Browsing Facebook, winding my way through the usual tiresome exhibitionism and gruesome selfies, I find one of those messages that makes me think, why on Earth would you share something as stupid as this? Yet there it is on my timeline, not once but twice. ‘Mental health is nothing to be ashamed of. Let’s see who shares this.’ What?
Hmm. Mental health is nothing to be ashamed of. Why mental health and not physical health? How about Physical health is nothing to be ashamed of? But then, why would you be ashamed of mental and physical health?
I think the word that’s missing is poor, as in poor mental health. But if your mental health is poor, you are not going to be ashamed of it, anymore than you’d be ashamed of breaking your leg. It’s being ill and you can’t help being ill.
The demand that everyone should share this stupid and meaningless comment because it implies that otherwise maybe you just don’t care. It’s a passive/aggressive comment. Let’s see who shares this – OR ELSE! No, I’m not doing that.
Anyway – and this may come as a shock to many of you – Facebook isn’t a real place and Facebook friends aren’t necessarily the same people as real life friends. Facebook, if used properly, can be a marvellous place to escape the grind and misery of real life, especially if you are one of those people who find real life a little hard to deal with. But whatever you do, don’t expect me to share something so fucking stupid as ‘Mental health is nothing to be ashamed of. Let’s see who shares this.’
Why not do something useful instead, like writing to your MP, saying how shit mental health provision is and demanding s/he does something about it. A pathetic whine like the one I’ve written about helps no one and changes nothing. And it makes me seriously pissed off.
