By: TeriI am completely bothered how this story on 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante is being covered – if this isn’t a girl screaming for help I don’t know what is. Yes there are extraneous situations where mental facilities are severely compromised but the combination of running away, cutting, wanting to feel is classic behavior of someone in need.
This is a great reflection on perceptions of mental health and women’s health; once again relegated to dismissal while using the criminal aspect as an excuse to not deal with this situation. Angling this story on the horrendous behavior she exhibited means there isn’t the responsibility to fully handle this situation. Just throw the disturbed person in prison and mainstream society is done (keeping the whole problematic prison system as a whole other narrative).
It’s exhausting to have the continuation of mainstream society sticking their head in the sand so they won’t have to deal with these issues; it is a common relevant problem that takes a long time to overcome. Isn’t it proactive to use this opportunity to address this issue instead of demonizing it? Wouldn’t it be of greater societal benefit to have this in the open so assistance can be given earlier rather than later?
1 comments:
I absolutely agree with most of your observations; however, perhaps this is a simple matter in which time and resources are few, and under such circumstances the primary objectives are to prevent her from killing again, and to satisfy the victim's family and general populace by showing that she will be punished. I’d like to think that most people would not allow their perceptions to be shaped by the lemmings’ march of most news media, but over time most are influenced as such... which leaves these important matters of mental health awareness and any potential preventative actions needing to be brought to peoples’ attention by another speaker--perhaps you.
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