All right. I'm not saying there exists no behavior pattern that can be labeled "pathological gambling" or "gambling addiction" or "compulsive gambling" or the like. Nor am I suggesting that people who exhibit behaviors with easily predictable negative consequences deserve no sympathy/empathy/whatever. Maybe, just maybe, though, it is stories like this that result in "46 per cent of Canadians think(ing) people use the term mental illness as an excuse for bad behaviour." Canadian Medical Association president, Dr. Brian Day, says,"In my professional opinion, Mr. Donaghy would have never committed these offenses if he was not a pathological gambler," "In short, he could not stop himself from gambling," "His gambling history demonstrates the need to gamble to fulfill the underlying need for 'action,'"
So, maybe Donaghy's judge didn't want to be called prejudiced so she reduced his sentence from the expected 27-33 months to 15 months. Somehow, though, those gambling addiction comments from Stephen Block seem inconsistent with the idea that mental illness is analogous to race, gender, or religion. The following sound awkward to me:"In some ways, mental illness is the final frontier of socially acceptable discrimination. Can you imagine the public uproar if mental health was replaced with race, gender or religion?"
"In my professional opinion, Mr. Donaghy would have never committed these offenses if he was not white," "In short, he could not stop himself from having a Y-chromosome," "His Christian upbringing demonstrates the need to worship Jesus to fulfill the underlying need for 'action,'"
