Woke up this morning. Grabbed the remote. Turned on the news. CBC was going through the motions as usual; 3 more Canadian soldiers sacrifice their lives in Afghanistan, The Commodities crisis, The International Criminal Court issues warrants for the President of Sudan, and… The issue that I am sure will make people squirm: The Case of the Albertan Vince Li, who has been accused of stabbing, decapitating and partially cannibalising a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus.
This violent and unusual act which I’m sure most of us will agree is abhorrent and vile in any country of this modern age, is especially abhorrent to me by the plea that was allowed to be entered in one of our (Canada’s) courts: Not Guilty. Preposterous! “By reason of insanity”. This excuse has been pushed far too long. Pushed through the courts for only one reason… to justify the existence of social-work, pseudo-scientific “Psychiatry”. When does a thing like murder lose its validity? When the “body” becomes detached from the “mind”, I suppose. I think this excuse may now be validated for ANY wrong-doing, thus creating lessened sentencing for all crimes and misdemeanours.
Drunk driver- “Sorry, oshifer… I knowzh Ize been dzrinkin’, but I plead inshantitty!”
Officer- “Allrighty, then. You are a naughty citizen! Get in your car and drive straight home, now! And don’t hit anyone on the way, or we’ll have to take away your beer next time!”
This is what should be happening soon, if this case happens the way the Defence Council for Mr. Li hopes to see it.
Witnesses – Yup, Murder Weapon – Yup, Blood on the Accused – Yup, Victim’s DNA inside the Accused (I’m sure no Court-appointed Psychiatrist checked this, nor anyone else for that matter!)… Yup! The Case against poor Mr. Li is indeed overwhelming. And who but an “insane” person would do or even contemplate such a thing? Contemplate…?
WAIT JUST A SECOND! I remember many years ago, reading a very violent book, “American Psycho”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho which followed the life of a well-off Manhattan investment banker as he becomes more and more violent and torturous. The Author of this book (Bret Easton Ellis), obviously has contemplated many a violent and ghastly thought. Is he insane? Was it temporary? Is any thought that contradicts “normal, morally accepted behaviour” to be grouped with the categorically insane? I have read this book, and so doing have also had these thoughts of extreme violence in my mind. Was I suffering from some kind of “Criminal, temporary insanity”?
Should we then try to separate the mind from the body?
Should the actions of the body be tried in court separately from the mind?
Defence council- “I’m sorry, Your Honour.” “My client’s Mind was at the time being controlled by the Demon, Zuul, and therefore, had no cognitive control of his legs, boots and feet as they curb-stomped-to-death the victim, whom had caused his own unfortunate demise by conversing with my client during his pre-Zuul state of mind, by saying “Hey, how’s it going” (as reported by eye-witness account), which has hereby been accepted by the expert-witness testimony of Dr. Freudington as being a “key trigger mechanism” for such behaviour.”
Judge- “Then, according to the laws introduced in 2009, as per ‘the Crown versus Li’, I sentence your client’s Legs, Boots and Feet to spend no less than 25 years in jail, while your client’s Mind shall be released on a bail-bond of no less than $100,000.”
This is what should be happening. If insanity is ever mentioned in court, then try the mind and body separately, as if they are two separable entities. NOT! We can not function without our mind, nor can we function without the body. If the person has a mind that is truly insane, then normal body function might also be impaired. Things such as breathing, blood circulation, the immune system would be “haywire” causing the person distress. Mind and Body are inseparable.
Show me where the mind exists.
“How about any ‘External Chemical Substances’ causing a temporary behaviour?” Some of my more argumentative friends may wish to add. Yeah, I’m sure that the Cryrstal-Meth in someone’s system can cause a “Temporarily Insane” state of mind, leading to many an unfortunate event (pushing another Human Being underneath a moving bus, for example). But unless you can prove without a shadow of a doubt, that any substance internally taken is there by accident, I submit that it be the user’s fault.
Let’s get back to poor Mr. Li, shall we? He was a tormented man, by all accounts – awww! He was picked up wandering along the 401 in Ontario five years before. He was a landed immigrant from China who never was able to find meaningful employment. Divorced by his wife two years before the incident. Read more here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090304.LI04/TPStory/National
OK, so somehow Mr. Li slipped through the cracks. He became a “haunted soul”, without proper psychiatric evaluation. But now he’s not responsible for his actions? BS!
The human being is always capable of doing ghastly things. Whether it be stomping on a spider crawling across the floor, or chasing a fly around the room with a newspaper! Or devising a method of exterminating many souls with Zyklon B. Or by stabbing, decapitating, disembowelling, eating and later throwing the head of your victim at a window. Or by living in a country that allows the death penalty. We all are capable. Sane and not sane. There are both states in all of us. We choose daily to make “morally correct” decisions. It is when we allow “Learned Professionals- the Psychiatwits” to decide for us all what is technically impossible (the dissection of mind from body), that we all become the insane.
Lock Mr. Li up. Feed him chicken, noodles and vegetables until he dies an old man. Clothe him in orange jumpsuits with plastic snaps. Let him have access to a library of novels. Full cable. As much toilet paper as he needs. Heat in the winter, air-conditioning in summer. But please… Keep him away from churches- god might want him to act again.
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