Theodore Dalrymple's Life at the Bottom makes the point that much of liberalism's supposed tolerance or acceptance of the underclass's degradation is really indifference to the suffering of others. By celebrating all forms of destructive behavior, liberalism is saying, "We don't care how much destruction you do to yourself and others--you aren't important enough for us to care about." The manner in which severe mental illness has been treated by liberals is in this same category. This May 30, 2009 New York Daily News article uses some harsh language to describe the subject, but still, ask yourself, why is this guy wandering the streets of Harlem? And what does it say about how liberalism regards the damage that he is doing to the community?
The escaped Wild Man of 96th St. has been caught - where else? - on 96th St.
Larry Hogue, a drug-addicted wacko who terrorized Upper West Siders in the 1990s, strolled away from the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens on Thursday.
The notorious hell-raiser was arrested "without incident" in his old stomping grounds Saturday morning after being spotted on 96th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam, cops said.
Before he was put away, Hogue, now 65, menaced the neighborhood around 96th St. He was big and he was bad, regularly mugging people to support his drug habit.
He set fires under cars, heaved rocks through stained glass church windows, masturbated in front of kids, stalked seniors and threatened children with nail-studded clubs.
Cops would arrest him and take him to the psychiatric ward, where he would be cut off from his crack supply.
After a few weeks his demons would disappear and he'd be back to his old tricks on W. 96th St.
Word that Hogue was once again on the loose on 96th St. - even for a short time - sent a chill through area residents.
"I've been a New Yorker my whole life and he's the only thing that makes me afraid," said Dorothy White, a resident of W. 96th St. for 25 years. "This man is dangerous and I'm terrified."
Michael Burns, 74, who once saw Hogue smash a car window after the driver refused to pay him for a squeegee job marveled that he wasn't better guarded.
"Whoever released him has got a screw loose," Burns said.
Hogue's reign of terror during the 90s made him a symbol of a blundering mental-health system. He was put in the slammer for a year after he slugged a 16-year-old girl and pushed her in front of a Con Ed truck.
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