TK's murder of a young Illinois skater doesn't solely stem from his mental health issues. There is no need to recreate the myth that all those who suffer from mental health issues are dangerous or the simple belief crime is all individual pathology, which absolves the structure of society of any role in creating this moment. There is more to TK's terrible actions than just mental health problems.
His individual characteristics, his socialization, his history, the society he lives in, and the mundane choices he made that day all brought TK to commiting an atrocious act that took a young skater's life. TK created an insanely dark moment in skateboarding but the simple belief it was all because of his mental health is too simplistic.
There also seems to be a belief that every joke TK ever made, every eccentric thing he ever did (a man who made his living from his over the top persona), and every action he ever did was due to his mental illness. Once again, we make it seem that those with mental health issues are always unable to understand their behaviors or understand how others might interpret them/their actions. There is no chance TK understood the absurdity of some of his antics? and there is no possiblity TK was laughing with us at some of his actions? Dude was crying out and was beyond miserable at times (posting photos of the baby mama without her being into it) but he had his ups as well that we could all share.
I followed this thread closely because celebrating TK's ups was fun, his eccentric behaviors were entertaining (just as they were when he was part of Baker), his addictions and mental health break downs were sad, and for the hope his story would end on a better note even though it was becoming less and less likely as time went by.
To retroactively assign guilt to anyone who ever laughed at one of this dude's jokes is absurd. For better/worse TK always had an eccentric persona.
The question isn't whether or not someone laughed at some silly shit he said/did in past or who watched in disbelief at some sad moment in his life that he broadcasted via IG, the question is how do we react to him now and honor the dude he murdered? Unless someone was hoping for tragedy or was encouraging TK's worst actions, the real question is how do we act to respect his victim? And it seems we've already started down that path by discontinuing any use of the catch phrases he coined and SLAP ran with and by promoting the GoFundMe to honor Josiah.
Edit: Although, thinking about it and seeing where things led... TK's greenlight of his baby mama was probably the appropriate point cut this dude off. My only excuse is that TK's goofy ass persona made it hard to internalize how dangerous he could be. He wasn't just some suburban kid playing gangster like a lot of his peers. Looking back, I'm glad we aren't discussing some horrible event that includes his baby momma as well.
And maybe that goofy ass persona was his way of dealing with the threat he faced and that he in turn created in order to negotiate the scary world he existed in. Maybe, getting shot was more serious than he let on in Baker 3. Maybe, "Compton Ass" Terry needed help gaining and retaining distance from that world right then.
I don't know. I didn't realize TK was capable of taking someone's life.
Topic: Terry Kennedy of baker (Read 765589 times)