A friggin' guy, three MCs, and a nice lady
No, they don't walk into a bar.
This friggin’ guy
Andrew Yang wants to be mayor of New York City. He also wanted to be President of the United States. Thing is, he says some really bad stuff.
“Yes, mentally ill people have rights, but you know who else have rights? We do! The people and families of the city,” said Mr. Yang, a former presidential candidate. “We have the right to walk the street and not fear for our safety because a mentally ill person is going to lash out at us.”
The we/us business is just… huh.
I am part of a rather enormous minority when it comes to mental health, with 31% of U.S. adults reporting depression and anxiety symptoms and 26% reporting trauma-stressor symptoms. So we’re in the minority, sure, but one numbering over 100 million people.
After getting criticized for his comments, Yang spun them on Twitter.
Mr. Yang was trying to highlight voters’ fears over safety at the debate, but he moved quickly to clarify his comments shortly after it concluded. “Full context here was mental illness is behind half of anti-Asian hate crimes,” he said on Twitter. “We need to get them compassionate, comprehensive care — and not let them languish on our streets.”
“Everyone agrees that people who are struggling with mental illness on our streets should be in better, more caring environments where they can get what they need,” he said.
Maybe people don’t know this, maybe they’ve forgotten. I don’t know. But here’s the thing, Mr. Yang. Mental illness is not synonymous with crime. Lots of crime in the subways gets committed by people who are not mentally ill. And a person with mental illness is far more likely to be a victim of crime than a perpetrator.
Newsweek picked up Yang’s reference to anti-Asian hate crimes:
Yang may be referring to a New York Daily News report published on May 15 that said half of those arrested by New York police for committing hate crimes against Asian Americans had "a mental-health history with the NYPD."
The newspaper reported that of the 23 people arrested for anti-Asian hate crimes between January and the date of the article, 11 either told police they had been diagnosed with mental illness or had been hospitalized as a result of mental illness.
However, the Daily News noted that police are not permitted to review suspects' medical records so information about their mental health comes from suspects' statements or previous instances where the suspect was hospitalized "for being emotionally disturbed."
Here is Andrew Yang missing shots:
Not the first time Yang has made people facepalm
If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you know I’ve mentioned programs in cities around the country where 911 has mental health professionals instead of cops show up when it’s a case of mental distress. The mental health professionals can then radio the cops if a situation warrants but it almost never does. It’s a program that works great and is growing fast.
Andrew Yang isn’t down with it:
“[I]f you have someone who is mentally ill on the subway, you’re going to need a police officer at least present…to help improve the situation. Because if you just send in a psychologist or a therapist, they’re going to struggle…I think that police are going to drive our ability of what’s going on in our streets and subway. Mental health resources are a big part of it, but you can’t have them alone…”
This is from May, meaning when he said the dumb stuff in June, he had already stepped in it once and failed to comprehend the problems.
Andrew Devendorf writes about the May incident and is worth a read.
One passage:
3. Yang’s “mentally ill” phrasing shows a lack of understanding of mental illness.
In reducing stigma, language matters because it influences how people view and treat people with mental illness. While I applaud Yang for using person-first language, saying “someone who is mentally ill,” he still used the phrase “mentally ill,” rather than phrases many prefer like “someone who has mental illness” or “someone with a mental health condition.”
Yang’s tone implies that “the mentally ill” are a separate group entirely — that there’s something different about “them.” While it’s true that mental illness, by definition, is a real and debilitating experience, it is also true that mental illness is common.
In the U.S., one in five people experience mental illness each year. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death, and for every death by suicide, 25 more attempts occur. Most people know someone with mental illness. For Yang to use the phrase “mentally ill” in a derogatory tone is shaming about half of Americans who, at some point, will likely experience mental illness.
I don’t know when we got this idea that people with no experience in political office should run for very high offices. But it’s a bad idea. Just like if I wanted to bring a bold outsider perspective to brain surgery.
“Maybe brain surgery doesn’t need brain surgeons. Maybe it needs…. podcasters! Vote Moe for brain surgeon.”
Anticlimactic, planetary. Planetary, anticlimactic.
I remember when we were in the early days of the pandemic and realizing that we might have to wear face masks for WEEKS. And it seemed like a long time. And it was a long time. But not as long as the one year +++ that we actually did. But yeah, so back then I had all kinds of thoughts about what I would do when the masks could be finally put away. The daydreams I had of that moment were very celebratory even though I am not a celebratory kind of dude by nature.
Yesterday, Jill and I spent the day in downtown Minneapolis and it was weird as hell. To begin with, a lot of storefronts are still shuttered, plywood over the windows since the riots last year. Businesses that just couldn’t make it through all that happened. But then we went in somewhere, gripping masks in our hands but seeing if we needed to wear them first, there was nothing celebratory about it. And employees and customers didn’t really meet each other’s gaze. Even though the employees weren’t masked and I wasn’t masked and everyone involved was vaccinated, it still felt at worst shameful? Somehow? And at best, it felt anticlimactic.
I told Jill, “I guess if there was a runaway train that crashed and skidded to a stop and a lot of people died but we survived, we wouldn’t be dancing and laughing then either.”
Aw hell maybe we just need to have this today
People can do this.
McKenzie Scott announced via Medium(!) her plans to give away $2.74 billion to 286 worthy organizations.
This is money from her concluded marriage to Jeff Bezos.
See, the thing is you can have all that money, yes? And then you can give it to people and groups who could do great things with it that benefit more people.
And you can do that instead of having people make you a rocket.
A favorite verse by Rumi captures this well:
“A candle as it diminishes explains,
Gathering more and more is not the way.
Burn, become light and heat and help. Melt.”
