Rational Me?

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Woo! Witty title alert! Regardless, this is just another post to write for the sake of writing. I’m determined to do it and maybe if I can break into a small routine with my blog, I can finally put my mind at rest and stop thinking I’m not "good" enough.

Something has been bothering me lately on T.V. and it isn’t the crappy shows they're putting on. Heck, I don’t even watch that much T.V. at all, so I guess I’m not the expert, but this has been in the news, and it is annoying me.

People are getting pulled from the X Factor because they have a mental illness, suffer from depression or have had nervous breakdowns in the past. The TV company (because of public feedback, thank you very much Susan Boyle) has decided that those who are "significantly mentally unstable" should not be allowed to participle in the national talent show.

This annoys me for the following reasons:

•    They pulled the people HALFWAY through the process, so they had already been approved.

•    They were vague with their descriptions (Significantly mentally unstable? Whut?)

•    The public are not questioning this decision. At all.

The last one is REALLY hitting the proverbial anger-button. Nobody seems to think this is a bad idea except me.

Why are we focusing on people with mental disabilities? Are we less than human? And with hardly any medical records to go on beforehand, isn’t this down to personal perception rather than cold hard fact?

I will concede, some people cannot be rational, at all. They cannot process coherent thought and possibly live in a fantasy land where they have tremendous talent. So when the proverbial bubble is burst, they cannot comprehend what the fuck just happened to them and have a break down. But why should the people with genuine talent AND a mental illness be blighted by this?

Perhaps the TV station would have been more subtle if they had all the people with mental illness taking part in the show wear white armbands. Or ever, perhaps, neck signs that read "Don’t laugh at me, I can’t help it."

It is a double-edged sword. Not everybody can be can be on record to declare their mental health as stable so why take the chance? But at the same time, why discriminate? People with bi-polar work in politics.

The stigma that surrounds mental health is increasingly reaching unacceptable levels. TV talent shows can’t be to blame for a person’s mental well-being. Yet, they should not deny those who have a mental illness the right to participate.