“Lindsay Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of her three children: Cora, 5; Dawson 3, and Callan, 8 months. The children’s bodies were found by their father, Patrick Clancy, in their Duxbury, Mass., home in January 2023.

She pleaded not guilty and claimed she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder. The jury has not yet reached a verdict. The judge might have to declare a mistrial.”

Why the confusion? How does an emotional state force you to do anything? If we are helpless over all our emotions, then every single action of our lives can be explained away and excused — because emotions are part of everything.

The day someone in the American Psychiatric Association decided emotions are illnesses which make choices no longer relevant? That was the day civilization ended. The rest is only a matter of time.

With or without strong emotions, choices are choices. Plenty of people experience states of depression, which actually is a lack of motivation, purpose and energy. People who kill their children do not lack energy. The vast majority of depressed persons would not kill their three children, even on a bad day. As for psychosis, which refers to delusion and hallucinations, how does this change the nature of murder?

Grow up, America.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason