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I'm sure that everybody and their dog has heard of Ashley Todd by now. In case you haven't, she's a 20-year-old Republican party volunteer who stated that she was mugged at an ATM in Pittsburgh. Not so bad, you say? Well, add to it the fact that she claimed that her assailant was a 6'4" black man who attacked her and mutilated her face after seeing that she had a McCain-endorsing sticker on her car (or perhaps a pin on her clothing, she wasn't clear which), and that he carved a "B" into her face for "Barack" (and sexually assaulted her, according to one of her reports), and you've got a sickening little dollop of racism and fear-mongering and attention-whoring gone mad.
"Mad" may well be the operative word here. While Todd has now admitted to making the whole thing up, the question remains -- Why? Political hatred? Probably. Racial hatred? Possibly subconcious, but certainly present. Mental illness?
Well.
As someone with Borderline Personality Disorder and someone who has a friend with schizophrenia and depression, I've seen the effects of self-mutilation up close and personal. Todd claims that she "doesn't remember" mutilating her own face, but the fact that the "B" in question is backwards certainly argues that she did it while looking into a mirror. Generally people who self-mutilate remember it, if only because the act functions as a way to relieve psychological tension. In any case, assuming for a moment that she's telling the truth this time, not remembering it indicates a dissociative state, which is never a good sign psychologically speaking.
Her demonstrated lack of remorse and shameless bid for attention, as well as her protestations of "Oh deary me, I never realized people would take this SERIOUSLY! C'mon, guyz, LYTEN UPP!1!1!", would lead me, as an armchair psychiatrist, to a tentative diagnosis of Histrionic Personality Disorder. It will be very interesting to see what shakes out over the next several days.
Does this reflect on the entire Republican party? Of course not. But it's certainly unappetizing that a member of their ranks, however mentally disturbed, would try to incite racial panic in such a way.
Kudos to the Pittsburgh PD for digging deep and exposing the lie. I'm just sorry that valuable investigative time was taken up dealing with the deluded ravings of an idiot.
"Mad" may well be the operative word here. While Todd has now admitted to making the whole thing up, the question remains -- Why? Political hatred? Probably. Racial hatred? Possibly subconcious, but certainly present. Mental illness?
Well.
As someone with Borderline Personality Disorder and someone who has a friend with schizophrenia and depression, I've seen the effects of self-mutilation up close and personal. Todd claims that she "doesn't remember" mutilating her own face, but the fact that the "B" in question is backwards certainly argues that she did it while looking into a mirror. Generally people who self-mutilate remember it, if only because the act functions as a way to relieve psychological tension. In any case, assuming for a moment that she's telling the truth this time, not remembering it indicates a dissociative state, which is never a good sign psychologically speaking.
Her demonstrated lack of remorse and shameless bid for attention, as well as her protestations of "Oh deary me, I never realized people would take this SERIOUSLY! C'mon, guyz, LYTEN UPP!1!1!", would lead me, as an armchair psychiatrist, to a tentative diagnosis of Histrionic Personality Disorder. It will be very interesting to see what shakes out over the next several days.
Does this reflect on the entire Republican party? Of course not. But it's certainly unappetizing that a member of their ranks, however mentally disturbed, would try to incite racial panic in such a way.
Kudos to the Pittsburgh PD for digging deep and exposing the lie. I'm just sorry that valuable investigative time was taken up dealing with the deluded ravings of an idiot.
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