There are two problems I have with 'the cure' mentality.
The first, is that it is not wrong to be different. It's not even wrong to be very different. There is no level of distinctiveness against the silly idea of normal which would somehow be 'wrong'.
It is not a sickness to be eccentric. It's not even a sickness when the whole world is walking all over you. You think they're good judges of 'rightness' and 'wrongness'? They aren't. The masses are idiots that do whatever they're told. That's their position, and they are by in large perfectly content in this.
It's been said that madness brings insight. That's simplistic because their are many kinds of "madness", but in many cases the different perspective will bring a different approach, which may be able to give answers in a better way for some problems.
We may have a hard time finding acceptance. But that doesn't mean that the problem exists within us. When a man falls in a riot and is trampled to death, do we scream and yell and curse at the battered corpse?
And not all of us will fail to be accepted. In some places free thought is embraced.
The other problem I have, was when someone brought up that their really isn't a lot of genetic diversity in humans compared with other species. And that we really don't need any policies that further reduce this.
It doesn't just go for Autism/Asperger's, but I think a lot of these so called mental illnesses have been present a long time. And that they where present in the people who would become the Shamans. One became a Shaman, generally after having a traumatic experience and receiving a 'Vision'. Kind of easy to see how someone like that would be schizophrenic. Another condition that has been called a disease.
But think about this. The Shamans were also known for their insight and wisdom. This was probably seen as desirable, which probably led to the spreading of their genes.
Maybe we no longer are attacked by bears and need to ward off the evil spirits, but we still face a lot of problems which need creative solutions. One of your mass produced humans identical to every other assembly line products isn't going to know how to optimize source code for a computer program. He could only do what he has been told to. There is no insight there.
By in large, most of the discoveries in human history have been made by half crazy. Many of whom the other people probably didn't like.
So don't go looking for a cure so you will be socially accepted. Look for ways you can be socially accepted. Problem solving is after all what our genes make us good at.
05 Nov 2006, 9:54 pm
