It was way back in the 80s when I, then very liberal, began to encounter patient rights advocates in mental health. They had done many good things, and would continue to do good things. Yet I could easily detect that for many of the attorneys the facts of the case for a particular patient did not much matter. They were interested in the competition of kicking a big institution in the balls. They were in NH for a few years on their way to DC to do some bigger ball-kicking. But I knew the patients, and sometimes what they were fighting for was ruining their lives. These were people I knew. Because I had grown up around here, two were people I had known as children, now mentally ill.
I won't take away from them that they have done good things. But I think they are riding on that legacy now. I think the goal in the 21st C is to bring down the powerful to show how powerful you are. The ACLU is not about civil liberties so much as bringing down the powerful - or at least, certain ones of the powerful. The others they let alone. The shift has been subtle, and slow, and I don't think it is complete. But David Burge's formulation comes to mind:
1. Identify a respected institution
2. Kill it
3. Gut it
4. Wear its carcass as a skin suit, demanding its respect.
It was way back in the 80s when I, then very liberal, began to encounter patient rights advocates in mental health. They had done many good things, and would continue to do good things. Yet I could easily detect that for many of the attorneys the facts of the case for a particular patient did not much matter. They were interested in the competition of kicking a big institution in the balls. They were in NH for a few years on their way to DC to do some bigger ball-kicking. But I knew the patients, and sometimes what they were fighting for was ruining their lives. These were people I knew. Because I had grown up around here, two were people I had known as children, now mentally ill.
I won't take away from them that they have done good things. But I think they are riding on that legacy now. I think the goal in the 21st C is to bring down the powerful to show how powerful you are. The ACLU is not about civil liberties so much as bringing down the powerful - or at least, certain ones of the powerful. The others they let alone. The shift has been subtle, and slow, and I don't think it is complete. But David Burge's formulation comes to mind:
1. Identify a respected institution
2. Kill it
3. Gut it
4. Wear its carcass as a skin suit, demanding its respect.