re: Ole Miss fan Shepard Smith, calls Robin Williams a coward

quote:

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I'm super in the middle on both lines of thinking.

The recent mass shootings we've had have made me research mental health, depression, and the (in)validity that we as a nation give it. I've changed a lot of conservative viewpoints I used to have because of it.

I absolutely get that it's a real thing and do not fault a man for struggling with it and battling those demons. Be it chemical or biological, it's real and I don't wish it in my worst enemy.

That being said, I do fault somebody for losing that battle.

Not demonizing him or calling him names, like Shep and Rush, but it taints a lot of his work and legacy as a man IMHO.

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I admire anyone willing to evolve and change their views (and admit to this) on a topic as complex and emotional as this one.

I will address a nuance at the end, though. Granted, it's not something I've struggled with personally, but it's certainly something people I've been close to have struggled with, and a lot of the time, it's not so much a "battle" as people think. A "battle" implies a fight between X and Y, and, as I understand it, sometimes there's no fight. The person isn't striving to rise up against the crippling depression simply because the very nature of the depression makes the idea of fighting seem incomprehensible. It's almost a Catch-22, really. Deep down, they may know intellectually that there's a choice, but emotionally, no choice, no fight, seems possible. How do you lose a battle you can't even imagine fighting? Mental illness is very Orwellian at times.