Brian Wilson and L.A. Protests
Offer a Split Screen
by Robert David Jaffee
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Don’t worry, baby. Everything will turn out alright.
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Ronald Reagan was a fan of the Beach Boys; so was George Herbert Walker Bush, both of whom defended Brian Wilson and his band when James Watt, then-interior secretary, tried to ban the singing group from performing on July 4 at the National Mall in 1983.
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Bob Dole, the Republican Senator from Kansas, reportedly said, “The Beach Boys are not hazardous to your health,” according to the Guardian.
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These memories came back to me after we all learned the news that Brian Wilson, the creative force behind songs like “Don’t Worry, Baby,” “In My Room,” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” passed away on Wednesday at the age of 82.
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It is an antiquated notion that people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, Brian Wilson’s diagnosis, or bipolar disorder have a split-personality.
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People with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (I was diagnosed with both years ago) or manic depression are as likely to manifest a range of symptoms and a range of emotions as just about any other person.
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Still, the idea of a bifurcated personality or a split voice can be a useful metaphor if it is used subtly and not in over the top fashion.
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The front page of the June 12 print edition of the New York Times featured two stories below the fold that suggested such a subtle acknowledgment of two dominant storylines about people with mental illness.
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The first story, on the left side of the front page, was an obituary for Brian Wilson, the brilliant front man for the Beach Boys. The second story, to the right, was a deep dive into Thomas Crooks, who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump last year in Butler, Pa.
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Brian Wilson, long hailed as a genius, spoke openly for decades about the fact that he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
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A polite and gentle soul, Wilson wrote, arranged, produced and sang many of the most sublime songs in the Beach Boys canon, including tunes from the album Pet Sounds, viewed as one of the most influential and innovative records of the past century.
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Brian Wilson used instruments such as timpani and horns not typically associated with rock and roll music in creating a sound that was unique and otherworldly.
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By contrast, Thomas Crooks, who was alleged to have suffered from mental illness, took a dark turn the past few years as he apparently began to plan an assassination attempt of Trump.
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It may be that Crooks suffered from mental illness. His father, according to the N.Y. Times article by Steve Eder and Tawnell D. Hobbs, indicated that “mental health problems ran in the family.”
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And according to Eder and Hobbs’ reporting, Crooks searched online for “major depressive disorder” and “depression crisis” in the period leading up to the assassination attempt.
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Having said all that, I was a bit surprised that the N.Y. Times reporters opened the piece by characterizing as “strange” activities that most of us would view as being fairly innocuous, dancing around in one’s bedroom late at night and waving one’s hand while talking to oneself.
Tom Cruise danced around in his underwear by himself in a famous scene in Risky Business. He also talks to himself in that movie.
And Gene Kelly waves his hand more than once while he sings and dances by himself in the rain.
I have danced in my kitchen and waved my hand while talking to myself, too.
Like Cruise and Kelly as well as Brian Wilson, I have never been a threat to anyone but myself.
And that is true of the vast majority of people with mental illness.
As I have written many times over the years, people with mental illness and no substance abuse problems commit only 3 % to 4 % of violent crime in this country.
No one is excusing Crooks for his violent actions. He killed a bystander in Butler, Pa., and wounded two other individuals in addition to the then-Republican presidential candidate.
And again it is possible, given his family makeup, as well as his online searches, that he did suffer from depression.
As I read this split-screen on the Times’ front page, I could not help but think of the recent coverage of the protests in Los Angeles.
The protests have focused on a few blocks in downtown Los Angeles, a sprawling city of 500 square miles.
Trump and some members of his administration would have the public believe that the protests are out of control and that L.A. is a war zone.
None of this is true.
Trump and his administration have provoked a conflict that was being handled by the local authorities, the LAPD and other local law enforcement organizations, who have managed many protests and demonstrations over the years that were equally if not more raucous, such as the Black Lives Matter marches as well as rallies following basketball championships.
Yes, there have been some protesters in the past week who have set Waymos, self-driving taxis, on fire.
Yes, some have thrown rocks and other objects at the LAPD.
And, yes, some protesters blocked traffic on the 101 freeway.
But these actions, as destructive as they were, do not reflect the behavior of the vast majority of the protesters in Los Angeles.
Once again, I come back to the two predominant storylines about people with mental illness.
The mentally ill are as likely to be working in law enforcement or journalism as they are in more obviously creative fields like songwriting.
And very few of the mentally ill are ever violent.
In fact, as I have written for years, people with mental illness are far more likely to be the victims than the perpetrators of violent crime.
Similarly, the demonstrators in Los Angeles and elsewhere are overwhelmingly people who have protested peacefully.
Trump and his crew are projection artists. They claim to be putting out fires when they are stoking them.
They claim to be defending Los Angeles from an invasion or a rebellion when Trump and his team, without any justification, are federalizing the California National Guard and bringing armored vehicles and Marines into the city of angels.
And they claim that Senator Alex Padilla was being threatening by supposedly “lunging” at secretary Kristi Noem when it was federal law enforcement that got physical in grabbing Senator Padilla, wrestling him to the floor and handcuffing him.
At this point, just about everyone has watched and heard the tape of Senator Padilla identifying himself and doing no more than trying to ask a question at a homeland security press conference in Los Angeles.
All of which is to say that Republicans have to start telling the truth and standing up for other law-abiding Americans, just as Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush and Bob Dole stood up for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in 1983.
Reagan, Bush and Dole were all patriots, like the late Senator John McCain, another leading Republican of the not so distant past.
They all served and cared deeply for our country.
They never federalized the National Guard or sent Marines into a city without the consent of the governor of the state.
And they were fans of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.
In the end, we are going to get through this sad chapter in American life, when a wannabe dictator is trying to take over our country and ruin our democracy.
We might remember moments from our past when a Republican president had a sense of humor and humanity, as well as great taste in music.
Yes, Ronald Reagan stood up for the Beach Boys.
Right now, we need more Republicans, who claim to be fans of Ronald Reagan, people like Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator John Thune, to stand up to Trump and for the truth.
There is no split voice here. It is all very clear.
Trump yearns to be a tyrant; he is assaulting our democracy, our freedoms and the truth.
I’m not worried about Brian Wilson. He is in heaven, and he has blessed us forever with his music from the ether. Everything undoubtedly has turned out alright for Wilson.
The same can be true for the rest of us if we stand up for the truth.