In the book, Crazy: A Father’s Search through America’s Mental Health Madness, by Pete Earley, the author tells two stories. One of which is of his son who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and the second describing the investigations inside Miami County Jail. Throughout his book, he effectively uses Aristotle’s triad with the principles of ethos, pathos, and logos to show how corrupted our mental health system is from his own personal experiences.
Earley establishes ethos in the beginning of the book when he mentions his son having trouble receiving treatment due to the poor quality care. He struggles to give his son treatment because according to the hospital, “it was not illegal for someone to be mentally ill in Virginia, but it was illegal …show more content…
He vividly describes how the police deal with mentally ill individuals who are having psychotic episodes. The moment a police officer sees the possibility of danger within the individual, he immediately shoots to kill. A clear example of this is of Robbie’s situation. “Robbie had taken off his skates and lain down on the lawn to rest when the first two officers arrived. They told him that he was trespassing and ordered him to leave. Robbie began arguing with them. Without warning, he grabbed one of his Rollerblades and threw it at a window of his ex-girlfriend’s house. The skate crashed through the glass. Robbie grabbed a jagged seven-inch-long shard. The police drew their guns and fired. Robbie was hit three times and died on the front lawn” (119). Robbie’s shooting appeals to pathos as unfortunate and tragic. It is clear that the police did not know how to properly deal with a mentally ill person, and killing someone is definitely not the right decision. Earley also describes another situation in which a Vietnam War veteran named Beatty was shot 14 times for fleeing after waving a pocketknife in front of a manager at a cafeteria. Beatty had often thought he was still fighting the North Vietnamese and wasn’t mentally stable. Because the police were not given adequate training, many mentally ill individuals such as Robbie and Beatty were innocently …show more content…
CIT is a program where police are specially trained to deal with psychotic persons. He also includes proof of the success of the CIT program by stating that there has been a major decline in suicide rates and deaths caused by police. “By the end of its first year, the Memphis CIT had transported 1,533 people to local mental health facilities-instead of jail. Even better, they had not killed a single suspect” (114). He uses an appeal to logos by using statistics to prove the effectiveness of the program.
Earley efficaciously uses the principles of ethos, pathos and logos to convince the reader that people should not fear the mentally unstable, rather help them. Treatment should be administered to mental patients, and mental wards should be replaced with small rehabilitation centers. A change must ensue, and the public must be educated on mental
Earley establishes ethos in the beginning of the book when he mentions his son having trouble receiving treatment due to the poor quality care. He struggles to give his son treatment because according to the hospital, “it was not illegal for someone to be mentally ill in Virginia, but it was illegal …show more content…
He vividly describes how the police deal with mentally ill individuals who are having psychotic episodes. The moment a police officer sees the possibility of danger within the individual, he immediately shoots to kill. A clear example of this is of Robbie’s situation. “Robbie had taken off his skates and lain down on the lawn to rest when the first two officers arrived. They told him that he was trespassing and ordered him to leave. Robbie began arguing with them. Without warning, he grabbed one of his Rollerblades and threw it at a window of his ex-girlfriend’s house. The skate crashed through the glass. Robbie grabbed a jagged seven-inch-long shard. The police drew their guns and fired. Robbie was hit three times and died on the front lawn” (119). Robbie’s shooting appeals to pathos as unfortunate and tragic. It is clear that the police did not know how to properly deal with a mentally ill person, and killing someone is definitely not the right decision. Earley also describes another situation in which a Vietnam War veteran named Beatty was shot 14 times for fleeing after waving a pocketknife in front of a manager at a cafeteria. Beatty had often thought he was still fighting the North Vietnamese and wasn’t mentally stable. Because the police were not given adequate training, many mentally ill individuals such as Robbie and Beatty were innocently …show more content…
CIT is a program where police are specially trained to deal with psychotic persons. He also includes proof of the success of the CIT program by stating that there has been a major decline in suicide rates and deaths caused by police. “By the end of its first year, the Memphis CIT had transported 1,533 people to local mental health facilities-instead of jail. Even better, they had not killed a single suspect” (114). He uses an appeal to logos by using statistics to prove the effectiveness of the program.
Earley efficaciously uses the principles of ethos, pathos and logos to convince the reader that people should not fear the mentally unstable, rather help them. Treatment should be administered to mental patients, and mental wards should be replaced with small rehabilitation centers. A change must ensue, and the public must be educated on mental