Keefe: James Holmes’ brain goes to court
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Just what is the point of this cartoon? The irony is that James Holmes’ brain is not in fact on trial. What is on trial is a cruel brutal disease called schizophrenia – a horrible disorder that few people can comprehend. The prosecutors and the judge, the media, the public…all heartrendingly ignorant about what this disease does to the human brain. The legal system has essentially rendered this devastating disease as illegal and medical doctors are being overruled by lay persons. No other disease known to mankind is subjects medical doctors and scientific researchers to this manner of incredulity.
It’s blatantly clear that your cartoon is all about snark. Until this society comes to grip with what schizophrenia is and starts listening to doctors and scientists, this kind of thing is going to happen again and again. If the system had been operating on the basis of science instead of pervasive and intractable ignorance about severe mental illness, that tragedy could have been averted. It is clear that people like you in the media are trying to spurn and suppress science – believing that you know more than doctors, running on your own intuitive perception of what mental illness is. The next time there is a tragedy, remember the comments you spurned in moderation – and it will happen again.