Killing the disabled
I think it's probably some kind of pack mentality like was stated, but that's because in the past disabled people died sooner because there wasn't much that could be done for them. Now there is and people may get afraid that they are using up resources, but they aren't. It's not like we only have so much food and healthy people are dying of starvation so that people who can never get better will live. It's not an end of the world, do or die thing, and that's the only time that it would ever be seriously considered, and even then it would probably only seriously be considered because in a scenario like that it would be better to die quickly and painlessly than a longer, painful and lingering death while the apolocypse is going on and nobody is there to take care of you.
Sadly, I think it will happen again.
In America right now, we have a climate similar to the Weimar Republic (it's not there yet, but it's heading that way). We have significant inflation-- it's not runaway yet, but it's definitely a factor (check your grocery bill for six months if you don't believe me; I really see it because I tend to do one huge grocery run every three months). We have significant unemployment-- it's not at Weimar Republic levels yet, but the official rate is close to 10% and we all know that the official unemployment rate is a massive understatement. We have an incompetent leadership that seems either unable or unwilling to solve the problem. We have growing discontent and polarization in the populace.
Once things get just a little bit worse, it will be a tinderbox, just waiting for a charismatic leader to come along with a big ol' Bic.
At the first hint of that leader, I'm getting the hell out of the developed world. Hubby won't like it-- he calls me paranoid; so does my therapist-- but I will pack up the boy and go alone if I have to.
The last Holocaust survivors are in their 70s and 80s. The people who remember are almost gone; once no one actually remembers, we'll be ripe to repeat the atrocity. I've seen a single person-- who was known to be vicious and either deceptive or deranged, and who had done identical things to other people before-- turn an entire family against me in a matter of days. If you think the same thing can't happen on a national (or continental) scale, you're deceiving yourself.
NEVER underestimate what fear, greed, and selfishness can motivate people to do.
_________________
"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"
And as a parent that is the thing that most concerns me - not my rights, but the rights that I want my children to have when they become adults! If we quietly sit around and say we can do nothing then we condemn our children to the same problems. I have to say though that I do have some hope for the future despite the bigotry and hatred in the world right now.
_________________
Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.
I think it's probably some kind of pack mentality like was stated, but that's because in the past disabled people died sooner because there wasn't much that could be done for them. Now there is and people may get afraid that they are using up resources, but they aren't. It's not like we only have so much food and healthy people are dying of starvation so that people who can never get better will live. It's not an end of the world, do or die thing, and that's the only time that it would ever be seriously considered, and even then it would probably only seriously be considered because in a scenario like that it would be better to die quickly and painlessly than a longer, painful and lingering death while the apolocypse is going on and nobody is there to take care of you.
Did you not see what happened in Bosnia? they obviously ignored the lessons of hitler. In the right circumstances people can sink to any depths and it is often the weak and vulnerable who are the first to be picked out.
_________________
Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.
OliveOilMom
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Joined: 11 Nov 2011
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Posts: 11,447
Location: About 50 miles past the middle of nowhere
I think it's probably some kind of pack mentality like was stated, but that's because in the past disabled people died sooner because there wasn't much that could be done for them. Now there is and people may get afraid that they are using up resources, but they aren't. It's not like we only have so much food and healthy people are dying of starvation so that people who can never get better will live. It's not an end of the world, do or die thing, and that's the only time that it would ever be seriously considered, and even then it would probably only seriously be considered because in a scenario like that it would be better to die quickly and painlessly than a longer, painful and lingering death while the apolocypse is going on and nobody is there to take care of you.
Did you not see what happened in Bosnia? they obviously ignored the lessons of hitler. In the right circumstances people can sink to any depths and it is often the weak and vulnerable who are the first to be picked out.
I said developed nation. I wouldn't think Bosnia would fall into that category. I'm not saying it's ok in those places, I'm just saying that there's no telling what could happen in those places.
OliveOilMom
Veteran

Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Age: 60
Gender: Female
Posts: 11,447
Location: About 50 miles past the middle of nowhere
I think it's probably some kind of pack mentality like was stated, but that's because in the past disabled people died sooner because there wasn't much that could be done for them. Now there is and people may get afraid that they are using up resources, but they aren't. It's not like we only have so much food and healthy people are dying of starvation so that people who can never get better will live. It's not an end of the world, do or die thing, and that's the only time that it would ever be seriously considered, and even then it would probably only seriously be considered because in a scenario like that it would be better to die quickly and painlessly than a longer, painful and lingering death while the apolocypse is going on and nobody is there to take care of you.
Sadly, I think it will happen again.
In America right now, we have a climate similar to the Weimar Republic (it's not there yet, but it's heading that way). We have significant inflation-- it's not runaway yet, but it's definitely a factor (check your grocery bill for six months if you don't believe me; I really see it because I tend to do one huge grocery run every three months). We have significant unemployment-- it's not at Weimar Republic levels yet, but the official rate is close to 10% and we all know that the official unemployment rate is a massive understatement. We have an incompetent leadership that seems either unable or unwilling to solve the problem. We have growing discontent and polarization in the populace.
Once things get just a little bit worse, it will be a tinderbox, just waiting for a charismatic leader to come along with a big ol' Bic.
At the first hint of that leader, I'm getting the hell out of the developed world. Hubby won't like it-- he calls me paranoid; so does my therapist-- but I will pack up the boy and go alone if I have to.
The last Holocaust survivors are in their 70s and 80s. The people who remember are almost gone; once no one actually remembers, we'll be ripe to repeat the atrocity. I've seen a single person-- who was known to be vicious and either deceptive or deranged, and who had done identical things to other people before-- turn an entire family against me in a matter of days. If you think the same thing can't happen on a national (or continental) scale, you're deceiving yourself.
NEVER underestimate what fear, greed, and selfishness can motivate people to do.
If it gets worse it will be like it was in the 70's during the recession when there wasn't a lot of work, or gas, or money, and people still didn't go around killing the disabled. There were some riots but there wasnt a lot of chaos and craziness. Mainly because they were probably stoned. And there were still Quaaludes. But in a society that goes all overboard about whether or not what you say offends somebody, I don't think you are going to find much genocide. If people aren't even allowed to call them names, I doubt they will be allowed to kill them.
I agree with a lot of what you wrote.
But by the end of the day humans have a pack-mentality. What this means is you should conform to the group, or you'll be mocked. When you have Aspergers Syndrome you're often not capable of conforming socially even if you had the desire to do so, which means the group wants to get rid of you. The pack mentality can make people really mean towards others, and in such a setting people can soon enough agree that this world would be a better place without disabled people, so a solution would be to just kill them. That includes people with AS.
I agree that groups can be less moral than individuals, and we need to watch out for baying mobs.
I do not think that not conforming is necessarily in order to avoid being killed, or any of the baby steps before that. Again, a lot of the people we as a society admire are those that did not conform, such as Martin Luther King. We have more acceptance of minority groups than ever, even minorities that are such because of their behaviour, like homosexuals and transgendered people. Heck, I even think things are getting better for autistic people.
So I have to disagree with you that there is no hope unless you are egocentric and conformist.
There ain't much hope as to what regards minorities being bullied everywhere. That also means there ain't much hope in aspies keeping jobs long-term, unless they are quite lucky.
I think it's probably some kind of pack mentality like was stated, but that's because in the past disabled people died sooner because there wasn't much that could be done for them. Now there is and people may get afraid that they are using up resources, but they aren't. It's not like we only have so much food and healthy people are dying of starvation so that people who can never get better will live. It's not an end of the world, do or die thing, and that's the only time that it would ever be seriously considered, and even then it would probably only seriously be considered because in a scenario like that it would be better to die quickly and painlessly than a longer, painful and lingering death while the apolocypse is going on and nobody is there to take care of you.
Did you not see what happened in Bosnia? they obviously ignored the lessons of hitler. In the right circumstances people can sink to any depths and it is often the weak and vulnerable who are the first to be picked out.
I said developed nation. I wouldn't think Bosnia would fall into that category. I'm not saying it's ok in those places, I'm just saying that there's no telling what could happen in those places.
Bosnia was a developed nation till the war!
_________________
Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.
You guys keep saying that "it won't happen"--equality will never be a reality--but you never seem to offer any good arguments in support of that idea. You just keep saying, "That's the way it's always been; that's the way it always will be," as though you cannot think of the world as being in any other shape than what it is now.
I can point to many changes that have taken place over history--the civil rights movement, women's rights, disability rights and gay rights more recently; the end of slavery, the rise of the middle class and later on of unions and labor rights; the recognition of child and spousal abuse as being wrong. All of those things have changed. They are better now than they used to be. Why should autism rights not improve as well?
Whenever we hope, we risk being disappointed. But isn't that risk worth it?
_________________
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http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com
Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com
I can point to many changes that have taken place over history--the civil rights movement, women's rights, disability rights and gay rights more recently; the end of slavery, the rise of the middle class and later on of unions and labor rights; the recognition of child and spousal abuse as being wrong. All of those things have changed. They are better now than they used to be. Why should autism rights not improve as well?
Whenever we hope, we risk being disappointed. But isn't that risk worth it?
Absolutely! we might have regressive occurrences like Bosnia et al, but overall human rights are steadily improving. That is not to say that there won't be hiccups along the way, and we do have to guard against the kind of vicious bigotry that can explode at any time in any culture. Anyone who says that the kind of nastiness that happened in Bosnia can never happen over here is only deluding themselves - it can happen anywhere, anytime - even in the US. That was what was so shocking about it - the fact that no-one believed it could happen in the modern world after hitler, yet it did!.
But extreme circumstances aside I really do think things are going to improve for us over the next ten years or so, if only because we will make it so. And the biggest reason for that is that many of the children diagnosed since the nineties are now coming into adulthood and having a voice of their own. Also many Mature people like myself are finally being diagnosed in later life.
When the majority of diagnosed people with Autism were either too young or too low functioning to speak out, their voice was not heard.
Now the number of adults with Autism is increasing - adults with the right to vote, we are starting to be heard, and that voice will only get louder as we grow in numbers.
And I don't just mean the protesting voices. Any voice that celebrates autism is a force for good, any voice that says "I don't mind being autistic" is going to erode the myth of helplessness. It won't be one single voice that changes the world for us - it will be all our voices, chipping away at the misconceptions one speck at a time.
This is why those like Ms Wright and 'Autism Speaks' are ultimately doomed to failure in the long run if they don't change their attitude. Its easy to paint Autism as a disaster when those children can't speak back, but as more of those children grow up and say 'hey I'm not the disease you painted me to be" then Ms Wright's position will become more unsustainable.
_________________
Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.
The views expressed in the following do not necessarily reflect those of the poster, and are only a representation of the reality of nature.
Inefficiency is the quickest way to extinction. In a world and universe where the only law is "Survival of the fittest" any individual or group which does not purge itself of all inefficiencies and wastes will doom itself to destruction.
To create a world which embraces those who cannot pull their own weight one must increase the levels of bureaucracy that is already beyond rampant now... Epidemic would even be too mild a word, yet more would have to be created, then more yet would have to be created to enforce the first layer, and the word Endemic replaces Epidemic.
Look at any other species in the world. Those that cannot pull their weight are either killed or allowed to die (well, left to sink or swim on their own is a better way to say it for many species)
Look at humanity, no matter the span you use to describe our species, 70,000 years at the low end, to 5 million years at the high end... it has only been 200 years, maybe 250 years that we have "cared for those unable to contribute" The elderly were cared about, but that was because they held wisdom that was useful. Now in a society, and a world where things change so rapidly and completely from one generation to the next, even the usefulness of the elderly is in question, and their existence cannot any longer be justified from an efficiency standpoint. Disabled and/or deformed children were left at the outskirts of villages for the wild animals to get. Tests of manhood were given where weak boys would die, and childbirth served as a means to eliminate weak women/girls.
The hard cold truth that we all have to face is this: If we don't care about the future, and only about our current generation, then yes we should nurture our infirm and make sure that they breed to keep the genes leading to those debilitating conditions continue and gain foothold in the gene-pool.
But if we care about the human species, we should not allow anyone with genetic inferiorities to breed or perhaps even live.
Of course this brings up the million dollar question... where do we draw the line? and more importantly who draws that line?
But if we do so, we also have to consider how much energy is invested into someone while they are a child in the form of education, nourishment, care, etc. The judgement has to come BEFORE all those expenditures are wasted, and we know that at that point we can only look at a child and judge the potential on a statistical/probabilistic point of view.
Letting the person "sink or swim of their own accord" will not work.
Now, i'm not proposing an answer here, and i'm not recommending or advocating what i'm saying. Saying it makes my mouth taste like it's full of feces. But that doesn't mean that I don't know I'm correct in saying what I say. It simply is fact. The only world in which it is not true, is world where there are no limited resources, or any resource limitations are insignificant.
If you want to follow another line of reasoning, you can argue easily that the consumerist society in which we live in depends on having members of society which are not capable of producing what they need to survive. Because if everyone was able to produce an equivalent of what they consumed, no one would be able to produce excess, so there could be no growth, and the economy would fizzle and die. There would be no innovation, no scientific breakthroughs (or at least they would be dampened)
But as resource limitations become more and more pressing (ie, as we approach Hubbard's peak in more and more resources) this issue we're discussing becomes more and more relevant. And it is NATURAL that any species, that evolved through natural selection, will tend in times of limited resources to adopt policies and ideologies that favor the elimination of those that cannot pull their own weight.
As we are now past or fast approaching Hubbard's Peak on most resources.... well, you get the drift.
Okay, so why have i even written this. I served no purpose in helping anyone with this... I hate every time I have to talk about crud like this...
But i've said it, and I will say it again when needed so that those most affected know what they are going to be up against in this world, and it is going to get worse, not better.
Be prepared for it.
what is this talk about Bosnia? in the civil war, the old and disabled were the ones most likely to stay alive because there was no point getting rid of them - they weren't going to either fight or reproduce.
Even worse things are happening in Africa now and have been for decades, but I guess they are not the right skin colour to be worried about?
PS what really annoys me is reading self righteous indignation from those who may very likely in the same breath defend their right to bear arms and defend their homestead by killing dead whoever trespasses 'their land'.
_________________
context is king
The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil. Hence we must bear without complaining the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely the weaker and inferior members of society not marrying so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased, though this is more to be hoped for than expected.[8]
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Notable_C ... ent_of_Man
Inefficiency is the quickest way to extinction. In a world and universe where the only law is "Survival of the fittest" any individual or group which does not purge itself of all inefficiencies and wastes will doom itself to destruction.
To create a world which embraces those who cannot pull their own weight one must increase the levels of bureaucracy that is already beyond rampant now... Epidemic would even be too mild a word, yet more would have to be created, then more yet would have to be created to enforce the first layer, and the word Endemic replaces Epidemic.
Look at any other species in the world. Those that cannot pull their weight are either killed or allowed to die (well, left to sink or swim on their own is a better way to say it for many species)
Look at humanity, no matter the span you use to describe our species, 70,000 years at the low end, to 5 million years at the high end... it has only been 200 years, maybe 250 years that we have "cared for those unable to contribute" The elderly were cared about, but that was because they held wisdom that was useful. Now in a society, and a world where things change so rapidly and completely from one generation to the next, even the usefulness of the elderly is in question, and their existence cannot any longer be justified from an efficiency standpoint. Disabled and/or deformed children were left at the outskirts of villages for the wild animals to get. Tests of manhood were given where weak boys would die, and childbirth served as a means to eliminate weak women/girls.
The hard cold truth that we all have to face is this: If we don't care about the future, and only about our current generation, then yes we should nurture our infirm and make sure that they breed to keep the genes leading to those debilitating conditions continue and gain foothold in the gene-pool.
But if we care about the human species, we should not allow anyone with genetic inferiorities to breed or perhaps even live.
Of course this brings up the million dollar question... where do we draw the line? and more importantly who draws that line?
But if we do so, we also have to consider how much energy is invested into someone while they are a child in the form of education, nourishment, care, etc. The judgement has to come BEFORE all those expenditures are wasted, and we know that at that point we can only look at a child and judge the potential on a statistical/probabilistic point of view.
Letting the person "sink or swim of their own accord" will not work.
Now, i'm not proposing an answer here, and i'm not recommending or advocating what i'm saying. Saying it makes my mouth taste like it's full of feces. But that doesn't mean that I don't know I'm correct in saying what I say. It simply is fact. The only world in which it is not true, is world where there are no limited resources, or any resource limitations are insignificant.
If you want to follow another line of reasoning, you can argue easily that the consumerist society in which we live in depends on having members of society which are not capable of producing what they need to survive. Because if everyone was able to produce an equivalent of what they consumed, no one would be able to produce excess, so there could be no growth, and the economy would fizzle and die. There would be no innovation, no scientific breakthroughs (or at least they would be dampened)
But as resource limitations become more and more pressing (ie, as we approach Hubbard's peak in more and more resources) this issue we're discussing becomes more and more relevant. And it is NATURAL that any species, that evolved through natural selection, will tend in times of limited resources to adopt policies and ideologies that favor the elimination of those that cannot pull their own weight.
As we are now past or fast approaching Hubbard's Peak on most resources.... well, you get the drift.
Okay, so why have i even written this. I served no purpose in helping anyone with this... I hate every time I have to talk about crud like this...
But i've said it, and I will say it again when needed so that those most affected know what they are going to be up against in this world, and it is going to get worse, not better.
Be prepared for it.
Um can't we just teach people that those with autism and other disabilities are not completely useless lumps of nothingness who can't do anything or contribute.
Holy cow, some people with autism are not only the sweetest people I have spoken to they are some of the most intelligent. That is a whole lot to offer society right there!
God, it's wicked to say that someones life is not worth anything or that they don't have anything to offer just because they have a disability.
Apart from which when it comes to evolution environment plays a role. What is a disability in one environment or a weakness is a strength in another so it is not as black and white as your post indicates.
Ok in this society some characters possessed by those with autism and other disabilities might be seen as a weakness but that is because society is set up for the NT and physically able (in the most part). If this were to change there I NO reason that the disabled and those on the spectrum cannot contribute.
I used to date a man on the spectrum and not only was he marvelous in the bedroom he was a musical genius.
I really hate the way society keeps putting the disabled down like they are useless when they are not.
Stop it!
Verdandi
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What about E=mc^2? Or D=V/T? Are those not laws?
I am being flippant, but that's because you do not understand what "survival of the fittest" means, and it is certainly not the only law.
The quickest way to extinction is a disaster, or maybe mass suicide.
Please elaborate.
That's wrong too. Sperm whales, for example, will go out of their way to defend injured individuals or poor swimmers, and that isn't limited to just their species.
Regardless, "it happens in nature" is not a justification. We are BETTER than nature.
What is the human species, if not individual humans? Or, to put it another way, how can you care for humanity if you do not care for humans?
Even worse things are happening in Africa now and have been for decades, but I guess they are not the right skin colour to be worried about?
PS what really annoys me is reading self righteous indignation from those who may very likely in the same breath defend their right to bear arms and defend their homestead by killing dead whoever trespasses 'their land'.
So I guess you never read about the concentration camps that were set up, the mass killings, and the frequent deliberate murders of women and children simply because they were Bosnian. You never saw the news footage describing how old women were herded into a cellar then burnt alive by petrol bombs. Or the children shot dead by snipers who could clearly see that they were just children trying to get home?
What happened in Bosnia was not just a civil war - it was a serious attempt at ethnic cleansing. The serbs literally saw the Bosnians as sub-human and tried to exterminate them. Of course atrocities took place on both sides of the divide, but it was the Serbs who were creating concentration camps, just like hitler did in WW2.
Of course bad things are happening in Africa too, there are all kinds of atrocities going on there, but how does the fact that I quoted Bosnia as my example make me somehow racist? If I had chosen Tibet instead of Africa would my choice still be racist? My many black friends will tell you that I don't make comments based on skin colour, I only comment on things I actually know about.
If I had talked about Africa I'm sure you would have been only too happy to tell me how wrong I am! Because I am too ill informed about what happens there to be able to speak about it with any confidence.
I chose Bosnia because I'm better informed about what happened there, so felt I could talk about with confidence. The area I used to live in is full of Bosnian refugees, most of whom are terrified to go back - even now. The stories they tell are horrendous (and also very consistent with each other, and what was seen on the news).
As for the right to bear arms - you are way off the mark there. Here in the UK there is no right to bear arms! And I'm glad that this is so. I don't ever want to live in a country as obsessed with gun culture as America is. I certainly don't want to ever own a gun let alone shoot anyone (and I don't live on a homestead or own any land to defend). Hell I would never even hit anyone with a stick never mind shoot them. So please get your facts straight before making wild accusations that have no bearing whatsoever on reality.
_________________
Autistic dad to an autistic boy and loving it - its always fun in our house

I have Autism. My communication difficulties mean that I sometimes get words wrong, that what I mean is not what comes out.