ranty rant rant rantingness

[maelorin]

many small children have known nothing but shopping centres and processed foods. it is an interesting experiment we have been doing on ourselves for the past few generations. one that has me wondering how connected this new culture of ours is to the 'rise' in certain socio-behavioural 'issues'.

i'm less concerned about microdoses of mercury compounds than the steady supply of complex chemicals in our diets. particularly when most single-event toxins require significant doses or toxicity to have lasting effects on the generally very plastic physiology of small children [we can thank adaptive evolution for that - if the opposite was true, we'd have been extinct long ago.]

this is not to say that i'm claiming any specific consequences of our increasingly modified diets. but i do wonder how much of any 'new' conditions out there flow from our very recent changes in environment and social behaviours.

we should not overlook the impact of changes in diagnosis, classification, and/or transformations in understanding or awareness of differences within the population through developments in psychology, sociology and other social sciences. event he way social sciences are changing the way they position themselves as disciplines has a flow on effect to what they can and do have to say about us.

for anyone to say that something as complex as human social behaviour arises out of, or is solely affected by, any particular event or circumstance is to declare a failure to progress beyond middle school thinking.

even if autism were as simple as mercury poisoning during early infancy, that does not address the question of what to do about the way individuals and society treat autistic people. even if removing mercury from the few vaccines left would prevent further autistic 'onsets' - that resolves nothing of the very real issue of societal ignorance and fear when it come to difference.

by the by, even if there was a connection between thimerosal or its friends with autism [and plenty of studies show no causal connection], autism existed before vaccines. and if these behavioural 'issues' are mercury related, removing a few tiny doses from a child's environment ought to be less pressing than removing the tons of heavy metal pollutants our industrial societies have pumped and continue to pump into our local environments.

Investigations Reveal an Unreported Conflict of Interest and Problems With Reporting in Wakefield's 1998 Autism-MMR Study. Information on the investigation by The Lancet into problems with Andrew Wakefield's study. February 27, 2004.

my take on the anti-thimerosal community is to wonder how closely they are related to the anti-vaccines community more generally. much like the question of how many 'intelligent design' advocates are also fundamentalist christians.

or how many are associated with litigation hoping to get damages from pharmaceutical companies. [you can even fill out a web form to have your case evaluated ...] this is the connection that dr wakefield fell afoul of above.

it is also interesting to note how many people out there claim to have 'cured' their autism - especially when you consider when they managed this feat, and how much they obsess over the idea. many people with many different 'disorders' learn to manage/cope/adapt to them as they mature. particularly when so many of their treatments have not shown any connection with long term 'improvements' - or even short term ones. much of the 'evidence' can be attributed to the placebo effect. [heck, any kid's gonna be happier when their parents aren't being grumpy shits all the time.]

oh, and i'm loving the websites that claim that mercury poisoning is behind all manner of 'mystery' illnesses.
autism isn't a disease requiring a cure. it's a fact of life. just like homosexuality. part of the normal distribution of difference across the population.

and for the bleeding heart mundanes out there who think i need help, fuck off you patronising fucks. you need to get over your pathetic hang-ups! apparently i'm the one with socialising problems ... at least i'm not a self-paralysed psychosocial twat.

"but my child requires so much work!"

what the fuck did you expect?
children are not pets for fuck's sake!

Comments

[maelorin]

the autism-vaccine thingy is really just part of the anti-vaccine idiocy.

these ... people ... have caused a significant diversion of resources away from actually dealing with autism to fuss about with each of the pet projects of this crowd.

it's been clear that autism and it's relatives are neurophysiological. there are a bunch of co-morbid conditions that the lunatic fringe use to smoke screen their game - diverting responsibility from parents to some conspiracy or other.

problem is, like other conspiracies, it's very hard to dissuade those who have been taken - that would require them to recognise they've been duped.

[conuly]

Then the doctor said that the damaged lining was from a "normal" kid and the normal lining was from an autistic kid, also that neither had been vaccinated.

*snickers*

Good one.

[velvetink.livejournal.com]

People like to find something to blame, be it mercury or whatever. Eases their conscience.

Just from reading various tomes, I had the idea that autism was around before vaccinations and mercury were widespread although they hadn't really given it that name.
I could be wrong of course.

[maelorin]

People like to find something to blame, be it mercury or whatever. Eases their conscience.

it just seems a convenient way to 'justify' avoiding responsibility. which hardly assuages ones conscience - if anything, it is the bruised conscience that prevents these people from facing up to reality ... after all, if they are wrong ...

autism, being genetic, has been around for a long time. likely as long as people. quite a few historical figures are suspected of falling on the autism spectrum.

far from being something to be 'cured', like homosexuality, autism is a natural part of human diversity - and if accomodated appropriately, enhances the creative capacity of our societies. of course, we don't really need more of that ...

the doses complained of by the 'mercury in vaccines' crowd are spectacularly tiny. the general population of most industrialised cities absorb more from their surroundings on a regular basis. particularly in polluted cities. it is one of the things catalytic converters are supposed to strip out of car exhaust fumes, for instance.

the mob have taken to arguing that some people are genetically predisposed to becoming autistic from these tiny doses. they conveniently ignore the facts

1. that autism has been with us a long time,
2. that they do not understand statistics (in some cases it seems likely that wilful misinterpretation is going on),
3. it is just as likely that autism is a result of genetics rather than being a 'triggered' gentic predisposition.

ockham's razor (and basic biology) would say that being a genetic condition is a simpler fit for the observed facts - and a better fit as well. but then most people don't really understand genetics or statistics. even people who should (they often delude themselves that they do understand. again with the refusing to accept responsibility and the possibility of making a mistake).

autism was first described as a discrete condition by kanner around wwii. asperger's syndrome by asperger around the same time (though being austrian effectively buried his work until the 1980s). there is no evidence to suggest that either was 'dicovering' a new phenomena. indeed, both were exploring behavioural issues that had long been a cuase for institutionalisation.

[velvetink.livejournal.com]

Yes I knew of the asperger guy's work and how his work has only recently
became acceptable {if recent is the last 20 years}. It's a shame it was buried for so long.

Of course if there was more acceptance and accommodation in the world certain things/people wouldn't have to be "fixed" or "cured".

Some research the last couple of years suggests that homosexuality is more physiological than anything else. (brains are actually structured differently} although the various factions don't want that to become publically known fearing a reprisal/retraction on equality laws.

btw I am on your side. :)

biology is a wonderful thing

[maelorin]

btw I am on your side. :)

i figured as much :)

homosexuality is a normal sexual component of mammalian populations. as a rough 10% of both genders, it has a clear underlying genetic basis. just like bisexuality, transexuality, and other variations on the male-female, masculine-feminine spectrums. it is expected that there would be physiological differences as a consequence. sexuality is more than just a response to pheremones [which is no simple thing itself].

indeed, these would be expected to exist given the way sexual reproduction works. it is one of the advantages of sexual reproduction that makes it so common amongst more complex organisms - plants or animals. non-breeding individuals in social populations have more free time to assist in child-raising, etc.

it's only narrow-minded people who demand that variable sexual populations conform to their binary delusions. and have created the so-called nuclear family - having torn apart the old communal/extended family networks to achieve this selfish power structure debarcle.

the issue surrounding the biological basis of homosexuality has less to do with equality laws - whcih are designed to address socially constructed imbalances - and more to do with the promulgation of dogma that created the imbalances, including the idea that non-hetero is 'unnatural' (try telling that to my cat. he's gay as, and has no interest in girls beyond playfighting). it's about power, the power to enforce conformity to a particular view of what should be rather than what is or might be.

[conuly]

Two people today talking about food and kids. Cool.

[da-staplerthief.livejournal.com]

I'm all for the genetic link with autism. Seems to run in my family from my Dad's side and I lost/won the lottery out of the two kids, sister got off scott free/is a mundane.

Me? I didn't so much cure it as emphasise what I wanted to. Good memory, quick learning, awesome spacial skills etc. And forced myself to learn social skills although I still slip up a lot. Nothing to be done about handwriting although fencing improved my hand-eye coordination a lot, and my speech has improved to fluid so long as I'm not nervous/enthusiastic in which case it's full of stutters and very fast. But then, I'm borderline.

Mum tried to have me 'cured' but I did it all myself. I think a lot of it is what you make of it. I gave a speech on autism/aspergers in High School and made people _jealous_ because I memorised a ten minute speech never having written it down before hand and got full marks for it. They wanted it and the ability to spend less time studying and couldn't understand why I was so lucky. Disease in need of a cure my arse!

Although I spose it's kinda different between aspergers and strong autism... *shrugs*

[maelorin]

there is a strong genetic link here. it runs in families (my dad be the likely asd progenitor here also.)

males are four times as likely to be asd. which points to x-linkage of some kind. some recent work points to chromosome 22 involvement as well.

martial arts also improved by coordination. but i can't play 'twitch' games.

i trained myself out of a lisp. talking per se has never been a problem otherwise [where's the off switch! :)]

also trained myself into some social skills. with help from friends - including my ex-wife.

the 'cure' movement is a political lobby group with another agenda entirely.

one cannot 'cure' autisms anyways. it's neuroanatomical. large-scale brain rewiring is way beyond anything our vets doctors can manage. for some time to come.

those with the all-consuming need to have everyone else like tham are the ones needing the 'cure'. poor, pathetic deficient socio-behavioural freaks.

i had no idea asperger's existed until three years ago. i got through high school and several degrees first. my peers soon got over being amazed that i oculd stand up and speak for 10 minutes to hours on any topic, without detailed notes. i don't memorise [i can, but it's too much like hard work].

i'm pretty good at simply talking off-the-cuff [i have to get over stage fright first though] as colleagues discovered during my grad dip ed courses (my topic was changed as i got up to speak for five minutes - and only two people in the room knew. until afterwards. i was not a happy camper).

for me, less is more (though some preparation helps).

[da-staplerthief.livejournal.com]

Ditto for the talking on the fly thing, but I usually try to have some sort of layout before-hand lest I go off on a tangent and forget to say something important.

Definitely agree with the brain can't be rewired thing. Chances are aspergers masculinised my brain a great deal to start off with (I mean, autism is occasionally described as a hyper-masculine brain in terms of its traits) but arguing that you can 'cure' it leads to the conclusion that you can also change my gender to female, that I'm just delusional.

Incidentally, my psychiatrist did offer, but that's only because their Melbourne clinic was being sued by someone who lost their family because they transitioned (and probably were an arsehole about it... MtFs tend to demand 'accept me or else' of their wives, FtMs tend to go 'uh... accept me? Please? No? *sigh* I knew it...' They were MtF). My reply was 'no', because it wouldn't be me after they'd finished, and since I'm of the opinion you can't rewire a brain it'd be more like repressing the self.

It must be weird finding out as an adult you've got autism, I've known since I was 12. I didn't realise quite what it meant for another year, but even so... My Dad found out age 40, now he uses it to blame everything he's ever done wrong. Doesn't quite realise that autistic or not, arseholes are just arseholes. :-)

[maelorin]

a plan is always a good-thing ;)

i beleive that gender identity is more complex than most people imagine. i'm not yet convinced that aspieness is 'hyper-maleness' - though aspies do end up with 'exaggerated' 'masculine' traits. a few thing si read recently suggest that aspies, on average, are more ambivalent or confused about their gender identity [this is contrary to my limited experience, but does make some sense]

Incidentally, my psychiatrist did offer offer to do what? drug you up for life? play hack'n'slash in your head?

again with my thesis that much of the problem is social. it should be expected that some individuals will feel their physical gender does not match the way they think&feel about themselves. the main reason people have problems with that concept is social conditioning. i do think it is important that those who desire surgical intervention undergo good psychological evaluation and preparation.

the working model i have of people is more flexible than most people's. that said, i'm less tolerant of 'social wankery' than most. if something is just plain stupid, i find it hard to put up with. [people should tell others what they mean, not play idiotic games. lifes' too short for that shit]


it was actually a relief to discover that the difficulties i was having were real, and not the result of me being a selfish prick. i've never seen these things as an excuse. the explaination (has helped | is helping) me to work through what i can do to adapt for others, and what i need from others.

as you say, some people are arseholes because they're arseholes.

[da-staplerthief.livejournal.com]

The psychiatrist didn't elaborate on what they were offering but implied it involved lots of counselling and conditioning so I could repress any male traits. I doubt drugs'd work, nor a frontal lobotomy.

[maelorin]

"repression" has the lovely side effect of being unhealthy, especially long term. and it's so effective. ask the "cured" homosexuals in bible belt usa ...

'drugs' might work, but you'd be taking hormones and psychoactives for life.

don't get me wrong, i've had it up to here with all the 'conforming to society' crap, but i'm of the opinion that people ought to be encouraged and assisted to find out and express who they actually are. the social games are important, but the claim that conformity for social cohesion does get taken too far. especially in a society that also claims that individual self-expression and self-discovery are valued and valuable.

the damn sheeple want us all to be mundanes. it's not very satisfying, and they get all silly when people 'discover' themselves and then do something about it when they're fortyish. if they'ed been allowed to find out and express/be themselves earlier, less mess would ensue.

methinks anyways.

[verdigriis.livejournal.com]

Heh - everything's a "disease" these days, with the implication that it has (or needs) a cure, and that the "cure" will be diseminated by some kind of medical practioner.

From what I recal (correct me if I'm wrong here, this is kind of half remembered from my hazy psych PhD nightmare) the the diagnostic criteria for autism and related conditions have recently broadened, and more care is being taken to look for it in children. Gosh! More diagnosed cases!

Aaaaiiiieeee! It's an epidemic!

Then, suddenly it becomes another evil for special interest groups to wave around in their crusade for whatever it is they want. Then a whole bunch of insanity springs up, funding gets re-routed into all sorts of wierd places and the armchair statisticians make everything as clear as mud. Given that psychology is my discipline these days I'm kind of wedded to the idea that statistics can be very useful, but Oh God they can be so harmful when misused.

[maelorin]

you're on the money with the broadened diagnostic criteria. a bunch of conditions got redefined in DSM IV, then retuned in DSM IV-R. the autism spectrum was significantly modified.

also, most fo the statistics used by the lunatics comes from a particular californian government document, whcih only reports on the demand for, and access to, services provided by or through the body.

so, a broader definition, plus heightened awareness, plus the only way to get assistance is to meet certain criteria - which schools encourage parents to push for - leads to a radical leap in published demand on services.

the very document itself is clear what the stats relate to ...

this is very much a misuse fo stats to peddle an agenda. a certain group of wealthy americans don't want to have to be responsible for, and pay for, caring for their children. so they look for someone else to blame, and make liable.

and despite all the medical evidence to the contrary, they're gaining political ground. [much the same as the 'intelligent' design fundies.]

the anti-vaccine people love this conspiracy theory, coz its ammunition for their cause too. [i choose not to distinguish between the anti-vaccine and mercury-causes-autism crowds coz they overlap so much and look/sound so similar. well off, educated, selfish people who would rather somone else dealt with the hassle of their kids.]