taratemima | Notes for a future rant (Reply)

The autistic boy who suffocated to death thanks to a 'faith healing'? This is what 'compassionate conservatism' looks like. Consider who coined the phrase (Marvin Olasky) and what he really means (complete elimination of welfare state in favor of religiously based charity). More on Olasky, I promise.

Speaking as a moving toward religious leftist, I am more horrified at the mob who did this than the relatives who might have thought through some combo of belief and lack of financial resources (to quote someone "busy fighting a losing battle to keep the right wing nuts currently running this country from taking all the money that provides "healthcare options" to low-income families and handing it over to the religious mullahs who fucking murdered this kid for their "faith-based solutions." Did I mention Wisconsin was cutting services for such low-income brackets?)

Second, speaking as someone diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, I discovered metaphors late in life. As wonderful as they are, they can be broken. I am not a shell with an extroverted, sparkly person waiting to come out. I am me, with all my occasional obsessions, social skill problems and occasional word play. I am also what I am thanks to intervention by the school system and my mom. Being a mild case (even with temper tantrums), maybe I cannot relate to parents of children diagnosed with autism. I can admit I need work on thinking like the relatives, confused by meltdowns and oversensitivity.

That is called by people researching autism 'mind-blindness.' Yet, to quote someone people on the religious right love to invoke but not follow, none are so blind that cannot see. There are people out there who can't get it that their personal distastes are not universal prohibitions. They can't see how people who ever disagree with them, and mistake rigidity of opinion for firmness of conviction. I think there are some on the 'secular left' who are like that, but I am more worried about the 'religious right.' Especially some in that group who demonize the religious who disagree with them and hide a scary, scary agenda (Christian Reconstructionism).

On another note, total hours overtime three and a half. So, why am I so tired?