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The "left" as practiced in SF fails to get anything done and lets things fester and worsen through neglect. But... the evangelical/nationalistic right, on the

The "left" as practiced in SF fails to get anything done and lets things fester and worsen through neglect. But... the evangelical/nationalistic right, on the other hand, comes out and says exactly all the things they want. Less healthcare, less regulation of the powerful, more cops for the less well-off, more weapons, less sexuality that they don't like, etc. "Fixing mental health" isn't in that list. "Building more housing" isn't even on that list. There are a LOT of people with good reason to be scared of those moves. Tell me which of these I should think is more feasible: 1) Working with democrats to add some practicality to how to get to the desired outcomes I support? 2) Trying to convince the right that they should change almost all of their goals?

NoMoreNicksLeft 4y ago
I might be accused (by some) of being on the right. It's not that I don't want to "fix mental health". Who wouldn't want to wave that magic wand and be able to justifiably claim to be the savior of what I sometimes read is as high as 20-40% of the population of our country? That said, I feel like it's a problem that can't reasonably be solved by anyone. Not because they're unwilling or incompetent, but that the science just isn't there. Everyone today wants to solve infectious disease, after all. And we actually manage (sometimes) to accomplish that. But if the year were 800AD and you complained that those in charge weren't solving the perplexing miasmas and dark humors that were making people sick with the black death... You'd have been a fool. No one knew how to deal with those things then. And no one knows how to do something about mental health now. There seem to be medications that sometimes help some people, but when they don't work (or when they do!) no one can give a straight explanation why. The psychologists fail to give us a working theory of the human mind such that we can (even hypothetically) understand why someone is schizo. Or depressed. Or has OCD. Don't get me wrong. I am not blaming the left for not fixing this. It's just intractable. Everything I see suggests it's likely to remain so into the indefinite future. Both sides should stick to "building more housing" if you ask me.
splitstud 4y ago
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NoMoreNicksLeft 4y ago

I might be accused (by some) of being on the right. It's not that I don't want to "fix mental health". Who wouldn't want to wave that magic wand and be able to justifiably claim to be the savior of what I sometimes read is as high as 20-40% of the population of our country? That said, I feel like it's a problem that can't reasonably be solved by anyone. Not because they're unwilling or incompetent, but that the science just isn't there. Everyone today wants to solve infectious disease, after all. And we actually manage (sometimes) to accomplish that. But if the year were 800AD and you complained that those in charge weren't solving the perplexing miasmas and dark humors that were making people sick with the black death... You'd have been a fool. No one knew how to deal with those things then. And no one knows how to do something about mental health now. There seem to be medications that sometimes help some people, but when they don't work (or when they do!) no one can give a straight explanation why. The psychologists fail to give us a working theory of the human mind such that we can (even hypothetically) understand why someone is schizo. Or depressed. Or has OCD. Don't get me wrong. I am not blaming the left for not fixing this. It's just intractable. Everything I see suggests it's likely to remain so into the indefinite future. Both sides should stick to "building more housing" if you ask me.

splitstud 4y ago

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