I am saying I am appalled at the lack of compassion for the man, the active vilification of him as a mentally ill person, and the active vilification of mentally ill people in general displayed by some (not all) posters in this thread.
To quote this in response to my comments is something I absolutely take exception to. I have not vilified the man at any stage, nor have I ever vilified anyone with mental illness. I find such a suggestion insulting in the extreme.
I could ask you, for example, if all of the Bali Nine claimed they had some form of mental illness, would you have similar compassion for them? Why could they also not garner sympathy by making such a claim?
If you look back over my posts in the many years I've been a member of ASF, you will see how often I have lamented how people with a mental illness are ignored and not valued. This dates back to governments globally deciding that people who have a mental illness should survive in the community rather than in the institutions that hitherto had given them a sense of security and ongoing treatment. The appalling results of this irresponsible decision are out there for anyone to see if they want to take a walk through the country's most squalid caravan parks which constitute the home for many people who have never received the support promised by governments. It is a national (and probably international) disgrace.
For god's sake, I have spent nearly fifteen years in a purely voluntary capacity working with such people, trying to get more funding for them so they may live a life even remotely close to that which most of us enjoy, and in the meantime, supporting them socially and emotionally. So please do not tell me that I vilify the mentally ill.
And prior to that I spent some hundreds of hours in psychiatric hospitals co-ordinating trials of anti-psychotic drugs.
I'd be interested to know what active measures you have personally taken, Timmy, on behalf of any mentally ill people.
Regarding the likely state of mind of the drug trafficker, I have in my previous post quoted the views of three medical people who all routinely deal with people with bipolar disorder. You have ignored this.
Of course, you may well know more than they do.
I am somewhat confused as to why you have singled me out for condemnation of my remarks, when as far as I can tell, others have been far stronger in what they have said, and indeed could in some cases be genuinely considered to be vilifying the mentally ill.
Even if they are, it's their right - as long as this forum allows free speech - to express such a view.
I don't propose to say anything more in response to your accusations toward me, Timmy. You can think what you like, frankly.