From: mike@fionn.lbl.gov (Michael Helm)
Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 13:41:24 +0800
To: snow <snow@smoke.suba.com>
Subject: Re: "White 'Punks on Dope" (w apologies to The Tubes)
In-Reply-To: <snow@smoke.suba.com>
Message-ID: <199607121858.LAA08190@fionn.lbl.gov>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Jul 11, 11:15pm, snow wrote:
> > man is just ridiculous, & betrays the author's lack of knowledge.
> 
>      No, the POINT IS MIS-DIAGNOSIS. Children who are either brighter 
> than their classmates and figured out the assignement with in minutes 

These are not the people who are being talked about here

> of the teacher giving it, or children with _no_ boundries implemented 
> by their parents (people are like fractals, very subject to initial 
> conditions) hence they keep pushing and pushing so the parents respond
> by instituting chemical control.

Well, like I said earlier, in the old days very hyperactive boys 
probably did have the tar whipped out of them.  This does work,
for short periods.   In the long run, it's ineffective.  Totally
ineffective for a medical condition.  Do you think, for example,
that it is effective to tell a person suffering from depression
to "cheer up", or someone suffering from some forms of schizophrenia
to "ignore the voices & stop acting silly"?  No amount of your cajoling
is going to get a person with a heart deficiency up El Capitan, & 
there's no chance you can guilt trip someone with severe emphysema to run
a marathon with you.

I'm sure there's plenty of misdiagnoses, but unless you're willing
to lay your md or your epidemiological credentials on the table,
I'm not giving you any credit.  Your argument sounds like some kind
of reactionary victorian moralizing to me (parents setting boundaries
.... sheesh).