Doctor, Doctor

TO: New York City Physicians

I hope we can talk about mental health system issues and the pandemic of drug abuse I’ve seen from too close a distance. This makes even a liberal like me alter my opinion of the “Gated Community.” What I have observed I am starting to call simply “The Disease” (As with a mental disorder). People afflicted with “The Disease” behave like this, especially when you question official government statements or reports:

Symptom One: They immediately want to argue absurdly e.g. “Oranges are green.” You can say, “Oranges are orange” all day, yet they remain unconvinced. (See Trump flip-flop & “walk back” video for more examples).

Symptom Two: They immediately start lying. (Often this is related to drug abuse, but not always). The “patient” can be caught telling falsehoods, yet remains unfazed, and continues lying until he finds someone in agreement. (The American Psychiatric Association has long called this “psychotic,” but no one seems to care these days).

Symptom Three: They invert what was just said. For example, if I say, “I’m taking the bus to my doctor,” they say, “The subway sucks” and continue to perseverate on what you did not say or mean. I might say, “I like the Yankees” and they will insist the Mets are winning the World Series. They cannot stay on the topic, no matter how simplistic the subject. I have overused this phrase for too long: “I did not say that,” but the afflicted hear what they want to hear, like when George W. Bush had his bullhorn at the WTC ruins. Later, in 2009, I heard West Coast mobsters mumble things like, “The rubble the Port Authority carted away was not from the building.”

With the way all government agencies ignore this author’s FOIA requests, I do wonder why so many “red herrings” were swimming in a California man-made creek behind the Goebel Senior Adult Center. Notable exceptions to the FOIA trouble were NASA and CIA. As we said in a Catholic high school during the early 1970’s, “Go figure.”

-   Bill