04/19/24
April 19, 2011
Reds' Leake Arrested for Shoplifting: Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mike Leake was arrested Monday at a downtown Cincinnati Macy's department store, accused of trying to steal six T-shirts. The shirts, worth $59.88, had the tags removed by Leake and the incident was captured by security cameras, the store alleges. Leake, the team's first round draft pick in 2009, received a $2.3 million signing bonus and will earn $425,000 this season.
What was he thinking?!?!
I know what I'd be thinking: Maybe they'll put me in Winona Ryder's support group.
posted by beaverboard at 10:33 AM on April 19, 2011
"Stupid is as stupid does."
posted by graymatters at 10:33 AM on April 19, 2011
Leake, the team's first round draft pick in 2009, received a $2.3 million signing bonus and will earn $425,000 this season.
People who have lots of money steal things because they like to steal things. The ability to pay for stuff rarely has anything to do with theft.
posted by grum@work at 11:26 AM on April 19, 2011
Yeah, at the risk of being a wet blanket, kleptomania has been a recognized condition for some time now. No matter what version of DSM you swipe from your local bookstore, it's likely to be listed.
posted by yerfatma at 01:18 PM on April 19, 2011
You know what the cure for kleptomania is? .....stop stealing!
posted by Atheist at 01:56 PM on April 19, 2011
And the cure for cancer is to stop metastasizing. What's your point?
posted by yerfatma at 03:13 PM on April 19, 2011
Wow. Moron.
And I know you're not comparing kleptomania to cancer, right yerfatma?
posted by THX-1138 at 03:35 PM on April 19, 2011
No. He was pointing out that Atheist was stating the obvious.
If he's guiltiy, he's a great example of why kleptomania's a recognized mental disorder. He doesn't need the money. He has a massive amount to lose from getting caught. He had $250 in cash and credit cards on him at Macy's.
The diagnostic criteria of kleptomania are worth a look:
- Repeated theft of objects that are unnecessary for either personal use or monetary value.
- Increasing tension immediately before the theft.
- Pleasure or relief upon committing the theft.
- The theft is not motivated by anger or vengeance, and is not caused by a delusion or hallucination.
- The behavior is not better accounted for by a conduct disorder, manic episode or antisocial personality disorder.
posted by rcade at 04:23 PM on April 19, 2011
How many years before people believe that mental disorders are, in fact, real illnesses? Just like cancer.
posted by bperk at 06:40 PM on April 19, 2011
When mental disorders can be uniformly diagnosed, more people will believe that they are "just like cancer."
The sad fact is that nearly any kid can be diagnosed with something that can be treated with anti-depressants, and anti-depressants have a similar effectiveness rate as placebos but they keep the drug companies' profits up. Is there any bad behavior that can't be blamed on a mental disorder?
posted by Aardhart at 08:53 PM on April 19, 2011
Is there any bad behavior that can't be blamed on a mental disorder?
Only if you don't understand the difference between causes and possible explanations.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:25 PM on April 19, 2011
And I know you're not comparing kleptomania to cancer, right yerfatma?
Kleptomania killed my mother. Wait, that's not right. Reverse that. No, invert it. Shit, what happened?
posted by yerfatma at 10:06 PM on April 19, 2011
I stole your Mom's cancer from Macy's.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 10:43 PM on April 19, 2011
You were a couple years late, but I appreciate the effort.
posted by yerfatma at 11:24 PM on April 19, 2011
Why so eager to defend him and diagnose mental illness? There's no pattern here. Maybe he's just an asshole who got caught stealing.
posted by MKUltra at 09:59 AM on April 20, 2011
Why so eager to defend him and diagnose mental illness?
Because it makes no sense otherwise.
posted by rcade at 10:26 AM on April 20, 2011
Only if you don't understand the difference between causes and possible explanations.
Yeah, help me out here. I thought the explanation was that he stole stuff because he was a kleptomaniac, or had kleptomania, or whatever. But I think the condition is purportedly a cause, or a reason, for the action.
If there is no causal link, then I think there would be no value to couching a description of an action into psycho-babble. If saying that he has kleptomania is the same as saying he stole something, the label has no value. It also constitutes neither a cause nor an explanation.
Am I missing something, or is there something of value behind your condescension?
posted by Aardhart at 02:02 PM on April 20, 2011
One could ask the same question of you after your use of the term "psycho-babble." Do you think kleptomania, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other impulse control disorders don't exist?
A new theory is being offered for Leake's actions: He doesn't know how to exchange merchandise.
posted by rcade at 02:33 PM on April 20, 2011
Yeah, I gotta say I have no sympathy for Leake. He stole stuff. Regardless of whether or not he has been diagnosed with a disorder. And I can't equate disorders to diseases. They just aren't the same thing. I do realize that there is a fine line with mental illnesses and diseases, for example alzheimer's patients and their families definitely are subjected to the ravages of a debilitating disease. Kleptomaniacs and sex addicts are exhibiting behavior that runs contrary to the mores of society. But they 'aint dying from it.
And my apologies to yerfatma. Didn't mean to sound so snippy. Some kleptomaniac stole my emoticons.
posted by THX-1138 at 03:20 PM on April 20, 2011
rcade, you missed the context in which I used the word psycho-babble. If a label has no value except to sound authoritative, it is babble. I used psycho-babble to contrast with conditions that explain behavior.
In the Rosenhan experiment, psychology researchers (and other non-insane people) gained admission to psychiatric hospitals by calling for an appointment and feigning auditory hallucinations. While admitted, they acted normally. From wikipedia:
Hospital notes indicated that staff interpreted much of the pseudopatients' behavior in terms of mental illness. For example, one nurse labeled the note-taking of one pseudopatient as "writing behavior" and considered it pathological. The patients' normal biographies were recast in hospital records along the lines of what was expected of schizophrenics by the then-dominant theories of its etiology.
Calling note-taking "writing behavior" is psycho-bable. Similarly, if "kleptomania" is not a cause for theft, the term has no value and must be psycho-babble.
posted by Aardhart at 04:08 PM on April 20, 2011
The same diagnosis problems goes on with MDs, especially with things that are not visible to the physician. It's why things like heart disease in women are not diagnosed as they should be. It isn't called psycho babble then though, and no one wants to dismiss the entire profession for those errors.
posted by bperk at 04:32 PM on April 20, 2011
Aardhart, can you please explain to me just when it was that I pissed in your cheerios? You said:
Is there any bad behavior that can't be blamed on a mental disorder?
I replied:
Only if you don't understand the difference between causes and possible explanations.
...and you responded with a rant. I'm sorry, was I talking about you? It's a simple and reasonable answer to a tossoff rhetorical question that probably didn't deserve an answer. Try to just take it at face value, why don't you? Yes, you can indeed blame any bad behavior on a mental disorder if you don't understand (or care about) the difference between causes and possible explanations. "Mental disorder" is among the possible explanations for any bad behavior, so if you assume that any possible explanation is also a cause, then you can say that any bad behavior is caused by a mental disorder. I wasn't talking about you, but is there some reason why you've got such a chip on your shoulder?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:16 PM on April 20, 2011
So besides the condescension, what was the point you were making?
posted by Aardhart at 06:45 PM on April 20, 2011
My point was really quite obvious, Aardhart, and I've made it twice already, so I'm not going to waste my time further. If you were going to get it, you would have got it by now. Have fun wearing those cranky pants.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:02 PM on April 20, 2011
The most shocking thing about this story is that there's a Macy's in Cincinnati.
posted by wfrazerjr at 09:40 PM on April 20, 2011
The most shocking thing about this story is that there's a Macy's in Cincinnati.
Why? Are they special in Canada?
posted by tselson at 11:21 PM on April 20, 2011
Why? Are they special in Canada?
Macy's does not have stores in Canada.
posted by tommybiden at 11:38 PM on April 20, 2011
So that's what makes it shocking that they have one in Cincinnati?
posted by tselson at 11:47 PM on April 20, 2011
More of a Saks 5th Avenue town, you reckon?
They have (had?) one of those, too
posted by tahoemoj at 01:37 AM on April 21, 2011
posted by yerfatma at 10:32 AM on April 22, 2011
That guy is Mr. Fitness 2011 for the city of Cincinnati. Nothing on the training table but cheese coneys and 5-ways.
posted by tahoemoj at 02:18 PM on April 22, 2011
American Rag is one of Macys signature brand. Those shirts are $9.99 each. What was he thinking?!?!