Fetterman says he assumed speaking publicly about his mental health ‘would be the end of my career’

MicroWave@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 296 points – Fetterman says he assumed speaking publicly about his mental health ‘would be the end of my career’
thehill.com

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said in an interview that aired Sunday that he believed opening up to the public about his mental health struggles earlier this year would negatively impact his career.

In an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” Fetterman opened up about his battle with clinical depression earlier this year and urged those facing mental health issues to seek help. He said that for the first couple of weeks while being treated for depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he felt scared about sharing his experiences publicly.

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Looking at this comment thread, everyone seems pretty quick to completely write off someone they generally agree with simply because they don’t agree with that person on one or two other issues.

Yeah, I don’t agree with his stance on the Israeli / Hamas war, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to encourage people to support destigmatizing very a common mental health issue that 1 out of 10 people have.

Hell, I have loved ones that I generally agree with politically that think Hamas’ atrocities and crimes justify going even lower in response. I don’t agree with them about that issue, but I’m not going to go nuclear on them about it. I’m still going to bond with them over common ground.

The man has turned his back on the progressives that elected him. It's not just Israel. https://nypost.com/2023/12/15/news/fetterman-insists-hes-not-a-progressive-despite-frequently-calling-himself-one/

When you’re citing the nypost about dems, you’re really really reaching to stir shit up. The post is an even more out there Murdoch rag.

Liberal infighting only benefits the rich and republicans and they love to incite it.

The site sucks but it's true. Bro ran on progressive issues then outright said "jk I'm not a progressive." fuck em. 🤷

I could have cited another source but this one had many more examples than others I glanced at. I'd rather avoid the post but Fetterman is kinda shitty for a lot more reasons than Israel. I'm annoyed that everyone is acting like it's the one reason people are upset with him.

Dude either faked being progressive for the votes or he bailed on his ideals for one reason or another. Either way, he's a dick. I'd still prefer him over Oz or virtually any Republican willing to tow the party line though.

It's the biggest problem in today's politics. People are willing to vote against their interests because of single issues.

You have one candidate that meets 90/100 criteria but because they aren't absolutely perfect they instead don't vote for them again or they vote for the next guy who instead only meets 80 of the 100 criteria just out of spite for the first guy not being perfect.

Then they get mad at that guy and vote for the next guy who only meets 75 of the 100. So on and so forth until the unicorn of a candidate which meets 90 of 100 finally pops up again like 40 years later.

This is Lemmy though. The hive-mind is far worse here than it ever was on Reddit.

Hive mind is when people disagree with me

Me: Watching the negative votes steadily tick down for someone daring to criticize the existence of a Lemming hivemind ^^^

People get downvotes for "criticizing the hivemind" because its a dumbass thing to claim and cry about. It was just as dumb a thing to blame on reddit, and it makes you sound like some loser who was kicked off 4chan.

Every site with an upvote/downvote system will be a hivemind to an extent. You only think it's more of a hivemind here because reddit aligns more with your beliefs.

Nah, Lemmy seems to have both a much more specific and narrow range of acceptable beliefs as well as much less tolerance for the sharing of any view even a little outside that range.

At least in my experience. Wouldn't want to presume to speak for anyone else.

I was never a reddit user but I have browsed some subreddits from time to time. On economic matters, people seem to overwhelmingly be drinking the neoliberal kool-aid, at least on the economic-focused subreddits. On politics, it seems mainly democrat central and anyone either to the left or right of that gets attacked. Reddit has the advantage of having way more users, but the biases are still there.

It’s not the speaking about mental health that will be the end of his career. It’s the bullheaded support of an ongoing genocide that will do it.

Him speaking so openly about his mental health was the one thing he had going for him in my mind, tbh. I’ve side eyed him ever since finding out he liked a shotgun on a Black man out for a jog, just because Fetterman thought he heard gunshots, and assumed the Black man out for a jog must be a criminal running away.

At this point in time, the only conclusion I can draw is that most of the people on Lemmy have the political maturity of a 13 year old.

Anyone who still shows signs of having a conscience must be younger than me and therefore wrong.

Anyone who disagrees with me has no conscience and is therefore wrong

See? I also threw a strawman reply, so now you look like a jagoff! What a great contribution we have both made to the thread, let's keep at it /s

If we're talking about funding genocide, I'm against it. I'm comfortable with the assertion that those who disagree with me on the subject have no conscience. If you want to dispute that, do so directly, and I'll gladly have that conversation.

I also believe my viewpoint is objectively right, and anyone who disagrees with me must support genocide. I'm also very comfy thinking people who disagree with me must be by definition incapable of empathy. If you disagree with this assessment, please list your points directly and I'll explain how I am righteous and you are a very bad no good sinner ;)

This isnt a "hypothetical genocide," this guy literally is supporting israeli slaughter of palestinians.

As in, openly states his political stance of being pro israel. Not a hypothetical.

Genocide is wrong. You're mocking me for saying so. Ok. Says more about you than it does me.

Lemmy's favourite source seems to be Qatar state media, so what do you expect?

It's very obvious after spending like 10 min on Lemmy. No one in the real world listens to these bullshit takes.

Instead he continued on into a career that allowed him say all kinds of atrocious things in support of Israel.

Still better than Dr. Oz would have been though.

For all the people downvoting me:

Asked if he was surprised that so many on the left disagree with him on Israel, Fetterman responded, “I mean, of course, I expected that there will always be a diversity of opinions and that as long as things go that the Democratic caucus might splinter more.

"I would be the last man standing to be absolutely there on the Israeli side on this with no conditions.” He continues, “I grieve, and it’s awful the incredible civilian deaths and the suffering. It is awful. War is hell, as they say. But only one side has used civilians as human shields. Only one side has broken the ceasefires. Only one side will systematically rape, torture, and mutilate Israeli women and girls in the most unspeakable, awful ways. … Without destroying Hamas, there will be no enduring peace and a stable, two-state solution.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/john-fetterman-hamas-must-go-i-would-be-last-man-standing-for-israel/ar-AA1md0Ad

"If not for the horrific attacks by Hamas terrorists, thousands of innocent Israelis and Palestinians would still be alive today," Fetterman wrote on Wednesday.

"Now is not the time to talk about a ceasefire. We must support Israel in efforts to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children," he went on.

"Hamas does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel. We can talk about a ceasefire after Hamas is neutralized," the senator added.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/john-fettermans-israel-remarks-spark-furious-backlash/ar-AA1iuX2Z

I mean, the things he’s saying aren’t atrocious, you just don’t like or agree with them.

"I would be the last man standing to be absolutely there on the Israeli side on this with no conditions.”

That sounds pretty atrocious to me. No conditions means "even if they plan to slaughter every last Palestinian child."

But only one side has used civilians as human shields. Only one side has broken the ceasefires. Only one side will systematically rape, torture, and mutilate Israeli women and girls in the most unspeakable, awful ways.

This, meanwhile, is an atrocious lie. Because Israel and the IDF have been found guilty of all of those things. It is an atrocious lie, not just a lie, because it ignores all of the horrific things Israel has done since he wants to be the "last man standing on the Israeli side"

If not for the horrific attacks by Hamas terrorists, thousands of innocent Israelis and Palestinians would still be alive today

This is atrocious because it puts the responsibility of taking the lives of thousands of Palestinians out of the IDF's hands and entirely in Hamas' hands, suggesting that Israel is innocent of killing Palestinians.

We can talk about a ceasefire after Hamas is neutralized,

And if you can't see why this is atrocious, unless you're just unaware that thousands of children have been killed in the very short timespan of this war, I don't even know how to help you.

That sounds pretty atrocious to me. No conditions means “even if they plan to slaughter every last Palestinian child.”

The Senator knows that isn't happening currently nor is it going to be occurring and is speaking in that context. Quite frankly I've heard way worse actually professed by Pro-Palestinians supporters up to the point they consider even Israeli babies legitimate targets. Even when Pro-Palestinians are challenged to at least denounce Hamas they ridicule the effort which seems worse than the Senator's statement. You might just have to accept that the Senator is being aspirational about the statement given the current realities not the ones you want to exaggerate.

This, meanwhile, is an atrocious lie. Because Israel and the IDF have been found guilty of all of those things. It is an atrocious lie, not just a lie, because it ignores all of the horrific things Israel has done since he wants to be the “last man standing on the Israeli side”

Ceasefires relate to the conflict in which they are negotiated. So far the Senator is correct that Israel has yet to violate one in this iteration of the Israel/Gaza-Hamas War.

This is atrocious because it puts the responsibility of taking the lives of thousands of Palestinians out of the IDF’s hands and entirely in Hamas’ hands, suggesting that Israel is innocent of killing Palestinians.

There needs to be at least some(not all or large amounts of) allowances for refugees to neighboring regions. Sad fact is every country is fencing in civilians here because of irrational fears of land theft & political axe grinding. Israel returned all the land of Gaza already through disengagement. These are vulnerable people and I do agree it is an atrocity. There is an entire UN refugee program & numerous NGOs dedicated to Palestinians and the world has allowed a lot of extremism to flourish over the decades. Disappointing that no one wants to discuss the negligence from these organizations.

Quite frankly the UN has been embarrassing with the increase of Global conflicts. Food Aid is decreasing while hostile powers are strangling grain supplies yet it can barely respond. Recently Sudan & Congo is in conflict with lots of children suffering yet no one cares.

You very conveniently ignore the part of the comment you were replying to where they said that Israelis also rape and torture Palestinians. Which is a fact, which Fetterman appears fine with given his unconditional support.

Standing by genocide is atrocious. Decent people will of course not like and support that.

[Edit] Oh? Do you disagree? Is supporting genocide A-OK in your books?

You’re framing the opposition as supporting genocide - either in bad faith or ignorance. No-one’s going to waste their time discussing this with you.

Genocide is what they're up to. People could at least be honest with themselves about what they're supporting.

Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as

... any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[7]

It's as plain as day.

It requires an intent to destroy all Palestinians as a group. That’s the debatable part. It is not enough to just not just have a different weighting of military value vs civilian casualties - it requires systemic intent to destroy the whole or a significant part of the group.

If that isn’t required, every battle ever conducted is genocide, every war was genocide. It really dilutes the meaning of genocide.

it requires systemic intent to destroy the whole or a significant part of the group.

This is what they are about.

They are telling you who they are. Believe them.

That it what he is about. If op-eds were government policy we’d all be super fucked.

It’s troubling and no doubt he’s trying to push the Overton window in Israel much like our hard right fuckwits do.

But that is not all of Israel - any more than Lauren Boebert speaks for me.

There's a hefty supply of various proof that genocide and land seizure is the end goal, not our fault you refuse to accept that.

Because a genocide is happening, and he is standing in defense of it.

If youre pretending its not a genocide, you are doing so in bad faith or ignorance. Ample evidence has been shown.

Refusing to call for a ceasefire at the least is supportive of continuing atrocities. It is atrocious to support the Israeli state at this point and has been for years.

Came here here to say this. Thanks for enduring the ostriches.

What a brave man.

I didn't realize a stroke could cause symptoms like clinical depression and thirst for the blood of innocent Palestinian children.

Thankfully we have John Fetterman here to normalize these things for us!

It's alright to admit we were wrong guys. Fetterman is a complete dunce. His blind and oblivious support of the State of Israel will be the end of his career.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said in an interview that aired Sunday that he believed opening up to the public about his mental health struggles earlier this year would negatively impact his career.

In an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” Fetterman opened up about his battle with clinical depression earlier this year and urged those facing mental health issues to seek help.

He said that for the first couple of weeks while being treated for depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he felt scared about sharing his experiences publicly.

Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed in February to be treated for clinical depression — a condition that he says got worse after winning his election in 2022.

He told Welker that he ultimately decided to check himself in for treatment because he began to have “dark conversations” with himself about self-harm.

He mentioned that a colleague of his took her own life the day before the interview, adding that he hopes he can help others by speaking up about his own struggles.

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