UPDATE: Both a five-minute edited version and a ten-minute full version of my Sam Bond’s Summer 2016 comedy can be found below now for your viewing pleasure. In a while we will post the February 2017 return to the stage, thanks David Zupan, you are a real friend! We have also updated additional info after the videos, including links.
Below, you can watch the both a five-minute and ten-minute video of me, David W. Oaks, getting laughs and a standing ovation, with captions, of my stand-up comedy, Summer 2016.
Before I broke my neck in 2012, I was director of MindFreedom International with more than 40 years as a community organizer. I am a human rights psychiatric survivor activist and I have spoken in a dozen countries. This is my first paid public speaking gig after my fall. I praise the great disability support I receive, “Keep Eugene Weirdest!”
Five-minute version:
Ten-minute version:
This full version of the comedy, with the popular line “Hey you’re all going to die!” can be appreciated by anyone, but includes a few local references:
Oregon Country Fair is a huge gathering each July near Eugene in the woods, with thousands of volunteer-participants. I am an Elder there. Just use your search engine to watch images and video of Oregon Country Fair, to try to get an idea of this wild event!
George Braddock at OCF, helps organize the huge Ritz sauna there, and is an expert on disability, especially bathrooms. Just search for the following phrase to try to get an idea of George’s imagination: ritz oregon country fair
Making a news announcement here, I say I am running against Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR) as a write-in this election, because of Pete’s co-sponsorship of a bill that would increase forced outpatient psychiatric treatment. I call this the “Bill Cosby School of Mental Health,” and I wonder if Pete needs psychiatric help, first. You may view news about a visit to Rep. DeFazio’s office by a few of us to make this point, here: https://www.davidwoaks.com/awards-to-pete-defazio-opposing-forced-psychiatric-drugs
This public gig was at the monthly stand-up comedy event at a community gathering place, Sam Bond’s Garage. “Bleepin’ Funny” happens every month led by comedian Leigh Anne Jasheway, who can be seen sitting near the front of the crowd. Check the Sam Bond’s website toward the end of each month. On Facebook you may check the page for Leigh Anne Jasheway.
Also, on the stage you can see one of my several employees, Ian.
I often have creative events at Kesey Square, in downtown Eugene, named for my friend, the late Ken Kesey, local author of the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Search this blog for several events we have held in the square: kesey.
“Bleepin’ Funny Comedy Night” 5 minute version at Sam Bonds; Eugene, Oregon on July 30th, 2016
DAVID OAKS
PsychoQuad
So, everybody, I am David Oaks, PsychoQuad. [applause, cheering]
A funny thing happened on the way up a ladder to get our cat, Bongo.
Now this was in December, 2012, which you call the end of the Mayan calendar.
Right? I did not believe in that BS.
So my shoes were wet, and in going for Bongo… and, well, I fell.
So Lee Anne Jashaway [hostess for this comedy night] suggested I talk about the worst case scenario.
Hey, you’re all gonna die. [applause, cheering] Thanks.
No, really, the moment I fell I got more labels.
But I had an advantage.
In ancient days, 40 years ago, I was a working class kid going to Harvard
and it flipped me out.
So I ended up in a psychiatric institution five times and it flipped me out.
Alright. So a dozen shrinks diagnosed me as psychotic. It’s true.
That means “psychotic,” that means… [pause]
Hey, bar guy!
Hey, bar guy! If you make a noise, I’ll get your address and be in your life! [applause, cheering]
Is that clear? Alright.
Anyway, so there I was, now with a psychiatric label.
I’ve had a lot of time to think. 4,000 hours of NPR. [laughter]
alright. My main label is not what you think.
My main label is, I see some of you, “White Older Guy.”
“White Older Guy” or a WOG. [loud laughter] That’s my label.
Now, we’ve had a good run. 10,000 years.
OK, we’re about to leave. We’re shuffling off. Alright.
Alright. Please, please, learn from our mistakes. [loud laughter]
Please. It’s your planet but uh….
So, I do not recommend that you break your neck anywhere. [laughter]
But if you have to break your neck, do it here, Eugene, Oregon.
And my goal now, I want to be the weirdest in the world.
Weirdest in the world!
You heard about Mohammed Ali? “Greatest.”
I want to be weirdest.
And I say we all in Eugene… Screw Portland. [laughter]
What do you mean, “Keep Portland Weird”?
Keep us weirdest!
Thanks much.
[loud cheering, standing ovation]
Here is the full ten-minute version:
[revised 10/31/16]
“Bleepin’ Funny Comedy Night” 9.25 min. version at Sam Bonds; Eugene, Oregon on July 30th, 2016
DAVID OAKS
[applause] Ian’s great. Thank you, Ian. Let’s hear it for Ian. [applause, cheering]
These guys are amazing. I have about eight employees, and they’re great. Thank you.
So, everybody, I am David Oaks, PsychoQuad. [applause, cheering]
So, ah, so really will we find something funny here?
A funny thing happened on the way up a ladder to get our cat, Bongo.
Now this was in December, 2012,
which you call the end of the Mayan calendar.
Right? I did not believe in that BS.
So my, uh, shoes were wet and in going for Bongo… and, well, I fell.
So Lee Anne Jashaway [hostess for this comedy night] suggested I talk about the worst case scenario.
Hey, you’re all gonna die. [applause, cheering] Thanks.
No, really, the moment I fell I got more labels.
But I had an advantage.
In ancient days, 40 years ago, I was a working class kid going to Harvard and it flipped me out.
So I ended up in a psychiatric institution five times and it flipped me out.
Alright. So a dozen shrinks diagnosed me as psychotic. It’s true.
That means “psychotic,” that means… [pause]
Hey, bar guy!
Hey, bar guy. If you make a noise, I’ll get your address and be in your life! [applause, cheering]
Is that clear? Alright.
Anyway, so there I was now with a psychiatric label.
I’ve had a lot of time to think. 4,000 hours of NPR. [laughter]
Alright. My main label is not what you think.
My main label is, I see some of you, “White Older Guy.”
“White Older Guy” or a WOG. [loud laughter] That’s my label.
Now, we’ve had a good run. 10,000 years.
Ok, we’re about to leave. We’re shuffling off. Alright.
Alright. Please, please, learn from our mistakes. [loud laughter]
Please. It’s your planet but uh….
So the number one group to help me
over the last 42 months is surprising:
It is Oregon Country Fair. [cheering] They win.
I don’t know if they were aware they were competing,
but wow I mean, you have got Debra, my wife, who is way ahead
ah, accessibility workers, you name it.
My bathroom is by George Braddock at the Ritz.
I mean wowie zowie.
So, I do not recommend that you break your neck anywhere. [laughter]
It is a tough way to be surrounded by great people like Ian and Emily.
But if you have to break your neck, do it here, Eugene, Oregon.
And my goal now, I want to be the weirdest in the world.
Weirdest in the world!
You heard about Mohammed Ali? “Greatest.”
I want to be weirdest.
And I say we all in Eugene… Screw Portland. [laughter]
What do you mean, “Keep Portland Weird”?
Keep us weirdest.
Alright. So tomorrow I’ll be at Kesey Square.
So if you want some weird fun.
But wrapping up my eight minutes: Let me tell ya that, during the “Sunday Streets” especially at 3 PM.
I have a news announcement. All right.
I’ve known [Rep.] Pete DeFazio [D-OR] for three decades.
Pete is great. But the pressure has gotten too big.
Pete DeFazio. You are all invited to tell him you heard it here.
I am running against Pete as a write-in candidate.
David Oaks. O A K S. No E. Now you can tell Pete.
My reason is: “Pete, you’ve become the Bill Cosby of mental health.”
Repeat this joke. It’s a funny joke. [laughter]
“Pete, David Oaks says you have become the Bill Cosby of mental health.” Come on everybody. Try it out. Come on. Try it. Be revolutionary. [laughter] Try 1, 2, 3.
“Pete, you have become the Bill Cosby of mental health.
“According to David Oaks
“According to David Oaks… who is running against you.”
So, Pete, get some psychiatric help.
That’s from your psycho quad friend. By the way,
Lee Anne, you lead me. Thank you. [cheering]
[inaudible] Thanks much. You’re all so funny. I’ve enjoyed it.
We have enjoyed you for months. Thanks much.
[cheering, standing ovation]
[revised 10/31/16]
To stay in touch, please get on the email list which you can do on the right side of this blog.
More than 42 Months After I Broke My Neck, I Do a Stand-Up Comedy Act this Saturday, 30 July 2016
Or perhaps I should say “sit-down comedy”? My intro for my act by the MC will be this:
“From right here in Eugene, our next sit-down comic is David Oaks, also known as PsychoQuad. That means he can slay any audience and then plead insanity!”
If you live in the Eugene-area, or know someone here, get there early to save your seat at Sam Bond’s Garbage, the bar Blair! I will bring my own seat. The monthly show, Bleepin’ Funny, is hosted by an indisputably leading comedic talent in our area, Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant. And it is a free event.
I have been going with my loving wife, Debra, for most months to Bleepin’ Funny, for years. I have been in the audience, in fact Sam Bond’s saves a table or two for my friends and me. But this Saturday, 30 July 2016, when the show starts at 5 pm, I am slated to take the stage about the fourth slot.
I have been practicing my stand-up. Before my fall I had the disadvantage of speaking “seriously” in about a dozen countries, for a fee. But humor is better and more fulfilling than boring non-stop seriousness. Or not?
Bleepin’ Funny always features some stand-up, plus Leigh Anne takes the stage with a crew and does some lively, fresh improv. The show ends about 7 pm. It is all-ages, so bring the kids and do not worry about blue material. Call me crazy, but, I say get there early. Heck, even if it is nearly empty you might volunteer for my chair-hoisting crew! See Ian if you want to help out.
The comic Isaac Paris drew me to this amazing possible career, if these weird people known as stand ups can tolerate a professional weirdo. Move over Josh Blue, you no longer are the king of cripple comedy.
Isaac helped arrange for me to do comedy and be on this show. He is up in his native Alaska this week, so he will miss this Bleepin’ Funny. My documentarian and good friend David Zupan plans to video my act, with permissions of course!
Last week, I rehearsed at the Lane Independent Living Alliance (LILA) Peer Support Club, and Zupan was out of town so I did not pursue the documentary. But a relative shot me with their laptop for my own edification. You would think we had somehow violated the law, because an unsmiling employee had her boss e-mail me a verbal unfriendly terse note, I guess government-funded places like that can never have documentaries? My friend Mark Roberts is the brother of the famous Ed Roberts! I guess if Ed were still alive, and tried to speak at a Center for Independent Living, he would not be able to be taped for broader distribution. Hey, protect those privacy rights, cash our taxpayer-money checks, and let us celebrate there are now several-hundred Center for Independent Living (CIL’s) in the nation today, the backbone of the USA disability movement. I love CIL’s, but it is time to start an ADAPT local chapter; I hear you ADAPT headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Humor is Necessary: Please Laugh Once Per Minute (Just Joking!)
Anyway, the good humor, at least we hope it is good humor, will be at Sam Bond’s Garage, a down-home community center with good beer, great little menu, and even great outdoor seating in the back during warm months when it is appropriate. See you there, I will get there very early to save a place or get drunk.
Some Actual Real Humorous News! Well, True Anyway, and I Think it is News-Worthy Mental Health Revolution News
During my rehab, over these more than 42 months, I have had one (1) paid gig doing my work. Incredibly, probably because of a recommendation by my good friend, psychiatric survivor New Yorker Celia Brown, of MindFreedom, my solitary paid gig during my rehab has been to be one of the many independent contractors in the mental health reform field to review and comment on drafts of several manuals, mainly about mental health peer support, by the World Health Organization (WHO), based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WHO, yes, the same global health agency that tackled some nasty viruses in recent years, has a small but active division working for global mental health. Five years ago, I had the good fortune to visit WHO headquarters in Switzerland, because a number of us psychiatric survivor activists met with and consulted for the head of WHO mental health at that time, the passionate and brilliant Italian psychiatrist, Dr. Bendetto Saraceno. The doctor now directs a psychiatric non-governmental organization in Europe, and has retired from WHO.
This year, the WHO mental health manuals have not yet been released to the public, and so the content is private. However, for my generous independent contractor fee, I tried to provide online input for all the draft manuals. I tried to provide written comments that were both practical and revolutionary.
Some of the non-normal written comments that I made about these drafts, as an actual official paid WHO consultant, were:
The world very much needs a revolution, especially because the climate crisis has been so ignored for too many years. Yes, as the Pope recommends, I also suggested revolution for our planet in my official written comments to WHO, as a contracted consultant. In fact, since another round of input is to be requested, I currently still am an WHO independent contractor. Of course, I am speaking for myself and my opinion alone here, not in any way for WHO.
Repeatedly, I made sure that my position was crystal clear, that one hundred percent of all people, all the time, every moment, from womb to tomb, are in a state of mind that is in extreme, life-threatening crisis. That is right, my 42 years of activism in psychiatric survivor revolution provided me with four words as my lesson: “We are all nuts!” Nothing wrong with being nuts, if that word has any meaning at all. We may always all of us be nuts, but we can choose what kind of nuts we will be. Will we be creative positive nuts? Or destructive divisive nuts? We must choose.
Everyone alive, everyone, has a crisis. Maybe your’s will be very short, but we all have at least one crisis. We are moral. We love. So, prepare for your crisis! Hey, all you need to do is get ready for the unexpected. May I humbly suggest building your community of friends and family?
We must act now! We cannot wait for perfect information, in fact science has a theme: Mystery! Whether it is quantum physics, black holes, fractals, chaos theory, string theory, dark matter, dark energy, etc.: As Socrates noted over and over, we do not know much, to this day. But we still need to act, we still need to ask questions. Just as the wing of a butterfly can later influence the course of a hurricane, we must flap our wings! Note we have enormous influence, but not control.
The other side of the Butterfly Effect is that as the climate crisis triggers dozens of positive feedback effects, we are entering unpredictable chaos. No way I am giving up hope! Hey, that was me lying on the floor with a broken neck 42 months ago! But my paralysis is mild next to our society’s paralysis. Everyone, all of us, get off the floor!
A first step is to realize that internal revolution in our hearts and minds, is not stoppable. Let us make this shared goal more visible now, to help our global morale. I am not saying we will win a quality revolution, but I am sure we can try right now! I believe in you, you all are Supreme Commanders this time! OK, not all of that went into my comments to WHO.
But, I made it very clear in my written comments to WHO as an official consultant, that the thing we the public have been calling “normal” does not actual exist. Yes, like some horrible nightmarish virus, “normality” has been eliminated, it does not exist. Since I know that several WHO people have a great sense of humor, it turns out they are human, then I hope they take some credit for finding their funny bone and realizing the seriousness of saying, “There is no normal!”
Yes, normal is not in fact, well, normal. Eliminating all traces of “normal” is not the same thing as going after a virus. Yes, some people choose to take drugs to address mental and emotional issues. That is their choice. But “normality” and mental wellness in general, is about something far deeper and more profound than any “normal” medication.
I encourage folks to use the easy online interface with WHO to provide resources, suggestions, feedback, important points about the mental health industry, and more important the revolution in mental well being, which uses choice/freedom as a kind of umbrella for recovery, and once shielded there are thousands and thousands of approaches! Just use your search engine to search for the following phrase and then type in your comments: World Health Organization Contact Form. Dr. Saraceno told me, that every comment made to WHO must be treated with respect, and logged. Yes, even so-called irrational comments. Please send your favorite empowering alternative, ask WHO to send this to their mental health division! At the bottom of this is a three-minute video to promote reaching out to WHO. The revolution does not apply only to us consultants, but to everyone, even non-human animals, plants and maybe every particle.
Hey wouldn’t it be cool if the whole universe, you included, are equals all working as one? Now that is a Revolution!
On the Birthday of My Friend Leonard Roy Frank (LRF) 15 July 2016
I first wrote this on the 8th day of Creative Maladjustment (CM) Week, which was 7 to 15 July 2016. Yes, Creative Maladjustment Week is now eight days long to end on the 7/15 birthday of this psychiatry-surviving, electroshock defying, mystic-being, beatnik-pioneering, quote-editing San Franciscan Leonard Roy Frank (who would have turned 84 this year of he were still alive).
During these three and a half years of my deep recovery I estimate that I have listened to more than 4,000 hours of National Public Radio news, tuning in every morning via our local KLCC-FM. For example, I feel as if I am personal friends with John Hockenberry, host of Takeaway, because he first got his start here in Eugene KLCC-FM, he is in a wheelchair, but he only exchanged one message before he moved to the East Coast and became a national radio star. He still seems to support revolution, and you do not have to use your imagination much to hear that.
So, for better or worse, I have had more time to think, with my brains, heart, great support folks. Leonard, you showed us that after incredible torture the human spirit can still come back and help humanity. Every time I spoke privately with Leonard, we laughed and laughed. What a keen and at times wicked sense of humor, informed of course that near-biblical personal moral code.
A bunch of my friends in our movement are now dead, or as some of us joked very, very disabled: Rae, Judi, Howie, so many more, and now Pat Risser. If we remember to reform the corrupt mental health group, NAMI, even half as much as Pat wanted, always keeping our sense of humor and outrage, think of all the loving parents who we can support, now being tricked by this drug company front group!
More info about Leonard can be found all over the web, or go to any major bookstore and ask for their huge book Quotationary. Leonard lovingly edited this book of thousands of quotes, and subversively inserted dozens of great quotes very critical of the mental health industry, psychology, psychiatry, electroshock, etc. While he did not hide his identity as a psychiatric survivor during his work as one of the world’s experts on quotes, the fact is that he ended up gathering quotes as part of his strategy to re-create his incredible mind after psychiatry tried to destroy his loving spirit, unsuccessfully.
Sounds like LRF got the last laugh on the mental health industry torture machine. Since this apparatus apparently lacks a spirit of humor, getting the last laugh may be very winnable! I know that so many people have been cheering me on and sending support in so many ways, thanks! My Mom used to send out personal thanks with hand-written cards. As Mom got into her late 90’s she stopped sending cards. Her death last year really put a crimp in her card writing!
But do MindFreedom members really know that this shy Mom of mine worked for years as a volunteer in the main office, sometimes three days a week! Truly, Violet Oaks, my Mom, was MindFreedom’s top volunteer. So far.
For those of you who have read this long post, despite my many severe disabilities, or perhaps because of my creative maladjustment to these extreme challenges, I am talking with board members about coming back in some way, perhaps as a consultant. If I can crawl back to the work place, with extreme accommodations, so can anyone!
So a MindFreedom folks, do you want me back helping on our ship after these 42 months? If you can work together with other members, and ask me to come back, maybe I will, in some way. Before I fell, during my 25 years at MindFreedom’s helm, I raised about one million dollars for this grassroots human rights coalition.
We always prided ourselves about being independent of government money, and working for donations, often from very poor folks. Now, your feedback is appreciate, here, or via Facebook, or with your hearts. And the Oddsquad Advisory Team, and others, I need your advice right now. I must find the tight rope between recovery and revolution.
Breaking your neck is never a good idea but if you must break your neck, I would recommend Eugene, Oregon, USA. I have so very many of you to thank! Surprisingly, the absolute winners in the “Support David W. Oaks During His Recovery,” is the Fair Family connected to Oregon Country Fair.
This message is to you all: The rest of my life could be weeping tears of joy thanking you all, every moment! How do I know? I can’t wait, I must act now and thank you! Thanks, thanks, thanks. The word for thanks in Lithuanian, origin for all my grandparents, sounds like a sneeze:
Ah-h-h-h-h Ch-o-o-o-o-o! That word is spelled “aciu,” with some pronunciation marks. Sorry, no time for that, just thanks thanks thanks!
DISCLAIMER: Thanks to homecare worker Sara and my admin for taking my raw notes and fashioning that into the blog, though I take full responsibility and finished my final edit today 27 July 2016. Because of the coincidence of Ghostbusters 3 debuting on 15 July 2016, I was eager to get something out that day. Thanks everyone, especially my darling wife Debra, when I fell, I know that we fell. I hope people give you, Debra, support that is even better than the amazing support so many have given me this past 42 plus months!
OK, Here is a Three-Minute Free Video Encouraging You to Contact the World Health Organization, Now!
It is easy, you can suggest your favorite humane alternative to the inherently flawed, corrupted-beyond-comment mental health industry to our World Health Organization, just direct your search engine to their Contact Form: http://www.who.int/about/contact_form/en/
Above entry was a originally posted on my personal blog, which can be found here:
Did you know you are a key leader of a global peaceful revolution? Surprise! My guess is that many of you reading this may not yet know that you are one of the “Supreme Commanders” of world revolution.
In fact, if you wish, and you reflect the values of Martin Luther King, you may say you are leading the organization that he first envisioned, International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM.)
Let me explain.
Yes, during World War II, Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander during D-Day, which was one of the biggest operations in human history. This time, we need to do something far bigger than D-Day, encompassing the whole world. You and everyone are Supreme Commanders.
So I have a question for you:
“What does it look like if humanity even begins to attempt a global revolution?”
However you stand on the USA presidential campaign, you might admire the way Bernie Sanders has talked openly and frequently about “revolution.”
I have been calling for revolution for many decades. As a young adult back in the 1970’s, I experienced forced psychiatric drugging, and so I have spent my whole life (more…)
Sponsored by International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (find IAACM, founded by MLK, on Facebook). We are self-organising this network through the leadership of everyone who supports our principles of mutual respect. You are a leader here!
Citizens in Lane County encouraged to Gather to Save Kesey Square, and Break Climate Silence.
Because they say our society has been to silent about the climate crisis, concerned citizens are invited to speak and sing at Kesey Square, on Broadway and Willamette, which is targeted by developers.
Peaceful events will begin at 3:30 PM on Friday 29 January 2016.
During the vigil organizers plan to visit nearby to Summit Bank, 96 Broadway. Their president, Craig Wanichek, is outgoing chair of Eugene Area Chamber, which has for years stayed silent about the climate crisis despite repeated community outreach. The Chamber new chair is Nigel Francisco, Chief Financial Officer of Ninkasi Brewing. Protesters encourage customers to ask Summit and Ninkasi to lead the local Chamber to finally speak out about the climate.
January 29 is a special day according according to holiday web sites such as Brownielocks. That day you are invited to peacefully celebrate “Freethinkers Day, National Puzzle Day, Seeing Eye Dog Day, and Thomas Paine Day.”
Sponsored by International Association for the Advancement for Creative Maladjustment. Your group endorsement is welcome. Protest is dedicated to the memory of the late activist Peg Morton. We’re round pegs facing square holes!
Plan to speak out that day? Tell us! Find our group on Facebook: LeadOn Lane!
* Also, the editors helpfully added this: Many photos and videos were posted on the Stop Shock Twitter account here: https://twitter.com/stopshocknow/media.
* The original blog entry by me is as follows:
Last month almost 30 grassroot protests of electroshock were held in nine countries around the world. I had the great honor of organizing the protest here in Eugene, Oregon, USA, even though I am a survivor of psychiatric drugs and not electroshock. Electroshock is the psychiatric procedure in which electricity is run through people’s brains. Below are eight lessons that this historic event taught me.
First, here is a two-minute video of our local protest by my good friend and long-time activist David Zupan. This brief documentary shows Chuck Areford, a mental health worker, publicly apologizing to protester Fred Abbe and other shock survivors.
Eight Lessons I Learned from Our International Protest of Electroshock
1. Thank You Debra Schwartzkopff and Other Shock Survivor Organizers!
You proved once more that passion and unity are the main qualities required for resistance. Too often, people in our society mistakenly think that scientists, attorneys, professors and other esteemed professionals are the only ones who are credible. However, even though some of you shock survivors were fairly new to activism, and some of you even wrestle with cognitive disabilities caused by the shock, the true grassroots victory of International Day of Protest Against Electroshock on May 16, 2015 is undeniable.
It may be difficult for some to believe, but in a few weeks time earlier this Spring, these activists used their wits, Facebook, email lists and solidarity with one another to create an event about this very-challenging topic in many different countries at the same time. My friend and recently-deceased activist Leonard Roy Frank would have been very proud of the way the human spirit once again showed itself as unconquerable.
2. Your Protests Were A Pebble in the Pond that Continues to Reach Thousands
Here in Eugene, we had our protest in the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza across from our popular Saturday Market. While we had to compete with enthusiastic drummers who gather each warm Saturday, we had a good sound system thanks to musician/activist David Rogers who played some tunes. Because this free speech area is well-used, we were guaranteed to have a crowd.
Some protests that day mobilized a few dozen people, others were as small as one person, but all reached many people both online and face-to-face. That is the seeming-magic of taking action. Science has shown that the flap of a butterfly wing can influence the landing of a storm thousands of miles away. Protests, life, the mind and in fact all of reality, apparently emerge from feedback loops far from equilibrium on the edge of chaos! Shock survivors show us that we must be sure to flap your butterfly wings even if we cannot control or predict the exact outcome.
3. Activism is the Alternative that Some Will Not Name
You shock survivors and supporters pulled off these protests with your dedication even though you did not have a lot of money.
Let me give an example of an event I like that uses a lot of taxpayer money, but tends to exclude such real activism. Every year, for the past 28 years, the US federal government funds a major gathering called the Alternatives Conference, bringing together about 900 Americans with psychiatric diagnoses to discuss their local projects such as community centers, peer support groups, respite, advocacy and arts organizations, etc. I have enjoyed about ten of these meetings. However, because this event is funded by taxes there is one alternative that tends to be avoided: Activism.
Sure we all can talk about anything at the Alternatives Conferences, but if we do any significant community organizing, participants have to maintain their independence, such as going across the street and renting space from some other hotel, because the government funders are afraid of bad publicity. While understandable, it is ironic that the main way I have personally found recovery after a psychiatric diagnosis has been my four decades of activism, yet that topic is taboo at this great meeting.
Just before I fell and broke my neck in the Fall of 2012, I helped organize a protest about electroshock during the Alternatives Conference that was held that year in Portland, Oregon. The organizers of the Alternatives Conference 2012 were my friends, but became very nervous that our ferment would endanger their future government funding. My friends prevented us activists from publicly announcing our protest, and even came with hotel administrators to ask me to sign a legal disclaimer, though our protest was across the street from the conference, in a public park. You may see the 22-min. video of our 2012 protest here, it is one of the last times I spoke before my broken back impaired my voice.
On May 16, 2015 electroshock survivors showed us that even though they might not have the same millions as the US government, they made up for that with determination. Sometimes I wonder why USA federal employees are so frightened by activism when the President got his start doing community organizing in Chicago (see Barack Obama’s great book, Dreams from My Father).
You may email the head of the half-billion USA agency that funds the Alternatives Conference, Paolo del Vecchio, and ask why the US taxpayer coughs up money for much of the electroshock in this country, even though our Food and Drug Administration has never approved the device, which remains Class III, experimental with no proof of safety and efficacy. For decades, I have known Paolo, who identifies as someone who has been a mental health consumer. I wonder if Paolo remembers our time in Kentucky years ago when we both keynoted an event, and I introduced him to a bunch of shock survivors who had all experienced human rights violations related to their shock.
Five years ago this July 14, Paolo, who then had a lower federal rank, invited me and more than two dozen other Americans with psychiatric labels to be in a focus group about mental health. We were able to put out a great statement about the undue influence of corporations on our mental health systems, and you may read about that action here. Paolo mainly made sure that our statement did not speak for the feds. Since our historic statement was issued, I have not heard from Paolo and he has gotten promoted!
Please email a strong but civil inquiry to Paolo and his agency:
I have emailed Paolo personally today, and said the following among other things:
“Will federal agencies look into the subject of human rights and electroshock now? This is more than forced electroshock, which occasionally happens in the USA even through outpatient commitment, and includes the fact that every informed consent process I have viewed has been flawed. Perhaps the worst and most subtle violation is that adequate non-drug alternatives are often not researched and provided, even though the scientific evidence shows that such alternatives are often more effective especially in the long run.”
4. Activism as a Healing Alternative
Now I can hear some of you readers blaming taxpayer funding of our movement as the main reason activism is excluded at events like the Alternatives Conference (see number 3 above). However, I have seen the same problem at an independent, grassroots event. Just before I fell and broke my neck in 2012, I was generously invited to be one of the participants in an historic gathering on the coast of California in the beautiful Esalen Institute, which was co-founded by an electroshock survivor, the late Dick Price. Because Dick had been a Lithuanian-heritage Chicago-area psychiatric-survivor resident who experienced Harvard, like me, I felt some resonance.
The purpose of the Esalen gathering was to re-ignite Dick’s grand vision for creating humane alternatives to the current mental health system. Near the end of my stay, we held a support group, and I revealed how lonely I felt there because my main alternative remains activism, and while many other alternatives were discussed, it felt like activism was marginalized. This is not in anyway to disparage the activism by these amazing leaders for alternatives who gathered at Esalen. But the fact remains that too often we see a separation between activism and alternatives. For the shock survivors who organized last month’s protests, speaking up and mobilizing seemed to be a healing alternative.
5. Let Us Get Tougher With Electroshock!
Over the decades, I am proud that I have helped mobilize many people about the issue of involuntary electroshock, that is, when the procedure is given over and against the clearly explicit instructions of the recipient. Incredibly, forced electroshock is growing in parts of the world, according to Disability Rights International. Involuntary electroshock is done now and again even in the USA.
Using special court orders, some Americans living out in the community even have to report to hospitals for electroshock. That is correct, outpatient commitment can include court-ordered electroshock of Americans living in their own homes. I do not fault people if they are skeptical that such extreme violations occur in the USA, but we have the records, media coverage, witnesses, court appearances, etc. to absolutely prove this. Please just use your favorite search engine, adding the words forced electroshock, to read about two people in Minnesota who MindFreedom campaigned for who were receiving the involuntary procedure on an outpatient basis, even though they live out in the community:
I continue to be outraged that involuntary electroshock exists anywhere in the world! Just about the only organized supporters of this violation are industry groups of psychiatrists. Congressperson Tim Murphy (R-PA) has a bill that would vastly expand forced outpatient procedures, an attorney has confirmed with me that this could include involuntary electroshock.
When I worked for MindFreedom, we even got the World Health Organization to oppose forced electroshock, in writing.
Human rights violations involving electroshock extend far beyond forced electroshock. For many years, I have asked to view the informed consent process for electroshock, and in all instances I discovered incorrect facts and outright distortions. But even more than force and fraud, there is a third “f” word, fear, that is a widespread human rights violation related to electroshock. Over and over I have seen people with mental and emotional difficulties prescribed a big variety of psychiatric drugs, and then when these fail they are offered electroshock. However, there are many more humane approaches which are often not provided. The fear of troubled people that the only approach is biomedical, such as drugs and shock, is a growing human rights problem.
While publicizing the protests about electroshock, I noticed that several readers said positive things about these procedures. However, the shock survivors that helped initiate these protests helped get a discussion going about this suppressed topic and that is a great public service. Breaking the silence about all electroshock is a great first step. Having a civil discussion is a start! Exactly how the human rights violations related to electroshock will be addressed remains an important topic, but we must speak out now about this brain-damaging approach and the need to offer alternatives.
7. Linking Electroshock To Global Peaceful Revolution!!!
Today, Pope Francis issued a proclamation that we need a revolution to stop global warming, or climate catastrophe as I have heard it called. Pope Francis called for everybody of all faiths, or of no faith at all, to defend Earth and unite with the cries of the poor. How does the topic of environmental collapse connect to electroshock? There are many real reasons to feel sadness and even despair, especially when climate catastrophe threatens our dear planet. When people feel upset, our society can do much better than running electricity through their brains. Unfortunately, modern medicine is now exploring high-tech super-powerful electrical magnets as an alternative to electroshock, and you may read about such Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation here. Brain damage seems to be a factor here, again; after head trauma there can be personality changes that some psychiatrists interpret as improvement.
After our protest in Eugene, several of us carried our signs and marched a couple of blocks. We stopped for a moment at the nearby Summit Bank which was closed that day, because the hours are weekdays. The reason we stopped there, is that the leader of Summit Bank is the newly-elected leader of our local Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce. I have been helping to mobilize a peaceful effort for five years to have our local chamber speak up and say that the US Chamber in Washington, D.C. does not speak for them about global warming. The well-respected climate group, 350, has had a campaign for about five years to ask local chambers to distance themselves from the US Chamber about this climate catastrophe.
I call the worst-case scenarios for run-away climate catastrophe, in which feedback loops such as methane release amplify global warming to such a chaotic extent that we risk eliminating all human existence, and perhaps all multi-cellular life on Earth, “normalgeddon” and you may read a special landing page I have created for this topic here:
Surprisingly, after my many blog posts about climate catastrophe, I have read some push-back from several skeptics who do not seem very worried about the risk of human-caused global warming, even the well-researched high-certainty of sea level rise, etc. that can be read in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change here, which convenes more scientists than any other project in human history.
While the IPCC focuses on problems from global warming that are highly-certain, I am more worried about the real risk, even if it is uncertain, of a Venus-like climate catastrophe that may end all life here as we know it, and future generations. Hey, Never Again is a slogan that really means never again! However, normalgeddon would wipe out all humanity so mathematically that would be many “agains”! Even an uncertain risk of such a normalgeddon deserves more discussion today, because sweeping upsetting topics under the table is not good for mental wellness!
At the end of our protest here in Eugene, a few of us posed around a statue of the author Ken Kesey that is in the center of our town. Ken wrote the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and he told me before he died that he had a friend splice some electrical extension cord wire so that while Ken lay on the floor, the friend touched Ken’s temples with the bare wires and Ken experienced electroshock in a very crude way. Ken had seen medical electroshock when he worked for a while in a psychiatric institution. Ken said he believed in experiencing at least once and he wanted to research electroshock for his novel. When his friend touched Ken’s temples, Ken later reported that every cell in his body cried out “No!” After that, Ken told me that he no longer believed in experiencing everything once! Ken opposed electroshock, and the image of his protagonist receiving shock remains an icon of this procedure today, even though some details are changed; the brain and electricity are still the same as when Ken wrote this.
We protesters gathered around the statue of Ken reading to his grandchildren because we wanted to thank Ken for bravely writing about electroshock. Yes, I realize that in my opinion and in the opinion of many others that Ken wrestled with substance problems. However, Ken’s rebellious prankster spirit in this book, where he calls normality the Combine, should inspire us all. After I fell I deal with paralysis of all four my limbs and even one vocal cord, but I see that the wider society, what is mistakenly called “normal,” is far more paralyzed than me and had better wake up soon!
Thanks electroshock survivors for taking action and showing all of our society how to shake off this moral paralysis, now!
8. We Are Our Own Media!
I received a photo album from activist Graeme Bacque that has dozens of photos from the protest of electroshock that was held in Toronto. A special thing about this protest is that by coincidence the American Psychiatric Association was having their huge Annual Meeting nearby.
We can learn from other activists, many of them young, that after a protest we must cover our own events. We can upload still-photos, a brief paragraph description and for those who are able, videos.
In order for us to keep on complaining about corporate media, we first need to report on our own events and with 21st century technology, we can do that. For example, way to go Graeme, whose photo from Toronto is on the right, and you can view his album on Flickr here: Graeme’s Photo Album of Toronto 2015 Electroshock Protest
My friend and psychiatric survivor/attorney Jim Gottstein, from his group in Alaska, PsychRights, helpfully compiled this online list of protests about electroshock last month, and you are invited to click around, see the photos, play any videos, and enjoy:
My late friend Leonard Roy Frank would have had a birthday on July 15. In case you have not already started a Global Peaceful Revolution already, and you would like a day to start a GPR, please join with me this July 15th and start! This would be a great gift to a shock survivor, studier of nonviolent revolution, editor of quotes and a leader with a great sense of humor.
Hey, if Americans celebrate revolution on July 4, and French celebrate July 14, then how about we start a Global Peaceful Revolution on July 15?
Thanks all shock survivors, organizers of last month’s protests, and everybody who continues to break the silence about electroshock, and helps to lead a Global Peaceful Revolution.
Update 4/6/2015: Craig Wanichek from Summit Bank is the newly – elected chair of the Board for Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce.
On Sunday, September 21, 2014, here in Eugene Oregon, I participated, with my wonderful wife Debra, in a local rally to support the major march in New York City for climate justice.
Everyone and every group working for mental health justice ought to make fighting global warming a priority right now. Of course, the whole disability movement, and in fact all sentient beings should be concerned about climate crisis, but those of us working for human rights and more choices for mental wellness have special reasons to make this planetary catastrophe a unifying theme for all of us.
Martin Luther King frequently talked about the importance of creative maladjustment as an answer to oppression, and many environmentalists are wondering where humanity’s creativity and maladjustment are right about now. The Mad Movement knows that the psychiatric industry has ground down the human spirit for centuries, but we never ever give up! MLK resisted the war in Vietnam toward the end of his life, and some civil rights activists were mystified that he seemed to be off topic. However, MLK knew that we are all in one big movement for the “beloved community,” as he put it.
But if you need something very specific to connect the Mad Movement to global warming, here it is: Those of us called psychotic are often coerced to take neuroleptic drugs (sometimes called antipsychotics), and these drugs are well known to suppress the temperature-regulatory part of the brain. During a heat wave, prison reformers have been talking about how horrible it is that those in non-air-conditioned prisons where people are forced to take these drugs often die. Well, most USA states have laws allowing citizens to be forcibly court-ordered to take these drugs while living at home out in the community. (more…)