Posted on 08/28/2017 4:07:39 PM PDT by spintreebob
On Monday, Merck CEO Ken Frazier, announced he was leaving The American Manufacturing Council.
Referring to the horrible events in Charlottesville where a 20-year-old who suffers from schizophrenia and -- according to his high school teacher -- became obsessed with German military history and Nazism, drove through a crowd of protesters killing one and injuring 19, stated: "America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal."
What a strange non sequitur. It is obvious that Mr. Frazier's intent was to assure America his hands were clean and magnify the focus on the president, but why? What do the actions of a young mentally ill racist have to do with the CEO of Merck, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies?
Could it be that the ever tightening coupling of his industry's overprescribed psychotropic drugs with our country's multi-decade affliction of mass murder may again be coming to the forefront? From Zoloft at Columbine through Lexapro at Newtown to the yet-to-be-disclosed "antipsychotic medication" used by the accused Charlottesville man, the one thread that binds the killers together is that which is spun by Ken Frazier's Big Pharmaceutical factories. Unfortunately for Mr. Frazier, this time there are no gun companies to blame.
I recall this being discussed concerning the bloody rampages that took place at Columbine High School in 1999, Sandy Hook in 2012, and the Denver movie theatre shooting also in 2012. The perpetrators in these and other mass shooting incidents seemed to have that sort of thing in common: being prescribed certain medications for depression and related problems.
Then we must consider whether it is the PROBLEM that is the problem.
It’s not always the drugs. Maybe the drugs just aren’t good enough.
And often, I suspect it’s just the culture. More people being indoctrinated in “you’re the center of the universe” selfishness and glorification/desensitization to gratuitous violence. If you’re on the edge or slightly on the unstable side, this prevailing anything-goes society can push one to the wrong side.
Good letter! Thank you for posting.
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