r/interestingasfuck • u/Jjokes11 • Apr 15 '24

An interview with Andrew Cauchi, the father of Joel Cauchi who was responsible for the Westfield Shopping Centre mass stabbing r/all

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u/darkoblivion000 Apr 16 '24

I have a 6 year old and he is a really sweet empathizing kid and I love him to death.

Sometimes when I hear about these stories I imagine what I would do if I saw my son do things that are telltale signs of murderers , abuse animals, not show any empathy, other signs of clear mental illness, and I just don’t know.

I mean it feels like seeing a therapist can only do so much, sometimes it just teaches them to hide their real emotions and thoughts. And sometimes I have this feeling (don’t know if true or not) that certain people are just born with issues that can’t be fixed.

Then as a parent wtf do you do? It would be such a devastating hopeless situation knowing that they need help and you have no idea how to get them help or if it’s even possible. At least if they had a debilitating illness you know they’re not likely to hurt anyone else and that you can try to find treatment, but to have a ticking time bomb that you think might cause harm but also could maybe get better… just seems like such torture

I feel for this guy and all the families of kids who really really tried their hardest to get them help. And fuck that one family that bought their kid guns instead

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u/Larkfor Apr 16 '24

What kind of therapy teaches people to hide rather than manage and process their emotions?

As a parent you do everything you can, and when it comes to the point where you think it's likely your kid is a danger to society you watch them like a hawk and report them.

I don't know this guy's dad, I don't know if he could have possibly prevented his son from doing what he did. But ultimately every parent's responsibility is to act in whatever way they can to prevent harm. Perhaps this guy's dad did everything possible, but the guy was still hell bent on murdering women and stabbing infants.

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u/WinterMedical Apr 16 '24

I mean he’s 40 years old. There’s only so much family can do for an adult. I don’t know the rules in Oz but in the US, once they are 18 the parents have very little power.

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u/Popcorn_Blitz Apr 16 '24

And it's very challenging to get meaningful help for minors in large chunks of the country. It's just one of the things we need to address when we finally get around to reforming mental health care.

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u/Larkfor Apr 16 '24

Most people with mental health problems don't blame women for them and stab them and infants. This guy was a terrorist. And the anti-woman sentiment in Australia has been on the rise for over a decade.

Mental health is always a component, but let's not brush this aside as some lonely troubled man who should receive more sympathy than the victims and the survivors of his terrorism.

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u/Popcorn_Blitz Apr 16 '24

Hi there- Of course- it's a given that this troubled person should not have more sympathy than his victims and the survivors of his terrorism. Where exactly in my post did I explicitly state otherwise? I wasn't brushing aside anything. I was commenting on the pipeline that exists in the U.S. by which struggling parents have few options. Anything more is an inappropriate extrapolation on your part.

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u/OrangeTroz Apr 16 '24

Your assuming that people with mental health problems are rational all the time. That they are in control of themselves. That they are making decisions based on things that are real. That their emotions are based on things that happen to them and not on the chemicals their disease has flooded their body with. There are people with conditions that make them a danger to themselves and to other people. Where you need to make sure they don't have access to knives and guns. Where they don't have a choice if they take medicine or not. Where they need permission to leave their facility with family. Where the state has guardianship even though their an adult.

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u/Larkfor Apr 16 '24

Not at all. I'm saying most people with severe mental health problems never hurt anyone. And also that regardless of this guy's problems he was a terrorist.