Ship_of_fools_(mental_illness) Ship_of_fools_(mental_illness)

Ship of fools (mental illness) - Definition and Overview

The ship of fools was a peculiar custom of solving the local mental health problem in medieval European towns by gathering the local "lunatics" and unemployables, putting them in a cart, and obliging them to "hit the road" to beg a living.

The modern equivalent is putting vagrants and other undesirables on a bus, thus exporting the local welfare problem to somewhere else.

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