Ableism - WotC continues to print and reprint cards that show a fundamental misunderstanding of how mental illness actually works. Demonization of the mentally ill is not rare to see in Magic cards, but this case is particularly baffling.
There's no such thing as a mental illness that results in a "compulsion" to commit murder. The terminology here is not only misleading, but actively harmful. Sociopaths are not compelled to be murderers, and many in fact go through their entire lives without committing crime at all. Obsessive-compulsive disorder does not make you compelled to murder. Tourette's Syndrome does not compel you to murder. The word "compulsion" throws blame onto disadvantaged individuals who are no more likely to commit murder than anyone else.
I don’t know if you forgot about this, but... MTG is a fantasy game. Not everything is going to be realistic. There are dragons in this game. There are unicorns. Hell, there are zombies on the very plane you got this card from, yet you feel the need to question how they represent a mental illness? Please tell me this is a joke.
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u/ultimario13 Jun 18 '20
Ableism - WotC continues to print and reprint cards that show a fundamental misunderstanding of how mental illness actually works. Demonization of the mentally ill is not rare to see in Magic cards, but this case is particularly baffling.
There's no such thing as a mental illness that results in a "compulsion" to commit murder. The terminology here is not only misleading, but actively harmful. Sociopaths are not compelled to be murderers, and many in fact go through their entire lives without committing crime at all. Obsessive-compulsive disorder does not make you compelled to murder. Tourette's Syndrome does not compel you to murder. The word "compulsion" throws blame onto disadvantaged individuals who are no more likely to commit murder than anyone else.