Letters to the Editor
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argument by assertion/argument by repetition
http://www.amazon.com/Abnormal-Psychology-Integrative-Approach-InfoTrac%C2%AE/dp/0534633625
People with autism nearly always have sever difficulty communicating. About 50% are like Timmy, never aquiring useful speech. In those with some speech, communication is often unusual. Some repeat what others say, in a pattern called echolalia, which is a sign of delayed speech development. If you say, "My name is Eileen, what's yours?" they will repeat all or part of what you said: "Eileen, what's yours" And often, not only are your words repeated, but so is your intonation. Some who can speak are unable or unwilling to carry on conversations with other.
They are going to have to rewrite the textbooks. "Autism" is common to all men, I think that's it. Some have developed more effective coping strategies than others.
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religion explained
same text
The more striking characteristics of autism include restricted patterns of behavior, interests, and activities. Timmy appeared to like things to stay the same; he became extremely upset by even a small change 9such as moving a living room chair a few inches.) This intense preference for the status quo has been called maintenence of sameness...
Often, people with autism spend countless hours in stereotyped and ritualistic behaviors, making such movements as spinning around in circles, waving their hands in front of their eyes with their heads cocked to one side, or biting their hands.
The autist does not come into existence until the ritual, the ritual brings him to life. Outside the ritual, he is dead. Through the ritual, he is born again.
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FYI
"I have a horrible head cold today (hence the light posting) and my comments, I see, are replete with typos of that sort (I wanted to write about Fred Hiatt's editorial atrocity in the Post this morning but couldn't summon the focus or energy - the anger was mixing poorly with the cold medication to create one blindly raging mix, so I thought it best to wait until tomorrow)."
Even as I type this, a letter writer over at Salon's War Room are quoting that very Post op-ed as support to their argument that the Libby trial was a witch hunt.
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Sorry about the atrocious grammar
it's "is," not "are," and "his," not "their."
Damn this stealth posting at work!
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Profound
m.b.f.:
" We are not defining democracy anymore, that's why no one sees it, why it is dissappearing"
That's one of the most astute things I've read on these boards.
Thanks for saying that.
My own eyes are often slow to focus.
No kings,
Robert
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Funny Standing Conspiracy
I recall years ago reading about contractors who alleged that they had been exposed to toxic chemicals at the Area 54 base. Unfortunately, they had a serious problem bringing it to court to find redress: they had no documents on the base, since it's highly classified, and they couldn't even come up with the bases proper name and who has authority over it in the military, since that was classified. If I remember, the judge was sympathetic with their plight, but without those facts, there was no one to sue!
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mbf & autism
I think you may be overplaying the autism thing. Autism appears to be directly linked to the lack of mirror neurons in the brain, neurons specifically tuned to model the behavior of others internally - I see you feel pain, I create a model of your mind in my mind including that pain, I empathetically feel that pain.
What you seem to be talking about is a culture gap. Many people have the capability of forming mental models of other peoples minds, otherwise they wouldn't be able to play social games like politics. But the range of models is severely limited to them, by training. They expect everyone else to be fairly similar to them, and so people from divergent cultures appear to be aliens, utterly un-understandable. The natural reaction then is to forget that the other is a subjective being like yourself. Since the mirror neurons aren't structured to model that other mind, they fall into the category of object, to be used like a car or a rock, with no empathy at all. As you said, like a slave - to have a slave as chattel, at some level you have to break that empathy which means behaving as if you were autistic; but your not autistic, you've actively destroyed your mental model.
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Defining?
We are most certainly defining, and re-defining democracy.
We are, like the man said about deviance, defining it down.
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it is profound
It focused the whole world to me, it focused my whole life, I can frame my whole life in terms of democracy; everything I've ever read or watched, every person I've ever known.
In Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury advises the aspiring writer to read and write, write and read; every day, forever. He said that eventually, like the seeds of a pomengranate, ideas would burst forth.
That happened to me: I just needed Altemeyer's work and a comment someone made about ADD.
Its like the 6th Sense, before you know Bruce Willis is a ghost, you just see a guy. Then when Osment describes him as a ghost: the montage, eevrything flashes back and you see it a new: you begin the world over.
That's what Paine saw. He saw democracy, it came to life. I can see it now, too. Its a picture. My picture might not work for others, for some it might:
Center title:
The Lighttower: Defing Democracy, Defending Reason
Background: Ship, lost in the storm at night, surrounded by clouds; yet guiding it towards shore: a lightower in the distance, the closer to the tower the ship gets, the brighter the light becomes.
Put it to a vote, the majority says approach the light. test it out, take a look and see. If we're wrong, we can turn around, the ship is sunk, otherwise. sure you can disagree, if your argument becomes compelling, we'll change our minds and stop.
Science is the tower. Democracy is figuring out on the ship the objective method: light brighter, shore closer
anti-democracy is refusing to follow the light, to make a guess and stick to it forever; to take over the ship - be quiet and sit down or we'll throw you overboard