all mentally ill and/or all republicans.

Stop listening with a broadbrush, it is as wrong as painting with one, imho.

[MADem]

8. That's a concise point and well-stated. NT

[jody]

4. Better to say monsters are mentally ill people, n/t

[PA Democrat]

5. The vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent.

There's already such a stigma against mental illness in this country. It negatively affects access to proper mental health care and people's willingness to seek mental health care for themselves or family members. Americans seem to fool themselves in to believing that if they can just place blame on a person, label them a monster, that they are somehow safer.

[Matsubara]

6. Y'know, I'm as saddened by the failure of society to help Cho as anyone...

...but honestly, after his guns started dropping people left and right, I think he became fair game to be called a monster.

No, not all mentally ill people are monsters. But if we can't call mass murderers, whether it's Bush or Cho monsters, then I think we maybe have become a bit too PC.

[merh]

11. exactly

Welcome to DU :hi:

[MADem]

7. Why are you expecting the host, chosen for his LOOKS, of a morning 'coffeetalk' show

--a counterpart to the chitty chatty morning network talk shows--to be a psychiatrist or have any sense beyond what he sees and reads. The guy did monstrous things, ergo he is a monster to this clown.

If it barks, it's a dog. If it meows, it is a cat. The bozo isn't thinking any further than that. He isn't paid to think--he's paid to look good, smile, make small talk, and read the teleprompter. He's supposed to wake up the CNN viewers in the least offensive manner possible.

And I gotta do this--to play the devil's advocate, we simply don't have a definitive diagnosis yet.

We have an old Reagan-Bush hand who makes her living now as a TV talking head "speculating" like crazy, but the cops, to my knowledge anyway, have been tight lipped about the kid's medications, and I haven't seen a doc come on the tube yet and say "I treated the kid and diagnosed him as -fill in the blank-- and prescribed X medications."

Everyone, from Bernadette "Bullshitter" Healey to every FBI profiler-clown, is doing the "Frist Diagnosis" method--looking at the tapes and deciding what his diagnosis is--but hey, maybe he's just a good actor and is behaving like DeNiro in Taxi Driver, because that character resonated with him. Maybe he's not schizophrenic at all, and when they crack his head they'll find a baseball sized tumor...

We just don't really know much, yet. Unless, and it is possible, I have missed a few definitive reports on the matter.

[Connie_Corleone]

9. The generalizations I've heard are about shy, quiet people.

God forbid if you're shy, quiet, have social anxiety. Now, people think you're going to shoot up a school or workplace because you don't fit certain social norms.

[lectrobyte]

12. Conform! Consume! Obey!