That's fair. Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully. What I was trying to say is that I've noticed that when dealing with very large and complex problems like privacy, climate change, terrorism, etc., people who claim, "I don't care about X, or I don't worry about Y anymore...", are often motivated first and foremost by fear. The problems get to feel so overwhelming that it becomes easier to either pretend the problem doesn't exist or convince yourself that you don't care.

To your broader point, you are correct. We do, and I'm guilty of it here, tend to use the specter of mental illness to silence or discredit people we disagree with.