OT: Kentucky high school removes gay basketball player from yearbook page

[elicat]

Geez! What difference does it make whether the kid is gay?

Well, it seems to be one of the things that matter most to him and his most vigorous advocates. So it seems to make a considerable difference.

[MTcatfan]

Why?

I confess, I don't see the logic.

Somebody was omitted.

He was gay.

Therefore it was because he was gay?

That's a logical fallacy. Where's the connection?

I ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast today. My son's soccer team lost tonight. Did one cause the other?

Our #1 golfer was omitted from our yearbook. He was a smoker.

Was he victimized because he smoked, and none of the rest of us did?

He was also overweight. Picture a slightly heavier Craig Stadler. Was he omitted because of his weight?

I hear victimology often. Maybe the one omission was intentional, and they missed the other pictures. And if it was intentional, maybe it was because he was gay.

Or maybe it was because the editor dated the player who was beaten out for his position by him. And maybe the editor is gay.

Look - there seems to be legitimate cause for concern, if the kid can be believed. If he had someone tell him, affiliated with the school, that it was intentional, and it was because of his sexual orientation. Do you believe the kid? I don't know him, but maybe he's trustworthy.

But if that's not true, the mere fact that a gay person was omitted is no more indicative of the reason than if you found someone robbed a bank, and that person was gay and you claimed it was because he was gay.

JMO. We've been burned by sensationalized newspaper headlines and false claims of victimization before. This one wouldn't shock me either way.

Are you aware of his situation with his school administration? There was a situation of some slurs being used in a basketball game in Lexington and an article was done about it. The schools involved then launched an investigation into the situation, and despite some pretty good documentation on the part of the reporter, both schools administrations deemed the harrassment as not happening and stated that the original article on the incident was basically a "fabrication", despite eyewitnessess that were on the record. So then when the yearbook thing happens it is hard for those that are familiar with the situation to believe that this "human error". I have always believed there is no such thing as a coincidence, and this would be one hell of a coincidence and one that borders on the absurd. Here is the sequence of articles that show the situation Dalton has been involved with that lead up to his picture being omitted by "human error" from the basketball page of his yearbook. BTW, the "he is in the yearbook 15 times" excuse is about as asinine as can be, and certainly to me shows the callous nature of the "human error", apparently he was an involved member of the high school, so he got his picture in the yearbook a lot, but when it came time to include him with his fellow seniors, as part of a senior honor that everyone got, he was omitted by quote human error unquote, sorry doesn't pass the smell test to me.


First article containing original accusations:

http://www.outsports.com/2015/4/1/83...tball-kentucky


Second Article about the "fabricated" first article:

http://www.outsports.com/2015/6/18/8...l-kentucky-911


Article about the yearbook omission:

http://www.outsports.com/2015/8/12/9...lton-maldonado


Dalton's response to "investigation" into "human error" explanation:

http://www.outsports.com/2015/8/12/9...donado-picture

[MickintheHam]

Maybe. I would like this to be a case of simple human error.

But unless HS has changed a lot since the Middle Ages when I attended, and unless this small KY town is more tolerant than the Castro in San Francisco, I have a feeling that almost every kid in school would know the guy who came out as gay. For better or worse, I would bet even the yearbook kids would know about him... which would make his exclusion from the basketball page less likely to be simple error.

But, again, I hope it was simple error.

Miss Fuchs who was in my graduating class back in the day was upset when her name was misspelled. Folks, it happens. In her case it was an honest mistake at the printer. Once 500 of those things have been distributed and people has written in them, there is not much that can be done. To her credit she and her family graciously accepted the story and the apology. I believe a lot of people need to follow suit. Not every omission, not every error is a slight. GOI - get over it.

[elicat]

various links to articles

Have your read those articles? Did you notice all the weasel words that let the writer be technically correct without asserting much of anything that one could not drive a Mack truck through at the crucial points?

[suncat05]

Well, it seems to be one of the things that matter most to him and his most vigorous advocates. So it seems to make a considerable difference.

I think you mistook my point. I wasn't saying anything against him. He's a kid in high school. Acknowledge that for what it is. He's a kid in high school.
Now, if he's been militant & vociferous about it, then I can see where his position may have rubbed some people the wrong way. But that doesn't give anyone the right to treat him any differently than any other kid in that school, straight, gay, or otherwise.

[MTcatfan]

Have your read those articles? Did you notice all the weasel words that let the writer be technically correct without asserting much of anything that one could not drive a Mack truck through?

Yes I have read the articles. if you read the second article the reporter tells you he interviewed Dalton, a teammate and an assistant coach and all told the same story with a few minor details different, then AFTER the investigation claiming the original article was a fabrication the reporter interviewed a parent of a teammate, who once again CORROBORATED what the previous 3 witnesses told him. Dalton also saved the text messages he received after the original incident, of which one thread is published in the second article defending the first article. They also have a 911 dispatch where the dispatcher classified the 911 call as pertaining to a "terroristic threat", so unless the caller was lying to the dispatcher, why did the dispatcher come to the conclusion what they were hearing was a "terroristic threat".

So there was plenty of facts to go with the opining in the original article, and the reporter added more facts in his second article. If the reporters opining offended you, understand he is doing it based on the facts that he discovered, and is doing it in a format, SB Nation, where facts and opinions are regularly interlaced in articles. I mean how many places now report stories in this exact same way, SB Nation, Grantland, and a million other "blog" spots report news this way.

[Krank]

I suppose every time there is a situation like this, we can just say "probably due to human error".

I guess that can be said pertaining to just about anything, but as MTcatfan has asserted, there's a history BEFORE this alleged "misprint".

Somehow the point guard, best player, and only known gay athlete in his school, recently coming out no less, gets left off of the ONE place where he is most famous to the community AND his school. The fact that homophobia has been deeply entrenched in "manly" realms such as athletics for a dog's age could not be considered by some on this thread as a possible realm wherein this might happen in THIS instance too.

Maybe it was the student(s) and/or admins from the school who put the yearbook page together and it really was an oopsie, but like kingcat has contended, this quacks too much like a duck to be a goose.

JMO.

[Krank]

Another story, this time by a coach (opinion piece)...

http://www.outsports.com/2015/8/12/9...etball-coaches

[elicat]

The fact that homophobia

So you're saying there are a lot of people there who are irrationally afraid of sameness?

(This word is a piece of Newspeak. Diagnosing people who do not agree with you with a faux psychotic disorder is Stalinism of the purest water.)

[Doc]

I suppose every time there is a situation like this, we can just say "probably due to human error".

I guess that can be said pertaining to just about anything, but as MTcatfan has asserted, there's a history BEFORE this alleged "misprint".

Somehow the point guard, best player, and only known gay athlete in his school, recently coming out no less, gets left off of the ONE place where he is most famous to the community AND his school. The fact that homophobia has been deeply entrenched in "manly" realms such as athletics for a dog's age could not be considered by some on this thread as a possible realm wherein this might happen in THIS instance too.

Maybe it was the student(s) and/or admins from the school who put the yearbook page together and it really was an oopsie, but like kingcat has contended, this quacks too much like a duck to be a goose.

JMO.

Yes, it would be a bit like forgetting to put Karl Towns Bio in a UK publication and then trying to claim they forgot. This is Kentucky, this is basketball. He wasn't the 3 string QB or he didn't write a poem. He was the starting PG, the teams best player and recently came out as being gay, and was the target of much backlash and harassment. He wasn't an unknown. Sure it could have been an error of omission when it was put together...or it could have been the publisher forgot to include that page...or it could have been the yearbook fairy (no pun intended) came in the middle of the night and made that section disappear by waving her magic wand....but I don't think that happened.

[elicat]

Yes, it would be a bit like forgetting to put Karl Towns Bio in a UK publication and then trying to claim they forgot. This is Kentucky, this is basketball. He wasn't the 3 string QB or he didn't write a poem. He was the starting PG, the teams best player and recently came out as being gay, and was the target of much backlash and harassment. He wasn't an unknown. Sure it could have been an error of omission when it was put together...or it could have been the publisher forgot to include that page...or it could have been the yearbook fairy (no pun intended) came in the middle of the night and made that section disappear by waving her magic wand....but I don't think that happened.

Whew. An hour later somebody says something. You are completely wrong in my opinion, but I could not be more glad you posted. The silence was becoming deafening.

[Darrell KSR]

Yes, it would be a bit like forgetting to put Karl Towns Bio in a UK publication and then trying to claim they forgot. This is Kentucky, this is basketball. He wasn't the 3 string QB or he didn't write a poem. He was the starting PG, the teams best player and recently came out as being gay, and was the target of much backlash and harassment. He wasn't an unknown. Sure it could have been an error of omission when it was put together...or it could have been the publisher forgot to include that page...or it could have been the yearbook fairy (no pun intended) came in the middle of the night and made that section disappear by waving her magic wand....but I don't think that happened.

Yeah, and a magic fairy with a wand could've said, "poof, all the gay athletes disappear," and that didn't happen either, Doc.

I'm sorry you didn't find the real life examples, rather than the fantasy, compelling. That's fine, although again, I find logic lacking in these rush to condemn the yearbook staff.

Here's more.

My daughter is a junior at her high school. She plays volleyball and golf, and is a member of show choir. National honor society, all that jazz. Has been a soccer sweetie, PALS, etc. Heavily involved in school.

I just asked her who the point guard was for her school's basketball team. She had no idea. I asked her who the best basketball player was at her school. She didn't know, although she knows some of the players. Doesn't go to the games.

I just asked her who the quarterback was for her school's football team. She knew him, but some less-involved friends didn't know. And that was a 10-win, state semifinal, 7A team. In Alabama.

It's a yearbook staff with high school students, and they aren't involved in athletics, and many of them don't have a clue.

Listen--it could've been intentional. But this notion that it couldn't have been overlooked is preposterous.

I'd love to read some facts, rather than the p-poor media story that was lacking in substance. Even their headline was faulty. At least, there was nothing in the story about the photo being removed, but there was an allegation that it was omitted. Same thing, a difference without a distinction? Maybe. But it set the tone for the lynch mob mentality the story took, and others have gravitated to with a vengeance.

I hate to see anybody--anybody--treated unfairly. In this case, it's not the gay athlete.

[CitizenBBN]

The problem is that there is no necessary connection between the situation at that game and the school's investigation and this omission. None.

Schools are run by bureaucrats. Bureaucrats above all else want to keep from sticking their necks out or getting in trouble. So in one case they want to sweep an incident under the rug to keep it from being a problem b/c that's what is best for them, yet now they're going to CREATE a problem for themselves by poking a sore subject with a really sharp stick?

Come on guys, that's now how those entities work. In both cases they will do the same thing: avoid taking action and avoid taking blame. They don't take action to create things for which they will get blamed, they just don't. They REALLY don't take action to create problems for themselves for which they have nothing to gain.

Maybe it was one lone guy, a student or someone else with a big ax to grind and the brains of a walnut, it could happen, but it's almost certainly not some multi-person level policy decision and it's likely not even intentional, at least not for anyone in the chain of command who now has to deal with the fallout.

Sure they were dismissive of his incident with the game. If they accept it as true look at all that work for them. But to create an incident that gains them nothing and costs them a lot? Very unlikely at best.

[UKRxman93]

Listen--it could've been intentional. But this notion that it couldn't have been overlooked is preposterous.

I'd love to read some facts, rather than the p-poor media story that was lacking in substance. Even their headline was faulty. At least, there was nothing in the story about the photo being removed, but there was an allegation that it was omitted. Same thing, a difference without a distinction? Maybe. But it set the tone for the lynch mob mentality the story took, and others have gravitated to with a vengeance.

I hate to see anybody--anybody--treated unfairly. In this case, it's not the gay athlete.

[Krank]

So you're saying there are a lot of people there who are irrationally afraid of sameness?

(This word is a piece of Newspeak. Diagnosing people who do not agree with you with a faux psychotic disorder is Stalinism of the purest water.)

Parse out four words, then apply your political obsessions to to mean that I am calling YOU a homophobe.

Sorry, but that rings only of some partisan debate you seem constantly a part of, meaning I have made clear on this board how I feel about this one issue. Political debates between "the left" and "the right" are things I rarely engage in. Gay rights is really the only issue I have been vocal about, in a public context beyond a few people, in a long time. Because there has been news on that score, I have expressed myself. The rest is your choice to twist phrases and ignore context.

I made one point with that four word phrase you parsed out... that athletics, gym class, any realm of "toughness" has been a haven for homophobia for a long time. You may not agree with that, but that is my opinion based upon my experiences and the experiences of a great many LGBT friends of mine. Please note that I speak generally here, not at all meaning to declare that ALL straight athletes are like that, nor are all teams like that, nor are all athletic "cultures" like that, but it has been and, to different degrees depending on the places, continues to be a reality.

What? You have never seen bullying of smaller, less athletic kids in gym class, the first or second thing slung upon them is that they are a {insert homophobic slur here}??. Hell, that happened countless times in gym classes, intramural sports all through high school and college, etc., when I attended. Didn't like it then or now, but the reality is that it happens, and it happens in some places a LOT.

There has been a history of harassment of this kid. Acting like we who believe the yearbook fiasco continues a definitive pattern are not "Stalinist" and applying the word "homophobia" to an ACTUAL phenomenon (NOT a person on this thread... maybe you should re-read for context unless you CHOOSE to believe I am calling ANYONE here a specific prejudicial adjective, which is certainly your prerogative) in locker rooms over countless years is not tantamount to calling those who choose not to "recall" that phenomenon homophobic themselves.

I have no idea what "Newspeak" means because I have no online, TV, radio, or other media choice wired for any particular news source. That's something you follow, not me. I do not participate in any political movements or declare a label for my politics. You may choose not to believe that as well, but it's the truth. I am a rabid non-conformist going way back, and not for show. Just opinions like anyone else that are personally mine. I go by my experiences with my LGBT friends as well as my personal observations to inform my views. That's it.

I have no idea, also, what you mean by "faux psychotic disorder", nor how it would define, in any way, the word "homophobia".

Sorry if you were personally angered by my views. That was not the intent.

Peace.

[CitizenBBN]

I suppose every time there is a situation like this, we can just say "probably due to human error".

I guess that can be said pertaining to just about anything, but as MTcatfan has asserted, there's a history BEFORE this alleged "misprint".

JMO.

But there was no "history". The school has not been shown to have discriminated against him in the past. What they did was NOT pursue what he saw as discrimination by others who weren't even associated with his school. Maybe that's wrong, but it wasn't an overt act of discrimination, it was good old fashion "cover your ass" work to avoid issues. They didn't stand by the kid maybe, but they also didn't do the harm to him.

This is now a harm to him, overtly and blatantly done, with obvious consequences for the school b/c now they have to answer to these accusations. They really did that intentionally to themselves?

Now, could one person there have done it intentionally? Maybe someone not in the direct chain who somehow intervened to get it done? maybe, possible, but not all that more likely than an error, and if so it will come out as this turns into a dumpster fire.

But "the school" as some monolithic entity shooting itself in the PR foot this way? Doubtful.

And in fact that's why they didnt' stand behind the kid the last time, b/c doing so puts them in a controversy. If the insults never happened then they are safe.

But that's not a "history" that bears on this in any way as a pattern or practice of discrimination against the young man, just a pattern and practice of people doing CYA.

[Krank]

The problem is that there is no necessary connection between the situation at that game and the school's investigation and this omission. None.

Schools are run by bureaucrats. Bureaucrats above all else want to keep from sticking their necks out or getting in trouble. So in one case they want to sweep an incident under the rug to keep it from being a problem b/c that's what is best for them, yet now they're going to CREATE a problem for themselves by poking a sore subject with a really sharp stick?

Come on guys, that's now how those entities work. In both cases they will do the same thing: avoid taking action and avoid taking blame. They don't take action to create things for which they will get blamed, they just don't. They REALLY don't take action to create problems for themselves for which they have nothing to gain.

Maybe it was one lone guy, a student or someone else with a big ax to grind and the brains of a walnut, it could happen, but it's almost certainly not some multi-person level policy decision and it's likely not even intentional, at least not for anyone in the chain of command who now has to deal with the fallout.

Sure they were dismissive of his incident with the game. If they accept it as true look at all that work for them. But to create an incident that gains them nothing and costs them a lot? Very unlikely at best.

Simple solution... reprint the yearbooks CORRECTED and get some 'nads by saying that is priority #1 when you announce that it's the plan at the news conference.

Those poor bureaucrats... I think I will shed a tiny tear for them tonight before I rest my weary head.

[UKRxman93]

I don't agree with any form of bullying. That also includes those on this yearbook staff who may be presumed innocent UNTIL proven guilty. Unfortunately, hard facts can't be laid out prior to an assumed narrative being written. That is the problem with the Information Age we live in today. Too often, it is the Misinformation Age from both sides or positions no matter what your point of view may be.

[CitizenBBN]

Simple solution... reprint the yearbooks CORRECTED and get some 'nads by saying that is priority #1 when you announce that it's the plan at the news conference.

Those poor bureaucrats... I think I will shed a tiny tear for them tonight before I rest my weary head.

I don't give a flying crap about them, but I do understand them, and I know it happens but it's rare when they stick their necks out like this. That's true of everyone, not just school officials.

[elicat]

to mean that I am calling YOU a homophobe.

Nope. It's not about me. I don't care who you're calling a homophobe. The word is Stalinist Newspeak no matter whom you are using it to insult.

I have no idea what "Newspeak" means because I have no online, TV, radio, or other media choice wired for any particular news source.

This is one of those cases where you have said far more than you know. What you said in the quote above is, "I am culturally illiterate. I do not read books, and have no idea what literature is included by every educated person in the Western canon."

[CitizenBBN]

Moved this to the Barber Shop, it's going beyond sports.

Also guys let's remember we're all on the same side here. Even on this issue in the broader sense, we all will agree. we all HOPE this was an honest mistake and not the young man being treated wrongly and we all seem to agree that if this were intentional it's an unacceptable act.

All we're disagreeing on is whether it was intentional or not, and we're all just speculating.

[kingcat]

Should be easy enough for the school to single out who is responsible. And then they can report that to a responsible third party.
At that point the witness for the young man would be outed as no more than a troublemaker. And regardless, a full blown apology is in order, if not a correction imho.

There is that small chance it is a strange coincidence..no one here is arguing it's not at least a slight possibility. But if I had to lay a bet on one argument or the other...I think I know where the smart money would go.

[KeithKSR]

Maybe. I would like this to be a case of simple human error.

But unless HS has changed a lot since the Middle Ages when I attended, and unless this small KY town is more tolerant than the Castro in San Francisco, I have a feeling that almost every kid in school would know the guy who came out as gay. For better or worse, I would bet even the yearbook kids would know about him... which would make his exclusion from the basketball page less likely to be simple error.

But, again, I hope it was simple error.

I teach in a small Eastern Kentucky school, students are pretty tolerant of other students. If they were going to eliminate him from the yearbook intentionally he wouldn't appear in the annual 15 times.

[KeithKSR]

Yes, it would be a bit like forgetting to put Karl Towns Bio in a UK publication and then trying to claim they forgot. This is Kentucky, this is basketball. He wasn't the 3 string QB or he didn't write a poem. He was the starting PG, the teams best player and recently came out as being gay, and was the target of much backlash and harassment. He wasn't an unknown. Sure it could have been an error of omission when it was put together...or it could have been the publisher forgot to include that page...or it could have been the yearbook fairy (no pun intended) came in the middle of the night and made that section disappear by waving her magic wand....but I don't think that happened.

That means they screwed up the 15 times they left his photo in the yearbook. Tough to believe one omission is intentional, but messing up and not removing the other 15 photos were incidental.

[Krank]

Nope. It's not about me. I don't care who you're calling a homophobe. The word is Stalinist Newspeak no matter whom you are using it to insult.



This is one of those cases where you have said far more than you know. What you said in the quote above is, "I am culturally illiterate. I do not read books, and have no idea what literature is included by every educated person in the Western canon."

All that has really happened in this "exchange" is that you have chosen to re-define my words and meaning, including believing that you know much of anything about how, when, and why I choose to get info and what I choose to focus upon, culturally and literally on a personal level, including suggesting I know not from whence I speak, not knowing my own mind and such. By stating my experiences with homophobia in "manly" realms, I was telling the truth. The fact that you CHOOSE to infer that I am in league with one of the greatest fascists of all time because I suggest that it has existed and still exists, based on too many personal stories that I believe as told to me by friends, relatives, etc., says more about what you want to believe about me than what is even close to being true.

It's an opinion based on experiences. You want to believe I should know what "Newspeak" means. That's some word that political junkies know. I have a lot of things in my life that don't involve rabid following of every news story and political drama that unfolds. But what do I know? Apparently you believe you have "nailed" me as a lying, Stalinist basher of specific folks at Betsy Layne. I believe the kid has suffered from discrimination. Saying so does not make me sympathetic to a maniacal murderer. What kind of crap is that?

So, you are defending every single person who has ever been involved with athletics, though I named no specific person, as never having a homophobic bone in any of their bodies, despite my actual experiences, and then saying so is tantamount to me accusing the entirety of "manly" realms as homophobic, thereby I am unfairly, in some "Stalinistic" fashion, lol, pointing fascist fingers at the people I have not named?

Or is it really that you are asserting that the very WORD "homophobia" is only used by "Stalinist" type people, in this instance, me being the fascist in your model, meaning that the word has no merit AT ALL in Western society? Are all types of prejudice the creation of Stalinist Newspeak, whatever that is, or is it just homophobia? Is that because you believe homophobia is not "real" or that you believe it does not deserve to be defined as a type of prejudice due to conflicts with political or religious beliefs you deem "un-American"?

I am asking because I really know little of what you are talking about with your labels and rather vast assumptions about my life and what I choose to do with my time. Read it again... I said I have no online, TV, or other media CHOICE wired for any PARTICULAR news source. It doesn't mean I don't get news or look into political situations. There are many ways to do that. There are those who more rabidly engage in such activities than others. I know folks who, literally, NEVER watch the news, yet they are quite literate.

The World has a great many opportunities for info, cultural learning, engaging with art, music, politics, and any bevy of hobbies, interests, whatever arena one wants to spend their time in. The fact that you believe I should egage, presumably, in just the way you think I should (I mean you DO know my mind, as you have taken one sentence, gotten it wrong, and then placed words in my mouth redefining your incorrect translation, so you da expert, lol), is not realistic.

You don't know me beyond my sports posting and two political threads, no matter how hard you try to pry out how you want to see me and label me.

[Krank]

Moved this to the Barber Shop, it's going beyond sports.

Also guys let's remember we're all on the same side here. Even on this issue in the broader sense, we all will agree. we all HOPE this was an honest mistake and not the young man being treated wrongly and we all seem to agree that if this were intentional it's an unacceptable act.

All we're disagreeing on is whether it was intentional or not, and we're all just speculating.

Agreed. My skepticism is my right as is the "other side"'s smell test choice. I get it.

[KeithKSR]

Simple solution... reprint the yearbooks CORRECTED and get some 'nads by saying that is priority #1 when you announce that it's the plan at the news conference.

Those poor bureaucrats... I think I will shed a tiny tear for them tonight before I rest my weary head.

Are you springing for the money to re-print the yearbooks. $80+ each for 500 yearbooks is a lot for a school district to cough up from an activity fund. Instructional funds can't be used to purchase them, and that's a lot of money to come up with through fundraising.

[elicat]

I don't believe in "type people." People are what they do over and over again. You use a word that diagnoses people who disagree with you with a fake psychosis that serves your political agenda. Do I think that is the behavior of a fascist? Yep, I do think that.

[Krank]

I don't believe in "type people." People are what they do over and over again. You use a word that diagnoses people who disagree with you with a fake psychosis that serves your political agenda. Do I think that is the behavior of a fascist? Yep, I do think that.

Again, you speak in these terms that I truly do not understand, contextually.

Trying to use your sentence... you are saying that when I use the word, "homophobia", I am "diagnosing", as if I am a doctor (?) all (?) people who disagree with me (about anything and in all situations over my entire life?) with a fake psychosis (is that what you are defining as "gay", meaning they are faking being gay, but are actually psychotic?) that serves my political agenda, that being supporting gay marriage and equal rights for LGBT in America.

Is that about it? Feel free to clear it up for me because, no matter how little you like my beliefs, opinions, and how my experiences have helped form them, I truly do not get your choice of words and my questions are legitimately asked out of real confusion.

Do you always label people you disagree with using extremely inflammatory, clearly historically anti-American, labeling, or is it just folks who believe homophobia exists and is a real phenomenon?

[elicat]

It's not that hard. Look up agoraphobia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, anything. These are psychoses. They have in common an irrational fear of something. They can be treated by a psychiatrist or psychologist. Get it? A doctor can diagnose you with them. Homophobia? The analogy is obvious.

As soon as you are willing to use the word homophobia, the heavy conceptual lifting has been done. It is a mere practical problem to build the Soviet-style mental institutions, or the gulags, or the concentration camps. When you have become willing to use a fake mental diagnosis to categorize your political opponents, you are already nearly there.