Breaking: Mental Health America on the Verge of Losing All Credibility
Mental Health America, aka National Mental Health Association, is holding its annual meeting in June, and according to the press release, it’s going to be “stirring.” Well, duh. Annual meetings always are.
Much as I love MHA (which gave me a media award a few years back, hence my affection), I can’t help but question the organization’s choice of potential honorees. The second-annual forWARDS “honor the people, actions and events that have moved the cause of mental health forward in the past year.” A potential honoree? Rosie O’Donnell.
Are you kidding me? I can think of about a thousand people more worthy of this serious honor than mouthy Rosie O. She has no gravitas, no respect for serious thought. She’s like a child who gives wedgies on the schoolbus and then blogs about it in barely literate fashion. Her latest publicity comes not from her speaking out about the real challenges people with mental illnesses face, but from an ongoing spat with Bill O’Reilly, another genius.
Before that dustup, she was being lampooned for suggesting that 9/11 was planned and executed by the U.S. government. (Whatever your politics, that’s pretty hard to swallow.) And while people are getting caught up in her brilliant reference to the Gulf of Tonkin, I’m not forgetting that she pretended to speak Chinese last year by saying “ching chong,” which is pretty offensive.
As an inveterate lefty and Democrat, I’m embarrassed that she’s being trumpeted as some kind of truth-teller sage by liberals. Again, I ask, don’t we have someone else who would better represent us?
As for mental health, I didn’t feel inspired watching her hang upside to treat her depression. When it comes to celebrities, Brooke Shields has been much more eloquent on this subject, as has, well, everyone else.
There are a lot of smart people who read this site, as was amply proven by the number of VHS-to-DVD suggestions I got. (Something called Google, apparently. Whatev.) So let’s come up with a better nominee. Who do we think MHA should honor this year?
liz | 10:28 AM | Uncategorized
Love that word “gravitas”- and how fitting in a post that mentions Rosie hanging upside down- a truly striking demonstration of the earth’s pull.
My nomination for a NMHA honor is Tom Cruise. Nothing has made the relevance of effective mental health treatment clearer than his moronic blasting of psychiatry in the media. An award would also force him to address his stupidity before an organization that REALLY understands psychiatric illness and treatment. He might be a no show- but he will at least have to issue a statement.
I don’t question the actual suffering of media personalities who disclose their mental illnesses but I do question why by doing so they automatically qualify for special recognition. I’ve never met a TV or movie star at a public partial hospitalization program, a day program, a drop-in center, a community mental health center, a mental health board, a homeless shelter, a regulatory workgroup, a subcommittee, a focus group, a sheltered workshop, etc. but I have met consumers at these venues who are working to change the mental health system. They receive virtually no recognition, experience lots of frustration, seek no compensation and receive little, if any, support from the very organizations putatively committed to supporting consumer advocacy. Aren’t these consumers stars worthy of more frequent recognition?
(I should add that MHA does bestow its most prestigious honor, The Clifford Beers Award, upon a consumer who could hardly be considered a household name but an advocate worthy of recognition nonetheless.)
I caught Bill O’Reilly last night, he’s kinda my hero of the day..inviting Rosie back anytime to justify her logic..I wonder if she would recant like she did about her Columbine comments. The woman has scewed agendas and a total lack of impulse control of her mouth. Dangerous if not lethal combo.
Firstly, I don’t know who MHA should honor at this moment. I’d have to do some research.
MHA shouldn’t have given the award to O’Donnell. She is not active within the mental health community or an advocate, though there was a “The View” show about depression and one on autism. I wonder why that organization awarded her? Seems wrong.
The show on autism was pretty good. As a sub teacher, I worked mostly in special ed and have been around a lot of autistic kids and their families. Perhaps it is nice “The View” is dedicting an hour to mental health issues (I didn’t see the depression one). They never did that before.
However, I certainly agree with you that O’Donnell probably doesn’t know much about mental health or is worthy of the award. But then, she didn’t ask for it, did she?
For the very first time I actually disagree with you and I am glad it is over something not terribly important, like the worth of a celeb.
I think you are being a little hard on O’Donnell.
I don’t care if she is sometimes crass. There are plenty of notables who have class up the wazzu. Angelina Jolie is made to look all that much more classy, sexy and knowing.
O’Donnell is a comedienne and part of the clown act comes from her roots.
Luckily, there is plenty of room in cyberspace for literate bloggers like you (thank goodness) so her “u r kool” entries don’t bother me either.
I hear you on this one: 9/11 a conspiracy? I cringed. Really can’t defend that.
But, all in all, my judgement of O’Donnell’s character is that she is a good hearted person. She gives a lot of time and money to charity.
Also, she is a democrat, an anti-war person, a visible one, with clout. We democrats have been known to tear each other apart in the past and it’s not good for the party. Republicans don’t do that as much.
I hate to disagree with you, Liz! This is the first time. As I said, I’m glad it is only over a media personality and not some of the deeper issues you bring to your blog. There also exists the possibility I am wrong. It has been known to happen once or twice in the past.
I can’t think of anyone off-hand, simply because my mind won’t get off the point that it should be anyone but Rosie. Seriously. And I used to like her.
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