Someone remind me why I waste time? Each and every time, the person

[moc]

I try to provide a thoughtful response to ends up being an asshole woo. I just added another person to my ignore list.

For reference, see autism thread on GD.

:banghead:

Sorry the barge and vent. I lurk here but only post when someone on the other boards pisses me off. Thanks for your time.

[TZ]

1. same reason I do

because you hope that someone besides the individual woo will benefit.

[Random_Australian]

2. Expanding on turtlensue, it is because neutral third parties can see how utterly, completely

full of it a woo is when you make points and they run around screaming that you are toxic. (and this means you are wrong)

[mr blur]

3. Because if we don't speak up,

their rantings-against-reason can go unchallenged.

[trotsky]

4. Echoing the above sentiments.

For lurkers and observers. I was encouraged by a poll I posted in the Health Scare Lounge several months ago when a big Gardasil dust-up was going on. I asked what people's opinions were on vaccination, and even I was blown away by the results. A vast supermajority all said they are in favor of all recommended vaccines. And this was in Health, where the woos seem to congregate. Only about 6-8 said vaccines cause more harm than good - and based on my encounters in there, I could probably name each one. They're a very loud but (thankfully) very tiny minority. They haven't changed minds yet - but only if we keep countering their idiocy can it remain so.

[cosmik debris]

5. What else can you do?

The other day I ran across a poster who claimed "diets designed to fight cancer are more successful than conventional treatments".

Now I admit that my response was not as thoughtful and erudite as yours, but I couldn't just let that go. What else could I do?

[Orrex]

6. I do it, in part, because...

I feel that if I let a falsehood go unanswered, then I'm sort of endorsing that falsehood by my silence. Given the emotional intensity of the autism debate, it's hard to get into one of those threads without being attacked from all sides.

The right thing to do, in the popular view, to support any crazy notion that comes along, so long as that notion gives some illusion of hope or equity. But when you have the gall to say "you know, that statement is poorly supported by the evidence," then you're an insensitive asshole.


Call me an insensitive asshole, then.

[mr blur]

7. Clusterfuck in GD

Usual autism drivel and make-your-own-reality woos crawling out of the woodwork. *sigh* Make it stop!

[moc]

8. Thank you all for your support. You're right. That's why we try.

I guess I should have a thicker skin. It's just when I think I've given a thoughtful response and someone replies "well, you need to be a better teacher and save the world" without even responding to the substance of what I said, it just pissed me off. It probably didn't help that I had screaming kids in the background at the same time, lol.

Thanks again all.

:hug:

[LeftishBrit]

9. I agree with Turtlensue, Trotsky, etc.

Nothing's going to convince the true believers; but other people get to see the evidence on the other side.

I can only go there for so long, however, before I feel like screaming at them that they're monsters, attempting to deprive us all of our basic human right to medicine - and I don't really want to get banned.

I saw that thread, Moc - and couldn't believe how condescending that poster was! Thanks for persisting.

[beam me up scottie]

10. I think posters like Odin will appreciate your effort.

How would you like to be told -repeatedly- that you are "damaged" and need to be fixed?

'Teh autism' is just another crusade for the willfully ignorant and paranoid.

[Odin2005]

11. Yup. This BS is SOOOO annoying.

What I really hate is the "but you are a high functioning autitsic, you have no right to speak for low functioning autistics" meme that sometimes pops up. In reality, a lot of so-called "low-functioning" autistics really aren't "low functioning". the autistic British lady who runs this blog is a good example:

http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org

It is not uncommon for a "low functioning" autistic thought to be mentally retarded to turn out to have average or above average intelligence when they find a way to communicate, often via a keyboard.

[beam me up scottie]

12. "Note on predators"? WTF?

Note on predators

(This was written sometime in 2005 or 2006, in response to a commenter known to me from the past who was attempting to convince me I was dying.)

There are people who have in the past tried to prey on the autistic community. Some continue to do so.

Some by verbal attacks. Some by stalking. Some by threats of violence and terrorism. Some by trying to mess with autistic people’s minds on purpose. Some by trying to find ways to take advantage of us sexually (imagining us to be like children in that regard, and some specifically target children and teens in the autistic community).

Such people’s comments will be deleted where I find them, and so far they are the only people whose comments I have deleted. Exactly one person has emailed me asking if they were such a person, and my answer to that person is that if they have to ask, the answer is no, and I would not have even considered that person when talking about this.

But this is also a warning, that there are people like that out there — some autistic, some not, some not and claiming to be. Not many, but the few are enough. Where there are people perceived to be weak, there are people who will attempt to exploit that weakness. Such people will find that I am not the easy target that I once was, or that they imagine me to be now. Such people will not receive a platform on my blog.

Son of a bitch.

I had no idea that this was a problem, but now that I know I'm not really surprised. I'm pissed at myself for being so ignorant and oblivious, though.

I guess anyone who exposes themselves becomes a potential target for predators.



Brave girl, and brilliant too, thanks for the link.

[Warpy]

14. I grew to love Aspies when I worked at MIT

because the place was stuffed to the rafters with them. When I had some down time, I'd ask them what they were working on in their various fields. Since being a little professor comes naturally to them, it was a great education in a lot of cutting edge research. They loved to talk about it and I was fascinated hearing it all.

My best friend in junior high through high school was somebody who had been labeled retarded. Since I was the intellectual white hope of whatever school I was in, nobody could figure it out. I knew she wasn't retarded and she was a hell of a lot of fun to be with, even though she'd written herself off like adults had. I think now she'd be labeled profoundly dyslexic but with above normal intelligence. It's a real pity our friendship didn't ring a clue phone for the powers that were at the time.

Undoubtedly, what is being labeled "autism spectrum disorder" will be refined in the future as we begin to find ways for the profoundly autistic to communicate. Because of my experiences down the line, I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to tell us.

[skepticscott]

13. To echo what other posters have said

Don't consider the sole (or even the main) purpose of a post to be to convince the person you're directly responding to that their position or argument is silly and unsupportable. There are many other people who lurk and only read, and it's important that, for their benefit, nonsense not go unchallenged.

And, if we skeptics on this board and elsewhere are going to style ourselves as arbiters and filters for truth and understanding (in whatever small way), then perhaps its our lot to endure and respond to the same nonsense (if you'll forgive a Biblical allusion) not just seven times, but seventy times seven. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about it, or as unfailingly polite about it the hundredth time as the first, but it does have to be done.