In keeping with the idea of always trying to use shorter titles, I failed. I now live in a country that is so much is different than where I grew up in. I have learned so much about the world around me that I should have learned growing up. One of those things is the understanding of mental health and violence.

So over the last few weeks, I have written and spoken a lot about hate and violence. I walked away thinking to myself what has driven so many of the LGB community to give in to hate? I could say that from what I have read several times it feels like all of the lesbian community hates the Transgender community. But it does not need much logical thinking to know that is very far from the truth. Yes, there might be a portion of the Lesbian and Gay communities that do dislike the Transgender communities and vice-versa. Sometimes those in the LGBT+ communities can be our own worst enemies. Such is the case in what took place. Whenever someone wants to purposely exclude someone it is not because you like that person or group.

There is no hate without violence and violence does not have to be Physical. Believe me, I have stood my ground a number of times when I have been subjected to Hate speech. Now let’s look at Abuse and how it links to Hate and Violence. You start with dislike then it builds to hate and that then gives way to abuse followed by violence. Remember that Abuse is defined as any action that intentionally harms or injures another person. Therefore we can easily see that Abuse and Violence walk hand in hand. Here is what I want you to look at and think about. You cannot have abuse without hate and that is ALWAYS followed by violence. There is no exception to this rule.

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

― Isaac Asimov

Violence comes in so many different forms some of which we are not willing to look at. Even more so, that we might just be the perpetrator who starts the ball rolling towards violence. Sometimes public figures can influence others to be monsters. Over the last few months, thanks to the events here in Tasmania and on mainland Australia. I have read just how many people are ignorant of what violence is. It is sad to say, but the truth does hurt that we are not taught enough about violence. In fact, many people even those outside of the LGBT+ communities love to sugar-coat abusive actions with excuses. You might see people even use excuses as justification for their actions ahead of time.

So how does this tie into mental health?

Over the last five years all over the world, we have seen mental health decline in so many different areas. We have seen people lose their minds when they can’t get a refund, people protesting on their streets about BLM, people trying to get an exemption to hate another part of society openly, Lynching, Murder, and the list goes on and on. There were times in these last few years where I just looked in complete disbelief. Because there is nothing good to say about what had taken place that day. To look back at this month I was shocked that someone would go to the extreme of seeking permission to exclude one part of society. If you looked at that part of society they would not exclude those who are want to exclude them.

The rise of “Karen” as a title concerns me that we were softening the violence with a label. Instead of people seeing it for what it is. A loss of control of one’s emotions to a point of violence. We see this in the use of terms like Homophobia and Transphobia. When we are not calling it what it is Bigotry. Follow my thinking on this, in keeping with the insidious nature of hate and its infectious traits. One does not stop at hating one group only the reason for this is once you find a reason to hate the one you can then find a reason to hate another and so on. For example, I REALLY don’t like Vegemite, opening a jar in my house I will know it. But I also do not like Mightymite, Promite, or even Aussiemite. To me, they all taste the same (burnt soy sauce in a jar).

Disliking something like Vegemite is no big deal, right? Disliking a person because they have done something wrong to you is not wrong it is self-preservation, right? The same line of thinking. But if we started to destroy all of the jars of Vegemite because we don’t like Vegemite. Then we have a problem. We have become violent. See how simple it is to understand? Just because you don’t like a group in society or a person does not give you a reason to attack them. That is hateful, that is violence, and that is wrong. Now we come back to mental health it is not natural for us to be like that. When a child is born and starts to grow its default nature is to love without question. That child is then taught how to hate and become violent.

I live in a town of 86,788 people we are the second largest in the state with about 550k population. The previous two posts about the LGB Alliance reminded me of the Karen label when just out of hand I was about to call Jessica Hoyle a Karen. I caught myself and said “stop, that was not right to do that“. This person has an “Issue” that they feel is valid even though the way they are going about expressing it is incorrect. It might even be a mental health issue to avoid reality. In Australia, the average population of the LGBT+ communities is 9%. I can assure you in Tasmania that might even be lower. But to keep it simple let’s round it out at 10% in this state we have 55,000 LGBT+ people. These are of all age groups in various stages of relationships. When I said we would be lucky in Launceston to have an LGBT+ event we are talking about 50 people who might show up with an error margin of 3% apx.

You see when I called that person a Karen I thought damn this person is off their nutter. The numbers just don’t add up. Nor in the past when events for the LGBT+ community have been held, a lot of people just don’t show up. We had an LGBT+ Comedy night a few years back and the turnout was within the above numbers. I am going to leave this part here because I don’t want you to think that this post is part 3 about the LGB Alliance.

Let’s look at something else that has shown just how much society’s mental health has declined over the last few years. Society creates laws to benefit society as a whole. When the rule of law is incorrect we need to adjust it. But to find that it is incorrect we need facts. Then when it is adjusted we need to obey those laws even when we might not agree with them. Creating violence because you don’t like the laws is unacceptable and devalues all laws.

Where does this leave us in the end? Respect.

Yes, we may not get it from others but that does not mean we have a right not to return respect regardless. Will that solve the “Karen” issue? Not all of them. But it might help us to understand a person that is going through a “Karen” issue. The decline of overall mental health in today’s society is concerning. The willingness to mistrust science for Facebook information is also a concern. If you think about it mental health should be free to every single person. Just think what the world would be like. If you can’t understand think about Polio. Then remember what it took to get to where we are today. I don’t have all the answers but I can say that the more all of us act like “Karen” the more problems we will have.

RESPECT find out what it means to me.

-Aretha Franklin