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Open Letter to Alex Plank Regarding Interviews

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Should Alex Plank Interview John Mitchell?
Yes 55%  55%  [ 6 ]
No 36%  36%  [ 4 ]
Maybe 9%  9%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 11

ylevental
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26 Sep 2015, 3:39 am

Dear Alex Plank,

If you can interview Steve Silberman, you can interview John Mitchell on his book "The Mu Rhythm Bluff"

Quote:
Some people are lucky at cards. Others are lucky at love. Drake Dumas is autistic and neither. He's a 49-year-old virgin who loves to play poker and usually loses. He finds out about an experiment involving brain wave training and a revolutionary technique called Transcranial magnetic stimulation in order to help mitigate his autism. Though it does not seem to help his autism, right after the treatment he finds himself a genius at poker, consistently winning and able to read other players due to charged up "mirror neurons", brain cells that intuit the actions and intentions of others, found to be deficient in autistic people. His luck also changes with women. However, whenever he seems to connect sexually with a woman, he loses his poker abilities. There does seem some truth in the old saying lucky at cards, unlucky at love for Drake. However, can having good poker skills entail danger for Drake. He encounters a beguiling journalist, interested in his talents, but can her knowledge and interest in Drake be threatening?

Jonathan Mitchell (Wikipedia article) is an autistic author and blogger who advocates for a cure for autism. He opposes the neurodiversity movement. He is one of the most controversial figures among autistic bloggers because of his hatred of autism, his view of autism as a disability, and his desire for a cure.

I don't want to directly link to his website because he is suspicious of WrongPlanet because in the past, it readily praised Autism, but if you are willing to consider the pro-cure perspective than I will try to negotiate with him (I am already pretty connected to him)



ASPartOfMe
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26 Sep 2015, 6:11 am

If say I want diversity, agree autism that is a spectrum, agree with the idea of autistics speaking for themselves I have to give an myself the opportunity to listen to an autistic who has some views I find odious. I also find personal attacks, the idea he only thinks that way because of his mom hypocritical. We have many members with "curabee" parents who are strong neurodiversidity supporters.


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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ylevental
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26 Sep 2015, 7:40 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
If say I want diversity, agree autism that is a spectrum, agree with the idea of autistics speaking for themselves I have to give an myself the opportunity to listen to an autistic who has some views I find odious. I also find personal attacks, the idea he only thinks that way because of his mom hypocritical. We have many members with "curabee" parents who are strong neurodiversidity supporters.


Well at least you agree there is a diversity of viewpoints



DevilKisses
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26 Sep 2015, 9:59 pm

He sounds interesting. I'm pro-cure as well.


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Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 82 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 124 of 200
You are very likely neurotypical


Unfortunate_Aspie_
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26 Sep 2015, 10:17 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
If say I want diversity, agree autism that is a spectrum, agree with the idea of autistics speaking for themselves I have to give an myself the opportunity to listen to an autistic who has some views I find odious. I also find personal attacks, the idea he only thinks that way because of his mom hypocritical. We have many members with "curabee" parents who are strong neurodiversidity supporters.

I too would be curious to see more nuanced discussions about possible etiological reasons for a "curabee" mindset. Also, what is the origin or etymology of the word curabee? I haven't heard of the term before, but surmised it's denotation... :?:



B19
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27 Sep 2015, 12:53 am

OP: While I recognise your enthusiasm, a could is not a should, and your should doesn't over-ride Alex's right to choose whether to interview someone.

If you are trying to pressure the choice by implying that this a matter of balance - of 'showing the other side' - true balance is not the difference between two opposite opinions, it is the inclusion of all significant opinion between those opposites - not that Alex is under any obligation imposed by any of us to interview anyone.

Perhaps you could do the interview yourself. If verbalizing isn't your thing maybe you could write to this man and arrange to do one online.