Another Angle on the Pro-Cure Movement: Americans Commiting Acts of Terrorism
*This is not directed towards confused or grieving parents. Grief is a natural emotion to feel after finding out your child's diagnosis. Many of you are trying to help your children, and that is commendable. But think logically before administrating any treatment. Always remember that autism is NOT incompatible with personhood, and that it is not a child-stealing monster. The content of this article is directed primarily toward malicious individuals who hate autism and all autistic people with a passion .
Ever since 9/11, America has engaged in a war on terror where ever it rises. Although I cannot say I agree with everything the current administration has done, I think terrorism has no place in any society and that terrorism will only work if we allow it to work, if we allow it to get to us. Yet there is a different kind of terrorism that comes in the United States. One that has existed before 9/11 and has never taken notice from this particular angle... until now.
Take a look at the new t-shirt design from the unlocking autism website, a pro cure group.
Pretty frightening, huh? Seems that they want to associate autism with the terrorist alert levels, and that we are equivalent to threats of terrorism upon families. Well, two can play at that game. The new form of terrorism involves no foreigners; the victims are Americans and so are the perpetrators. This is the angle that I will explain: that pro-cure groups like CAN, NAAR, Generation Rescue, and Safe Minds engage in acts of terrorism to cause panic and confusion in an environment already hostile towards autistics.
I am not saying ALL actions done constitute acts of terrorism. I do not criticize parents for trying to help their child develop or keeping their child safe from external dangers. It is when such intentions result in actions that border on (or in some cases crosses the line on) the verbal and physical abuse of others that such actions become acts of terrorism designed to induce compliance.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as, "a policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation." In essence, this is what much of the current autism establishment does (I can't say for all, since there are a few places that ethically treat their autistic children). They use words of intimination to force parents into taking any reckless risk of fighting back the child's condition.
That's right. Even if that risk involves death. Let's face it, My Name is Autism by Martha Murphy states:
"I (autism) take away all but their physical life. What I leave behind is almost worse than death."
By that logic, the worse case scenario for a child is death. But hey, death is better than a life with autism. If the child is cured, that's GOOD. If a child dies as a result, it was a better fate anyways. It is too sad many people have this mindset. How can autistic citizens live with dignity free of intimidation with such a societal attitude?
The autism industry basically works by taking advantage of stereotypes, worst case scenarios, and false dichotomies. In marketing campaigns, they parade around miracle stories of children being cured by their products and induce guilt in parents who do not buy. This is a very underhanded and unethical marketing practice. Inducing duress in parents to buy into untested products and procedures that could potentially harm the child is an act of terrorism because it utilizes fear to induce compliance with reckless disregard for the sanctity of life.
Some from the mercury militia, who believe thimerasol is the ONLY cause for the rise in autism prevalence, state:
"Anyone who is not chelating to get rid of the mercury is guilty of child abuse. Every doctor who is not telling their patients to chelate is guilty of malpractice."
-John Best Jr.
This is a threat to all parents who want to think logically about their child's condition before buying into any mumbo jumbo theory. By threatening uninformed parents with recently diagnosed children this way, it creates an environment of fear that will drive parents to do the unthinkable to their children all in the name of "curing" them. We know that just last year chelation killed a 5 year old boy who probably didn't even need it. And let's not forget that some parents still think that autism could mean demonic possession. As for the parts about physicians, as an aspiring pre-med I have to start thinking about these issues. I wouldn't issue an unproven therapy to an adult patient, let alone a small child who has his/her whole life ahead. If a child is GENUINELY poisoned, then I would recommend the appropriate course to get the heavy metals removed. However, you cannot attribute all of autism to mercury poisoning and threaten those who happen to disagree with you. Autism and mercury poisoning are NOT one and the same thing.
And what about instituions? Sadly, a great many adult autistics are still in institutions. There, many of them are beaten for not conforming to "normal", "desirable" behavior. Many are denied food, constrained, and punished for being their natural selves. Fear-inducing aversives like electroshocks and ammonia are used to force them into becoming "indistinguishable from their peers". In a few decades when this generation dies out, what will become of the future? Will the fear induced by the current establishment spawn the mass abortion of millions of autistic fetuses because parents will fear a future of autism? We all know what the answer is, and it is our opportunity to fight back.
If we are truly to fight back terrorism where ever it springs up and set a good example for others, we need to fight this brand of terrorism at home as well as the conventional style abroad. The victims of this form of terrorism may not include victims of a suicide bomber, bioweapon sample, chemical warfare, hijacking, kidnapping, or any other conventional terrorism methods. Instead, the victims come in the abuse of and discrimination against autistic children on our playground by bullies and school systems for being different, the abuse of adults and children in institutions to induce compliance, the abuse in homes of parents who are purposefully malicious or threatened by society, and the poisonous attitudes that lead to any reckless risk being undertaken to make sure autism no longer exists as part of humanity. So stand up to this injustice, and remember....
When an autistic is punished because of harmless idiosyncracies, it is a form of terrorism.
When parent take a reckless risk in forcing a child to become "normal", the parents are engaging in an act of terrorism.
When parents unjustly punish their autistic children and try to shame the normality out of them, they are commiting terrorism.
When a salesperson for the autism industry induces fear in order to force parents to buy the company's products, he/she is utilizing a form of terrorism.
When a doctor uses an unproven and unsafe therapy that results in a death of a child because the autism establishment has threatened him and he obliged, the doctor is guilty of malpractice and child is a victim of terrorism.
When an OBGYN threatens a couple with a worst case scenario and strongly induces the couple to get an abortion of the autistic fetus, this is an act of terrorism.
When schoolyard bullies threaten and abuse autistic children for being different and the school system does nothing, that school system is an accessory to terrorism.
Whenever an autistic person is threatened and put down for expression of opinions contrary to current negative viewpoints of autism, that person is impacted by terrorism.
For so long, America has not understood the brand of terrorism that has been happening in its backyard. For many families with newly diagnosed children, you may not have been involved in the war on terrorism. Well you are about to now. Do not let it get to you. Fight for your child's right to exist with dignity. Do not let threats, abuses, and societal apathy work on you. Remember this quote by Michael Rivero:
"Once a government resorts to terror against its own population to get what it wants, it must keep using terror against its own population to get what it wants. A government that terrorizes its own people can never stop. If such a government ever lets the fear subside and rational thought return to the populace, that government is finished."
The autism establishment does just that, and it relies on fear to survive. We as autistic have the rational thought, and we are showing we are not afraid. But the establishment is still strong.
We need to stand up for ourselves, recruit allies to bolster our ranks, and especially get the apathetic out of their seats to fight this form of terrorism, of evil. And it always comes back to Sir Edmund Burke's quote:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
*This post indeed uses very strong, loaded language and in part satires the sensationalistic message of the current autistic establishment. However, its message about the abuse of autistics is very very real.
Ever since 9/11, America has engaged in a war on terror where ever it rises. Although I cannot say I agree with everything the current administration has done, I think terrorism has no place in any society and that terrorism will only work if we allow it to work, if we allow it to get to us. Yet there is a different kind of terrorism that comes in the United States. One that has existed before 9/11 and has never taken notice from this particular angle... until now.
Take a look at the new t-shirt design from the unlocking autism website, a pro cure group.
Pretty frightening, huh? Seems that they want to associate autism with the terrorist alert levels, and that we are equivalent to threats of terrorism upon families. Well, two can play at that game. The new form of terrorism involves no foreigners; the victims are Americans and so are the perpetrators. This is the angle that I will explain: that pro-cure groups like CAN, NAAR, Generation Rescue, and Safe Minds engage in acts of terrorism to cause panic and confusion in an environment already hostile towards autistics.
I am not saying ALL actions done constitute acts of terrorism. I do not criticize parents for trying to help their child develop or keeping their child safe from external dangers. It is when such intentions result in actions that border on (or in some cases crosses the line on) the verbal and physical abuse of others that such actions become acts of terrorism designed to induce compliance.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as, "a policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation." In essence, this is what much of the current autism establishment does (I can't say for all, since there are a few places that ethically treat their autistic children). They use words of intimination to force parents into taking any reckless risk of fighting back the child's condition.
That's right. Even if that risk involves death. Let's face it, My Name is Autism by Martha Murphy states:
"I (autism) take away all but their physical life. What I leave behind is almost worse than death."
By that logic, the worse case scenario for a child is death. But hey, death is better than a life with autism. If the child is cured, that's GOOD. If a child dies as a result, it was a better fate anyways. It is too sad many people have this mindset. How can autistic citizens live with dignity free of intimidation with such a societal attitude?
The autism industry basically works by taking advantage of stereotypes, worst case scenarios, and false dichotomies. In marketing campaigns, they parade around miracle stories of children being cured by their products and induce guilt in parents who do not buy. This is a very underhanded and unethical marketing practice. Inducing duress in parents to buy into untested products and procedures that could potentially harm the child is an act of terrorism because it utilizes fear to induce compliance with reckless disregard for the sanctity of life.
Some from the mercury militia, who believe thimerasol is the ONLY cause for the rise in autism prevalence, state:
"Anyone who is not chelating to get rid of the mercury is guilty of child abuse. Every doctor who is not telling their patients to chelate is guilty of malpractice."
-John Best Jr.
This is a threat to all parents who want to think logically about their child's condition before buying into any mumbo jumbo theory. By threatening uninformed parents with recently diagnosed children this way, it creates an environment of fear that will drive parents to do the unthinkable to their children all in the name of "curing" them. We know that just last year chelation killed a 5 year old boy who probably didn't even need it. And let's not forget that some parents still think that autism could mean demonic possession. As for the parts about physicians, as an aspiring pre-med I have to start thinking about these issues. I wouldn't issue an unproven therapy to an adult patient, let alone a small child who has his/her whole life ahead. If a child is GENUINELY poisoned, then I would recommend the appropriate course to get the heavy metals removed. However, you cannot attribute all of autism to mercury poisoning and threaten those who happen to disagree with you. Autism and mercury poisoning are NOT one and the same thing.
And what about instituions? Sadly, a great many adult autistics are still in institutions. There, many of them are beaten for not conforming to "normal", "desirable" behavior. Many are denied food, constrained, and punished for being their natural selves. Fear-inducing aversives like electroshocks and ammonia are used to force them into becoming "indistinguishable from their peers". In a few decades when this generation dies out, what will become of the future? Will the fear induced by the current establishment spawn the mass abortion of millions of autistic fetuses because parents will fear a future of autism? We all know what the answer is, and it is our opportunity to fight back.
If we are truly to fight back terrorism where ever it springs up and set a good example for others, we need to fight this brand of terrorism at home as well as the conventional style abroad. The victims of this form of terrorism may not include victims of a suicide bomber, bioweapon sample, chemical warfare, hijacking, kidnapping, or any other conventional terrorism methods. Instead, the victims come in the abuse of and discrimination against autistic children on our playground by bullies and school systems for being different, the abuse of adults and children in institutions to induce compliance, the abuse in homes of parents who are purposefully malicious or threatened by society, and the poisonous attitudes that lead to any reckless risk being undertaken to make sure autism no longer exists as part of humanity. So stand up to this injustice, and remember....
When an autistic is punished because of harmless idiosyncracies, it is a form of terrorism.
When parent take a reckless risk in forcing a child to become "normal", the parents are engaging in an act of terrorism.
When parents unjustly punish their autistic children and try to shame the normality out of them, they are commiting terrorism.
When a salesperson for the autism industry induces fear in order to force parents to buy the company's products, he/she is utilizing a form of terrorism.
When a doctor uses an unproven and unsafe therapy that results in a death of a child because the autism establishment has threatened him and he obliged, the doctor is guilty of malpractice and child is a victim of terrorism.
When an OBGYN threatens a couple with a worst case scenario and strongly induces the couple to get an abortion of the autistic fetus, this is an act of terrorism.
When schoolyard bullies threaten and abuse autistic children for being different and the school system does nothing, that school system is an accessory to terrorism.
Whenever an autistic person is threatened and put down for expression of opinions contrary to current negative viewpoints of autism, that person is impacted by terrorism.
For so long, America has not understood the brand of terrorism that has been happening in its backyard. For many families with newly diagnosed children, you may not have been involved in the war on terrorism. Well you are about to now. Do not let it get to you. Fight for your child's right to exist with dignity. Do not let threats, abuses, and societal apathy work on you. Remember this quote by Michael Rivero:
"Once a government resorts to terror against its own population to get what it wants, it must keep using terror against its own population to get what it wants. A government that terrorizes its own people can never stop. If such a government ever lets the fear subside and rational thought return to the populace, that government is finished."
The autism establishment does just that, and it relies on fear to survive. We as autistic have the rational thought, and we are showing we are not afraid. But the establishment is still strong.
We need to stand up for ourselves, recruit allies to bolster our ranks, and especially get the apathetic out of their seats to fight this form of terrorism, of evil. And it always comes back to Sir Edmund Burke's quote:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
*This post indeed uses very strong, loaded language and in part satires the sensationalistic message of the current autistic establishment. However, its message about the abuse of autistics is very very real.
posted by MeridiusMD899 at
10:40 PM
3 Comments:
You missed the most obvious abuse. What about the doctors who turned normal kids into autistic train wrecks? If mercury is not the cause of the autism epidemic then tell us what caused this nightmare that did not exist before 1931. It sounds like you need some time at Judge Rotenberg so they can zap some sense into you.
By
Fore Sam, at 5:33 AM
Oh great. More autism disinformation from the pro and con liberals. Frankly, no one has published any valid studies linking autism to either Thimerosal or Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine. Not to say there isn't but I suspect the lawyers would be jumping on anything legimate enough to be presented in a a court of law. There are plenty of sources for info on the autism/thimerosal controversy (over 400,000 hits on Google alone, and 134 hits on Wikipedia - the liberal information bible). In fact the Wiki link to thimerosal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thimerosal) would scare the pants off any knowledgeable person (as in check out the toxicity section).
But all that is neither here nor there. I wish everyone who is researching the causes of autism the best of luck. Having daily personal knowledge of the effects of autism I have nothing but respect for them.
I am perfectly happy to pay higher taxes to support all research into autism as well as all other childhood deseases/malfunctions/whatever you think is the politically correct term of the day.
In fact, I think the government should fund ALL research of this type using tax money from the pharmaceuticals (and yes we would have to change the tax laws to eliminate all the various loop holes the lobbyists engineered in). That way no drug company can influence the results and we get good data from the start. This was the strategy that Japanese car companies used in the 60's and 70's to come up with the innovative designs that are kicking Detroit's butt as we speak. Success speaks for itself.
The rest of you -- the "I'm autistic and proud." folks and the "Autistics are dangers to society." warmongers (Yes, Mr. Best, I read your blog) -- are perfectly welcome to go jump in the nearest lake. Your rant and rave will not contribute one iota to helping the rest of us cope with the effects of autism, understand what causes autism, develop a "cure" (if possible) or a "preventative" (if possible) for autism ... or anything else useful for that matter.
Autism is neither something to be proud of, nor is it something to be feared. From the general populatoin, it requires only understanding and politeness.
Mr. Best exposes his ignorance in this regard since it is commonly held that autistic children are incapable of lying or harboring hate. They will react physically if constrained or confronted violently. But these are reactions not premeditations. We how are considered "normal" should be so lucky.
But it is your commentary I find more disturbing. Especially when you dragged poor Katie McCarron into the discussion. The fact that her mother was a doctor made her horror all the worse. Imagine a doctor reading your blog about the future horrors their child might face at the hands of the government and the general population. Then they read of the implications that they may have caused or contributed by way of vaccinating their child(ren). Couple those to the utter helplessness they feel as a medical professional who has no solid evidence to work from. I am actually surprised that Katie McCarron's mom didn't join her. Any reasonable person would be depressed in that situation.
You want to really contribute positively? If you observe mistreatment of any disadvantaged person (autistic or otherwise), do something constructive: act to enforce existing laws and sponser new laws to prevent future mistreatment. I know of this first-hand: my sister was blind in the early 60's and the local school systems would have nothing to do with her. If she had been born 35 years later, the local school system would have had to provide tutoring, equipment and any other reasonable accommodation to enable her educaion. All paid for by higher taxes which I am more than happy to pay for so other disadvantaged children have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to society. How did YOU vote on the last school tax referendum?
By
jim, at 9:24 AM
Sir,
I may not know who you are. But I want to make one thing clear. I am not just a person blogging for the sake of nothing better to do. Am I just ranting and raving in actuality as oppossed to doing anything constructive? On what grounds do you think you have to judge my entire life based on what I have written on the internet? Do you know who I am off-line? What I do? I am taking up an initiative at my university to educate other students about autism and AS issues, including a project that involves gathering information from collge age AS people about how to improve counseling services. This is only the first step of what I am doing with my Autism Adovocacy community service group. I am doing what I CAN do in my power for a cause I believe in. Surely, it would be unreasonable to expect one college student from a typical middle class family to have the financial resources of oh so many well-mobilized political organizations out there in the public discourse about autism. I am trying to be realistic, and I know some things take time.
I just want to make the original post clear. I said that there is no evidence there is a mercury=autism link. I did not say that all doctors will be implicated for poisoning children via vaccination (heck, I aspire to enter the profession). What I am saying is that Karen Maccrron (Katie's mother) violated her oath as a doctor to do no harm and to act in the best interest of those in need of medical help. That does not involve putting a bag over a person's head to smother him/her to death. Am I saying that all doctors will be unfairly profiled in the future because of this? No. That I am making the future seem hopeless to various physicians and their children? I am not, but the current establisment about autism has seen to that with the way they market autism to the public. I am simply stating what they have done and interpreting it in a way that I have clearly explained my methodology of arriving at that conclusion. I am in agreement with you that more protection should go towards people who are currently marginalized and that more research is needed to understand autism (although I am in opposition to the need of a "cure"). More services are needed too. However, the bombardment of negativity is still no excuse for murder.
As for your willing to care for those who are marginalized, I admire that. We SHOULD work together to be able to create a better future. But the more I think about it, the more I seem to realize that the world holding hands together in a singing circle just simply does not seem possible. There are people out there who are closed minded and will not listen to reason, and there are those who genuinely hate autistics and autism. I just simply don't want to see people get hurt in the future, so thus that I why I fight.
In all this, you did bring up a good point. In the future, I probably should put more practical advice down to people who read this blog. Just because I haven't done so now, doesn't mean I won't do so in the future. I am fairly new at autism blogging. I am sorry if I sounded defensive in my post, but I have some really ingrained beliefs despite having an open mind as well. Please forgive me for this.
By
MeridiusMD899, at 10:02 PM
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