The Blind Side

As the movie, the blind side shows us (based on a true story mind you) that it doesn't matter how you were born or in what environment you grew up in, you still have free will to choose your path in life. Even though the story is NOT about a mentally disabled person, it shows someone who is different from the rest.

The movie takes place in Memphis where this oversized, muscular, and rather monstrous black teen/man is living on the streets with now place to live and no stable home. Even though he has seen everything and his mother has a longer criminal record than a bible, for some strange reason or another, the main character is not violent. Rather than taking drugs, being part of a gang, or using his monstrous body to his advantage; he prefers to smell the flowers or run away when threatened.

One could argue that he was born that way since he lived in an environment that could have easily molded him into a monster but did not. Either that or he has incredible will power and free will. Either way one could argue that a person chooses to be good or bad, no matter how they were born. Or the exact opposite, it is by birth.

It is no one's fault for being born a certain way...

OK, I know, it was probably a very bad idea to choose this song but at least it proves my point. According to Lady Gaga's point of view, someone is born the way they are and there is no fault in being born a certain way. I may also point out that she never did mention mentally ill people nor that this song was directed at them; it is mostly based on LGBT and the related. In very, very few instances is mental disability have any mention in pop culture or mainstream culture.

Insanity vs Mental Illness

What exactly is the difference between the difference between insanity. According to Magnolia, there is apparently a difference between mentally insane people who are in jails than those like Lennie and Charlie Gordon. This ponders up the following questions:

1. What is the difference between insanity and mental illness?
2. If the above is true: Does and insanity means they are bad while mental illness means they are good, then are you then suggesting that people are born good or bad?
3. If the above is true: Is goodness evil a choice then?

Legal Statuts of Crimes Commited by Mentally Ill People

So using the following articles as a guide:

• http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/135/1/33
• http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/rev2/index.php?%20%20%20%20option=com_content&task=view&id=353&Itemid=43
• http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=3-108
• http://karisable.com/crmh.htm
• http://www.cmha.bc.ca/files/3-violence_myths.pdf

I have come up with the following arguments:

1. Is mental illness associated with violence? According to most of these sites mental illness is directlay linked with violence as emotional and mental instability can result in violence?
2. However very few people will say that it is the ill person's fault, maybe because many people are too scared to confront the question?
3. I have to point out however that retarded people are 2 and a half times more likely to be a victim of violence than those who are not?¹

Insanity is an legal excuse for committing a crime. I guess I can safely conclude that the judicial's system view is that it is not their fault.

Flowers for Algernon

There was this book I read in seventh grade, Flowers for Algernon (book summary can be viewed here), that talks about this retarded adult who undergoes an experiment to make him smarter. Over the course of the book, Charlie Gordon, the main character, writes in journal entries about the progression of the experiment that turns him from a handicap to a super genius. Unfortunately an error in the experiment shows that although Charlie has an IQ over 160, he is still emotionally retarded.

The book shows that the smarter Charlie gets, the colder his heart gets. As Charlie regains his memory he sees all of the terrible abuse people did to him in the past. Now that he understands their true intentions, he feels huge resentment and becomes bitter, arrogant, and lonely. The people who love and know Charlie are now starting to hate him for his meaner attitude and preferred him "retarded."

According to this book, the smarter one becomes, the less heart they have. Do you agree with such a statement? Could it be true that mentally challenged people never get the feeling of revenge and will love unconditionally, kind of like a puppy who always gets kicked around but still comes back to the owner?

Here we have the trailers for the movie adaptation of the book bz the same name.