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A recent tragic event: Mother accused of killing three children in Massachusetts
The Culture War angle: Following this event some TikTok accounts have released videos in support of the mother and voicing concern over mothers and their mental health, leading to discussion. Examples: https://postimg.cc/NKpX61ty, https://postimg.cc/vxT8d6jK, https://postimg.cc/CnnyNC9w, https://postimg.cc/8FvttKzK, https://postimg.cc/TK6wKhWK, https://postimg.cc/K3cXXSKv
Considering the nature of the crime I find the wording in the TikTok's off putting. This isn't phrased as something the mother, Lindsay Clancy 'did'. It's something that 'happened to her' and that she 'needs support'.
On a tangential note: This reminds me of an older sex war question surrounding female violence towards children and how women are treated in society. Specifically the terminology of SIDS. Sudden Infrant Death Syndrome. Which became a notable issue when multiple women who murdered their own children ended up, after a few years, being released scot-free. Neven Sesardić, a Croatian philosopher, wrote a very interesting article published in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Specifically relating to Sally Clark, a woman in the UK who was accused of murdering two of her children, and some relevant statistical analysis that cast aspersions on the validity of SIDS as it was relied on by expert witnesses to defend Clark in court. Along with leveraging statistical critiques against the Royal Statistical Society.
The tangential relevance here is whether or not Lindsay Clancy will be afforded similar legal leniency on top of everything else. Though with the hellish nature of the crime, one could only really hope for punishments that far exceed all the comforts that a lifetime in a women's prison will afford her.
About the TikTok screenshots;
Other than all speaking from a position where the woman lacks any agency at all, They also state that violent intrusive thoughts are just a step in a series of actions that eventually leads to violence. Is that a valid theory of mind? My model of unexpected acts of violence is akin to a pressure cooker going off. A perfect storm where all the bad things that possibly happened, happened and the person at the center of it lost control and lashed out.
I can certainly see the former model working for let's say.. a stereotypical serial killer. But I think it's off when the person committing the violence tried to take themselves out as well.
E: Unless she was suicidal and wanted to do maximum damage.
Intrusive thoughts that happen without accompanied desire (and which are feared) are unrelated to acting out the thoughts. There are studies on exposure therapy where a father who had intrusive thoughts about strangling his child was specifically told to let the intrusive thoughts occur while holding child’s neck. The crucial ingredient is intrusive urges which are its own thing.
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