Law and Order: SVU Reviews F

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

“Nocturne” Season 1. Wikipedia summary is: “After a pharmacy turns over some disturbing photos of a young boy, Benson and Stabler arrest a piano teacher (Kent Broadhurst) for child molestation. After the boy claims to have seen other pictures of young boys at the teacher's house, the detectives get a warrant and discover a series of videos that document the life of a young boy named Evan (Wilson Jermaine Heredia). Believing he can make or break their case, the team searches for him, only to realize that his testimony may not help at all because Evan is scarred far more deeply than they realized.”

One of the detectives at one point distinguishes between homosexuality and pedophilia. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American College of Pediatricians, which doesn’t make that distinction, is a much smaller group than the American College of Pediatrics, which is anti-homophobic. The former has a membership in the low hundreds and the latter had a membership around 67,000 around 2019.

“Manic” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “Detectives Benson and Stabler learn that an alleged victim (Rory Culkin) of a school shooting that claimed two lives, was in fact the perpetrator. After learning about the boy's psychiatric problems from his mother (Mare Winningham), the squad realizes that a major pharmaceutical company is also responsible. “

There are a few things about health care insurers and HMOs denying therapy and generally getting in the way of people’s health. This turns into one of the episodes where a business is the bad guy- it’s a drug company that irresponsibly mailed out samples of an anti—depressant without a doctor’s supervision of the patients. It was a pretty messed up marketing scheme and got two kids killed.

“Coerced” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “A homeless and schizophrenic man (Leland Orser), desperate to see his son (Spencer List), kidnaps a different boy (Dylan Bluestone) from his bed at night. After being attacked by the man, Detective Stabler begins to contemplate the factors that caused him to snap. This investigation exposes further crimes at an adult group home.”

Mental Health and Class

This is slightly about class gaps in the mental health care system, where some of the lowest income patients are treated by institutions that are corrupt and treat them poorly. I’m not sure how common that sort of thing is and it might have more to do with corruption than with class. The mental health center I get my treatment at wouldn’t do anything comparable to what is talked about in this episode and treats low income people and homeless people. But I know that some homeless and low-income mentally ill people can’t get benefits like SSI and SSDI (that are run by Social Security) and some of them probably end up in places like the group home illustrated in the episode.

“Choice” Season 5. Wikipedia summary: “A man (Rick Aiello) is arrested for attacking his pregnant wife (Josie Bissett) in protest of her drinking during pregnancy. Detective Benson finds out that she also overindulged in alcohol while pregnant with an earlier child (Katherine Roberts). The wife is taken to family court by her husband, who accuses her of endangering the fetus by putting it at risk of developing fetal alcohol syndrome.”

There’s some good pro-choice stuff in here. In fact, to a large degree it’s more about abortion than it is about rape.

“Abomination” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “The homosexual poster-boy of a sexual re-education group is found murdered. After a local fundamentalist is cleared, the detectives turn their attention to the victim's thesis about the failure of sexual re-education groups. An opposing professor (George Segal) is found who has a dysfunctional relationship with his son (Jonathan Tucker).”

 

Conversion Therapy

This is about homophobia and specifically “conversion therapy,” the idea that gay people can become straight through prayer and therapy. It reminds me of a movie called “Boy Erased” which is a true story about a young man who tries to complete such a program. It’s a fairly brutal program and doesn’t work (because sexual orientation is not a choice) and at the end of the movie we learn that the head of the program is now married to another man. It’s a great movie and illustrates what’s wrong with conversion therapy and like I said, it’s a true story.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Reviews A

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

The first episode is a two-parter, the first called “Man Up” and the second part called 
“Man Down.” The wikipedia summaries are:

“The Special Victims Unit is called in after a fifteen-year-old boy (Bryce Romero) is sexually assaulted. Despite having evidence, he is too scared to name his attacker (Dylan Walsh), making things complicated for the detectives. When the identity of the attacker is discovered, the detectives do their best to protect the teenager from being abused again. Meanwhile, Rollins talks things through with her ex-boyfriend who cheated on her with an escort and also confides in Benson that she is pregnant for a second time. Benson expresses concern to Tutuola that she is not as strong or fast as she used to be.”

and

“The case involving a teenager who was sexually assaulted continues and Stone takes the rapist to court. However, an unexpected verdict comes back, shocking everyone involved. The victim ends up making a tragic decision which results in several people dead and injured and the Special Victims Unit must charge the victim. An upset Stone along with the rest of the squad decide to try their best to charge the boy's rapist as well in order to get justice for all the victims who were killed or injured in the attack. Meanwhile, Rollins starts having doubts about her pregnancy.”

 

Feminism

There are two feminist aspects of this. Overall it’s slightly about taking the idea of pushing someone to “man up” to a point where it becomes sexist. There’s also a moment when Benson says to Rollins about abortion: “This is your decision to make, alone, and I will defend to the death your right to make it, but regret is an awful thing to live with.”

 

Gun Control and Politics

The main element of the second half is a school shooting and this brings up the issue of gun control, something I largely support. I was in college when the Columbine incident took place in 1999 and I think if the “gun show loophole” had been closed it might not have happened. I was surprised to learn recently that in recent years increasingly law enforcement opposes gun control, which seems to me to mean that more than usual they have a double standard and want guns out of the hands of some of the population but are fine with conservatives having guns. They continue to introduce people of color, disproportionately, to the criminal justice system, which seems to usually have a negative effect on your second amendment rights, and search Black people for weapons more than white people, and shoot Black people who don’t even have a gun, but generally are okay with “open-carry” and more specifically treat white people who pose an armed threat to the State with kid gloves while they call for Antifa to be declared a terrorist organization (Antifa and it’s predecessor, the Anti-Racist Action Network, without arms focuses(d) on grassroots fascists (in the past that usually meant Nazi skinheads), not cops).

 

Homophobia

There’s also two bits about homophobia. First, in the first half, the father suggests that if someone is gay they need counseling. In the second half the son is interviewed by a psychiatrist who refers to her wife and the son just says he isn’t gay, but without any hostility, like he rejects his dad’s homophobia.

“Zero Tolerance” Season 20. Wikipedia summary is: “A nine-year-old girl (Scarlett Lopez) is taken from her mother at the U.S.–Mexico border and ends up in a child sex trafficking ring in New York, which quickly comes to the attention of the Special Victims Unit. Benson and Stone try their hardest to reunite the girl with her family within the court system but meet many obstacles along the way. Eventually, Stone decides to ask for help from an old friend. Meanwhile, Rollins decides to give her rocky relationship with Pollack another chance.”

 

Immigration

Even before the main story about immigrants kicks in, there is one minor pro-immigrant thing. Probably an average of 5 times a season, the detectives make it clear that they’re not “la migra” (immigration) when seeking witnesses, and that sort of thing happened here. It just occurred to me that it would be good if about 20-30% of the time that involved white immigrants who are undocumented because it wouldn’t hurt if white people understood that amnesty would benefit, for example, undocumented Irish.

The main story is about separating undocumented children from their undocumented parents, something that became a hall-mark of Trump immigration policy in recent years. The show is extremely critical of that. When someone from the Office of Refugee Resettlement comes to take the girl back to a camp, he is identified as the one who took her from her mother’s arms and Benson has him arrested for kidnapping. It doesn’t survive the courts of course, but it’s still a powerful statement.

As usual there is some probably realistic disagreement among the detectives about the issue. The Black detective (“Finn”) is less than totally pro-immigrant and unfortunately when the “we’re all the descendants of immigrants” argument is made, he (kind of reasonably) describes Black history. I think that when it comes from pro-immigrant black people, it’s a reasonable response to a flawed pro-immigrant argument, but otherwise it’s a bullshit response to a flawed pro-immigrant argument. He DOES make a good point about how Black people are treated today (but again, it really has nothing to do with a less-than-totally pro-immigrant position). (a colleague refers to immigrants “yearning to breathe free” and then Finn says “I still can’t breathe free,” likely a reference to the last words of Eric Garner, a black man who was killed in a chokehold by the NYPD)

“Exile” Season 20. Wikipedia summary is: “The Special Victims Unit is called in to investigate the sexual assault of a young homeless woman (Aimée Spring Fortier). The squad soon realizes that the woman has a dual personality which makes things complicated. However, when she goes missing, the squad becomes challenged to not only uncover her whereabouts but also her real identity. The detectives later discover that someone from her past may be responsible and that the assault may have happened a long time ago. However, the squad meet a dead end in their investigation and Benson makes a generous decision to help the victim recover from her ordeal.”

There are two main aspects of this that are abnormal (normal being about sex crimes).

 

Homelessness

First, it touches on homelessness. Like almost everyone I’m concerned about homelessness. I have done very little to help the homeless compared to what I’ve done to help those who just have food insecurity (the last 8-10 years I have spent an average of about 4-6 hours a week volunteering at a food-bank) but about 1% of that work was for the benefit of homeless people and probably a lot of food bank clients would become homeless if not for the food bank, and then the resources available for homeless people would have to be shared by a lot more people than is currently the case- i.e. there would be more competition for beds in shelters.

It also touches a little on the subject of homeless people with mental illness. I think that’s a major cause of homelessness- even moderate (let alone severe) mental illness makes it difficult to function and work and pay bills and stuff. Without Social Security disability programs SSI and SSDI there would be even more homelessness. Also, mental illness can be made worse by anxiety, stress and depression and I’m sure gets worse with becoming homeless. (I describe my mental illness here)

 

Marijuana Legalization

The subject of legal marijuana comes up, and the show expresses support for this when Finn buys a legal marijuana snack. I can’t believe that there are still states where even medical marijuana remains illegal. And when it comes to recreational marijuana, I believe there are still federal obstacles for businesses, especially when it comes to banking. Marijuana is much less deadly than alcohol or tobacco and I believe it is less addictive, although driving stoned is probably as stupid as driving drunk. In general I fully support medical and recreational marijuana, especially the former. I can’t believe how many people our nation sentenced to the hell that prison must be for marijuana-only non-violent “crimes.” It’s sick.

Lastly, the gay or bi-sexual psychiatrist working with the DA’s office has a brief appearance.

A Letter to Bernie Sanders About Mental Health Care and Stigma

Below is a message I sent to Bernie Sanders. UPDATE 11/18/20 I sent an almost identical letter to my congressperson, Joe Neguse. His response is below my signature at the end of the letter to Sanders.

Senator Bernie Sanders,

I am not a constituent but I voted for you in the 2016 CO caucus and also this year. My blog doesn’t get much traffic which is a problem I am working on, but I link to your campaign web-site and also Our Revolution. I used to be a DSA member and between 1994 and 2004 I did a ton of activism. Since then I haven’t done much activism, partly because of my disabilities but since 2008 I have done a political blog which until 2018 got a lot of visitors and in the last 3 months I got a lot of visitors because I include the URL for my blog when I leave progressive comments on Politico. In the last 8-10 years I have volunteered 4-6 hours a week on average at a food bank. I left DSA for a hybrid of personal and political reasons but I am a fellow traveler and link to them in 2-4 ways in my blog’s links list. In 2002 I represented the Anti-Racism Commission of DSA at the National Conference of Sinn Fein Youth in Galway, Ireland. My blog is at- https://theblackandthegreen3.blogspot.com/

I am emailing you instead of my own Senator because I’m more familiar with you, because you’re a national leader, because I know you feel strongly about funding mental health care and because I can imagine the likely thoughts that Bennet and/or his staff will have when they read about a mentally ill progressive. I appreciate what you have done- we need more funding for mental health care. Although I’m very slightly middle-class, I qualify for SSI and SSDI and am part of what you might call the low-income part of the mental health care system. The mental health center I go to is fairly well-funded (it serves two counties in Colorado, one being Boulder), but sometimes they have to ration therapy. Sometimes I have only gotten therapy every other week and at one point they were talking about me taking a break from getting therapy. For a lot of us therapy is very helpful.

But in addition to funding, we also need to address what is called stigma. As the National Alliance on Mental Illness said several months ago in ads seen in movie theaters, stigma can result in people not getting help. I think there is a major problem with stigma in our society. When I have a good reason to, I mention that I am mentally ill. I don’t hide it. But recently when I mentioned it to 4 progressive activists in an email, 2-3 of them didn’t respond (it’s a little complicated).

I usually think of things this way. As individuals and as a society, we should do whatever is reasonable so that people with disabilities can participate as much as possible in our society. But I think a lot of people have a double standard between physical disabilities and mental disabilities.

I have had for roughly 25-30 years, Depression, Tourrette’s Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Although I would have said in the past that they floated between mild and moderate, now they hover around moderate, and the ADD is a little worse than that. To give you a better idea of what I mean by “moderate,” let me give you two examples: With the ADD, if I watch a two hour movie by myself, on average I have to stop and rewind about 10 times before I’m done, just because of the ADD. One aspect of the OCD that can be measured is that, after I make sure my car or bedroom door is locked, I go back 2.5 times on average to make sure it’s locked. I suffered a brain injury in 2010. It affects my hearing, my immediate/working memory, and my ability to organize my thoughts. It MIGHT have made my short-term memory a little flawed, but my long-term memory is still really good. At the risk of putting down other mentally ill people, I have a firm grip on reality.

After my ADD got really bad in 2007 and the 2010 brain injury there was an insurmountable barrier to me doing activism. I have since gone to an occasional event or protest and I don’t refuse to have face to face conversations with people about politics but I don’t look for trouble by going to weekly or monthly meetings where events are planned and there are discussions about goals, tactics, vision, and strategy. I do my blog, I volunteer at the food bank and I go to events as an audience member.

So I understand that there are some things mentally disabled people can’t do. But I think there are a lot of times when stigma keeps mentally disabled people from participating in our society as much as they really can.

I’ll be honest, I’m not real familiar with what they do because I haven’t needed their help, but I like to think that if I encounter stigma in one form or another, if it were serious enough I could turn to the local or state or national office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But I am sure they could use some more money. If someone encounters bias against them because they’re physically disabled, they get plenty of help. If someone is mentally disabled and less able to deal with bias against the mentally ill, I don’t think they get much help. I would ask you to look into NAMI and when appropriate promote them.

Thanks for your time and everything you’ve done for progressive causes. I don’t expect a personal response, but if someone working for you could let me know that this message was received I would appreciate it. If I don’t get such a response, I will try to contact you via your Senate office web-site, and after that I will drop it.

Tom Shelley
Boulder, CO 

 

********

 

Below the asterisks is the response I got from my congressperson. He doesn't address the issue of stigma, but he does seem fairly concerned about mental illness in a positive way.

***********

 

October 23, 2020
 

Mr. Tom Shelley

(I deleted my address)

Dear Mr. Shelley:

Thank you for contacting me with your support for mental health services. I appreciate hearing from you because it enables me to better represent the beliefs and values of our district, and I agree with you that Congress must do more to help individuals who are suffering with mental illness access the resources they need.

There are millions of Americans living with undiagnosed mental illness, and millions more who have received their diagnoses but aren't receiving the care they need to properly manage their health and wellbeing. I believe that every American has the right to high-quality, affordable healthcare, which includes mental health treatment. Too many individuals are forced to prioritize other aspects of their lives over taking care of their mental health, and too often there are not enough resources available for them to get the help they need. Mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities lack the funds they require to serve their communities, caregivers lack adequate support to assist their loved ones, and far too many people dealing with mental illness end up in prison, which only exacerbates their struggles. To that end, I am a cosponsor on H.R. 945, The Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2019. This bill would provide coverage for marriage and family therapist services and mental health counseling under Medicare.

In addition, Colorado has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, especially for children and young adults ages 10-24. We need to be taking care of our children and youth populations and increasing resources that are available to prevent many of these tragic deaths. I am proud to cosponsor H.R. 4194, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2019, to designate the number 988 as the national suicide hotline and provide support to those in need. I also joined several of my colleagues in asking for increased funding for the National Institutes of Mental Health, Community Mental Health Services Block Grants, and other programs in the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations process, and voted in favor of amendments to the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Bill that passed the House on June 19, 2019 to add additional funding for mental health programs to the Fiscal Year 2020 budget.

As your Representative, providing accessible mental health resources is something that I care deeply about. Should other legislation regarding mental health services come before the full House of Representatives for a vote, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind.

I appreciate that you took the time to contact me, it is one of my priorities that the constituents of the Second District of Colorado have their voices heard. I encourage you to continue contacting me about the issues that are important to you. Please visit my website at https://neguse.house.gov/ to sign up for my e-newsletter and receive periodic updates on my activities as your representative in Washington.
 

Sincerely,

Joe Neguse
Member of Congress 

Sanders/Warren 2020!!!

A few days ago I sent the message at the very bottom to the Warren campaign.  It was flawed and incomplete and after I circulated it to some people I know politically and/or personally I actually sent out two more messages to those people. Immediately below are some new thoughts etc. that complement what I wrote to her campaign. I got only one response and that person agreed with me but declined to contact the Warren campaign. I am doing this because I believe that I am part of the broad progressive movement that Warren and Sanders are leaders of, and since I can't do normal political activism, I do my blog, I volunteer at a food bank, and I attend progressive events to learn and contribute to the success of the event as an audience member, and this post is my way of participating in the primaries beyond voting (I voted for Sanders in CO's primary). (I can't do activism because I have Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Tourrette's Syndrome, bad Attention Deficit Disorder, and a brain injury that affects my hearing, my immediate/working memory, and my ability to organize my thoughts)


I believe that the combination of a woman on the ticket and Trump as the alternative will convince some female Clintonites (moderates) to vote for Sanders in the primary. I am not being ridiculous. I think some of them KNOW that he has a better chance in the general, and I THINK they really like the idea of a woman President and VP is a springboard to President.

And the better he does in the primaries, the more united the party will be at the convention and in the general and the more likely that Bernie voters in the general will vote for other Dems down-ballot, and then he has a chance of getting his agenda through Congress.

Also, a lot of female independents who are progressive (and might otherwise have trouble voting for someone, even Sanders, who's a Dem candidate (I don't know what he's been saying recently, but in 2000 Nader said that even progressive Dems should be targeted in elections by the Green Party)) or sort of in the center will vote for Sanders in the general.


My message to Warren’s campaign:

I'm sure you get tons of messages and you're very busy, but I still need to say this. I link from my blog to both Warren and Sanders, but I am a little more enthusiastic about Sanders because I am a socialist and from the beginning he has had a better chance of winning the nomination and a general election. After the results in SC, Warren really needs to drop out and talk with Sanders about being his running mate. I don't know if that sort of thing is done during the primaries but there can't be a law against it. Such a ticket, informal in the remaining primaries and formal in the general will attract some (in the primaries) or a lot (in the general) of support from female Clintonites who would normally hate Sanders. Such a ticket, in the primaries, would help defeat Biden and Bloomberg, and in the general it would have a good chance of defeating Trump.
Thanks for your time reading this and what you've done to promote a progressive agenda.
Tom Shelley
Boulder, CO
tshelley75@comcast.net
https://theblackandthegreen.blogspot.com/

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews G

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“Cardassians” See this for a plot summary.

This is a good episode. Not sure how applicable it is to N. Ireland or opposing bigotry, but it’s kind of relevant to both. There’s a lot about people who are self-hating, although in this case the person hating their identity is not oppressed but has been raised by people that his people treated very horribly. His parents loved him, but taught him to hate his people and to more or less identify with them (Bajorans) instead of his own people (Cardassians). I can’t see a similar situation developing in N. Ireland, or more accurately, the South after independence, but it’s possible it happened with something like some tiny number (5??) of people. I have heard of people who do not fit the Nazi mold (i.e. they’re non-white or Jewish) embracing racism or anti-semitism. There’s also something kind of relevant with American Indians being raised to be white in boarding schools.

We also get a better look at O’Brien’s anti-Cardassian bigotry, although it’s mixed and you might say kind of contradictory. Although I believe there are are shades of gray with bigotry and O’Brien’s is fairly mild, he still says things that seem a bit out of character. He’s very sympathetic to the Cardassian Pa’dar. It might not be out of character when you consider that Pa’dar is a civilian, not a military officer.

Overall a good episode, I give it three, almost four, stars out of five.


“Melora” See this for a plot summary.

This is a fairly non-political episode, although it does bring up two issues. First, the issue of disabilities and access. I’m not very familiar with these issues, but support work being done to either improve the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or improve enforcement. Second, the issue of retaining one’s identity. An alien (an Elaysian) whose planet has a lower gravity than normal receives treatment from Dr. Bashir which, over time will make it so she can function normally in normal gravity. At the end she changes her mind, saying that if she could function in normal gravity, she wouldn’t be Elaysian.

It’s an okay-good episode, I’m almost tempted to go as low as one (I’ll probably never use that for DS9 or Voyager, just some of The Next Generation, especially during the first three seasons) but I’ll give it a two.


“Rules of Acquisition” See this for a plot summary.

This is the first of several episodes that highlight how women are treated in Ferengi society (not very well). They’re not allowed to wear clothes or engage in business.

An important part of the episode is that it contains one of the best anti-homophobic statements of ST, which is significant considering how ST has been criticized (with very good reason) in relation to the lack of non-heterosexual characters (there was 1-2 who were villains). At one point the Ferengi female who is disguised as a male is talking with Dax who learns that the Ferengi loves Quark, a male. But before Dax learns that the Ferengi is female, she reacts as if there's nothing sognificant with a male being in love with another male (UPDATE 10/1/11 I wasn't an English major, and am not sure if that sentence implies that there is something wrong with men loving men; if it DOES, let me know and I will consult someone and change it).

Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out of five.


“Necessary Evil” See this for a plot summary.

A very non-political episode, but a good one. I give it three stars out of five.

Also, since ST seems to have accepted the word “terrorism” to describe anything from intentionally killing completely innocent civilians to gun-battles with armed security forces, I should say that based on my definition of a terrorist, as far as I can tell, the Bajoran resistance did not deserve that label. In this episode, the two actions of the resistance described are the sabotage of a mining facility where Bajorans worked under VERY harsh conditions for the Cardassians, and something that, at it’s worst, might have resulted in the assassination of collaborators, which although unpleasant for people in that situation, is not terrorism.