I Just Need To Have A Bit Of A Rant

I’m going to indulge in a bit of a rant here people, because lately, I seem to be seeing more and more nonsense of various kinds on social media and elsewhere, both new and way more of the old types of nonsense. And I’m fed up with it.

I’m fed up with the anti-vaxxers, the flat-earthers, the creationists, the bleach-will-cure-autism crowd, the drinking-your-own-urine lot, the essential-oils-will-cure-everything people, and all their ridiculous, ridiculous, not to mention sometimes dangerous, ilk. I’m tired of stupid. So I have to ask –

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?? DO YOU KEEP YOUR BRAINS IN YOUR POSTERIORS? DID YOU SIT DOWN TOO HARD AND BREAK THEM? WHERE IS YOUR FREAKING COMMON SENSE?

Why do you antivaxxers/pro-diseasers cling to a theory repeatedly proven false, its promoter shown to be a fraudster and a liar? Why do you insist on posting stuff full of wonky science you obviously don’t really understand, even when REAL scientists and doctors point out ‘that’s not how it works’? Why do you assert that pro-vaxxers must all be ‘paid shills of Big Pharma’, even as you’re blindly listening to charlatans and letting them fleece you? Why do you maintain that vaccines are ‘full of toxins’, flying in the face of the evidence that they’re not, and that ‘vaccine damage’ isn’t really a thing? And why, why, why do you insist that vaccines are harmful, but somehow the diseases they protect against are ‘harmless’? I mean, logic much? Hello?

And flat-earthers, why are you clinging to a theory (and it was never more than that) of the planet which has long since been disproven and hence discarded centuries ago due to the discoveries of ACTUAL SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS of the universe? Were you all asleep down the back in science class? Did some hot astrophysics major turn you down, and threaten your fragile masculinity? (All of you I’ve seen are male.)

And you creationists – if you find comfort and/or a moral code in the bible, whatever. But to use it to fool yourself into believing that a bunch of ancient creation myths somehow translate into a basis for going against all the findings of centuries of science and archaeology? And then to have the nerve to demand schools teach your ridiculous beliefs as ‘facts’, flying in the face of actual scientific reality? No. Just no. I’ve SEEN your ridiculous, deluded ramblings, and they’re about as far from ‘truth’ as it’s possible to get.

And why are you bleach-swillers forcing a caustic substance on your kids, either up their rear ends or down their throats? Why are you so willing to cause them pain, and see huge chunks of their intestinal lining ripped out? Why can you not see the truth? Are you THAT scared of autism? Even after autism has been well established as genetic, and nothing to do with imaginary ‘parasites’? And the same goes for all the other ‘curebies’ out there, whatever so-called wacky ‘treatment’ you’re using. Not only are you totally barking up the wrong tree, YOUR tree doesn’t in fact even exist. (And don’t get me even started on ABA.)

And you warrior-cum-martyr mommies and daddies, when we challenge you, how on earth do you have the gall to tell us that we ‘aren’t autistic enough’ to comment, when you’re NOT AUTISTIC AT ALL and by your own logic, therefore shouldn’t say anything? How can you tell us that we ‘don’t understand’, ‘you’re not like my kid’, blah blah blah, and even tell us outright - as one particularly obnoxious woman did recently - that we have ‘no right’ to use identity-first language, no right to talk to parents of autistic kids, no right to say anything at all about autism? To anyone? That we should just shut up and go away - when YOU obviously know NOTHING about autism yourselves, while we, who actually LIVE autism, are ignored, derided and shunned? Please, tell me where the logic, let alone the fairness, is in THAT?

And ‘health nuts’ – are you competing to see who can do the most stupid thing in the name of ‘health’? It’s bad enough when you insist that you can’t be healthy unless you buy a ton of expensive foods that we poor can’t afford, or tell those of us with chronic illnesses or disability that we ‘need to just take this miracle cure’, or ask if we’ve ‘tried yoga’. But when you do things like sculling back your own urine? Urine is what the body has already discarded as waste, what possible good can re-ingesting it do? You’ll just be forcing the body to refilter it, and probably giving yourself a bellyache and foul breath to go with it. It’s beyond belief that you could be sucked in by this nonsense.

And while I’m on the subject of health - essential oils as ‘miracle cures for everything’? Great in the bath or an oil burner, but ingesting it? Really? Are you totally deprived of all common sense? This goes double for those of you who won’t vaccinate, but you put toxic oils inside you? You make me want to find the nearest brick wall and bang my head against it. Hard.

And why do you conspiracy theorists of all stripes delude yourselves that the ‘gubmint’ is ‘out to get’ you? That it’s created elaborate hoaxes to fool you, or ‘poison’ you, or whatever? Why are you so convinced they even CARE what you think, that they’d go to such lengths? Faked moon landings and all? That you’re the only ‘woke’ ones, knowing stuff that the ‘sheeples’ don’t?  Is your ego really THAT big? Your sense of self-importance that overwhelming? Are you that freaking NEEDY? Do you really believe the world revolves around you? GET A GRIP ON YOUR EGO!

Newsflash, people - the rest of the world isn’t out to get you. Instead it’s rolling its collective eyes at you, laughing at you, or wanting to slap some sense into your stupid head. And no amount of ego-stroking in your science-forsaken, logic-forsaken, rationality-forsaken echo chambers on social media will change their minds.

And no, science isn’t perfect, governments aren’t perfect, nobody and nothing is perfect. But to use their mistakes, to blow them up out of all proportion and twist them into things they’re simply not, and then wholesale INVENT stuff, or to claim that the GOVERNMENT is inventing stuff ‘just to fool you’, defying all logic and common sense along the way, simply to boost your own egos and satisfy your own sense of self-importance and ‘wokeness’, is just plain stupid. There’s no other word for it.

And when you add in all the other nonsense out there, the resurgence of right-wingers and Nazis, Trumpet and his sickening cronies, anti-science and fundamentalism on the rise, school and other mass shootings and the whole gun lobby thing, the whole damn ‘hate autism’ thing and the damage it’s doing to autistics, not to mention all the hatred and wars and oppressions and general idiocies running riot - how utterly screwed-up the world is in general – it’s all enough to make me lose what little faith I have left in the human race, and to go crawl into a hole and die.

The only thing that gives me any hope at all is the numbers of those opposed to all these stupidities. Those brave people who are willing and ready to take on these fools, to rip them apart with logic, debunk their conclusions with REAL science, and skewer their idiocy with oh-so-apt humour, plus of course those willing to get out there and fight them offline as well.

Particularly the younger generation. I’m old. I’m tired. I admit it. I’m not the Fiery Young Radical I once was. I do what I can, but it’s not that much. And I know that, short of a miracle, I probably won’t live to see any huge change, especially in the way autistics are regarded and treated. So the baton has already been ‘handed on’, and I’m proud of what they’re doing.

Otherwise, I am SO over it all.

Things I Don't Understand - Number Nine - Egotism

I don't understand egotists.

By egotists, I mean those who are convinced that they're somehow so special that the world should revolve around them and their needs, that they are above the rules that act as guidelines for other people's behaviour, and sometimes even above the law.

There are varying degrees and kinds of egotism, though none can be said to be entirely harmless. There are the spoilt brats of both sexes, who learn in childhood to throw tantrums if they don't get what they want. Such children are often tiresome to be around, and many of them, alas, continue this behaviour into adulthood.

Then there are the adolescent 'mean girls', with their bitchy little cliques, and the arrogant young men (and many older ones too) who seem convinced that the mere possession of a penis makes them superior. They always give me the impression that they believe they're somehow "too special" to bother with things like being nice or considerate of others.

There are plenty of egotistic adults as well. People who use and abuse others, who whine and manipulate and scheme, controlling others for their own ends. Their attitude seems to be that only their own wants, desires and feelings have any validity, or if they do recognise others' feelings at all, it's only so they can use them against those others. They are, in their eyes, the centre of the Universe, and others are mere 'backdrops' for their own dramas. We've probably all met people like this, and some of us have suffered at their hands. I know I have.

Julia Cameron, author of my favourite book on creativity, The Artist's Way, describes such people as 'crazymakers'. They're the ones who always manage to create drama just when you don't need it, constantly undermine your efforts to establish order or sanity in your life, jerk you back on a short leash whenever you try to escape, invade your personal space and time, and generally drive you crazy - all the while telling you it's all your own fault, that if only you did this, or were that, things would be just fine... But no matter how hard you try, it never seems to work. Of course it isn't - they're pulling your strings. Such relationships are often verbally or emotionally abusive, but of course they rarely acknowledge that.

Some of these people would probably fit diagnostic criteria for conditions such as Borderline Personality Disorder or Narcissistic Personality Disorder, if they ever submitted to being evaluated that is, which most of them wouldn't - any problems they have, in their view, are always someone else's fault. Others would not perhaps quite fit into that category, but are still extremely unpleasant to be around. An unknown percentage are outright abusers - the sexual exploiters of children, the domestic abuse perpetrators, the rapists, the workplace predators, the sleazy guys in the pub or nightclub with roofies in their pockets.

Sociopaths and psychopaths seem to me to be the ultimate egotists. Other people's pain are sources of amusement or pleasure to them, they truly don't care. And of course some of these become serial killers. It's surely the epitome of egotism, to see others only as prey or as obstacles to achieving their desires. These people are truly chilling.

Many dictators are egotists too, or become that way after long years of the corrupting influence of absolute power. They take their egotistical beliefs and apply them to an entire nation, or even beyond. Anyone who dares to defy them becomes, in their eyes, guilty of a kind of sin against the little god they see themselves as. There are plenty of examples in history of this - Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, the list is a long one, and they're not all dead yet.

Egotism occurs everywhere, even where you'd think it wouldn't. I spent several years on the fringes of the New Age movement, and while I saw much good, I also saw some not-so-good things. The worst was an article I read once, by a man whose name I forget, but who was said to be one of the 'fathers' of the rebirthing movement. In this article, he bluntly stated that if his followers did not financially support him so that he could indulge in constant all-day rebirthing sessions, they were "oppressing" him. No, I'm not kidding. (I had to read it several times myself, before I could believe it wasn't some kind of joke.)

I don't get why on earth any of these people would think themselves so superior, or as having the 'right' to demand everyone else treats them accordingly. They're usually singly lacking in any qualities that would justify such a high opinion of themselves, and often behave in ways that lower them in mine. I also don't get why egotists want power over others - the only power over others I've ever wished for, is the power to make them stop dumping on me.

I'm no psychologist or psychiatrist, but it seems to me that egotists of all stripes have something seriously out-of-kilter in their psyches, a kind of sucking need or hollowness within, that can never really be filled, no matter how hard they try. Even seeing that, however, I still feel I don't really understand these people.

Once again, I'm not sure whether this is due to my being aspie, or simply being me, or a combination of both. Many aspies view all human beings are intrinsically equal, probably due to a) our intense honesty and passion for justice, and b) our failure to 'read' all the little signals of social status. I am not alone in that.

Then again, it could be due to my family background and upbringing, most especially the influence of my mother. A year or two ago, I was watching an episode of Midsomer Murder Mysteries with her one afternoon. When the murderer and their motivation was revealed at the end, I turned to my Mum and commented that many reasons for murder, in both fiction and real life, seemed to me so silly, certainly not good enough reason to take a life. "That's because you or I would just walk away, Pen," she commented. "We couldn't be bothered."

I've thought about this quite a lot since, and I've realised she was right. One of the qualities my mother passed on to us was a sort of matter-of-fact humility and emotional stability. In other words, none of us have the kind of egos that expect the world to revolve around us, and if anyone really annoys us, we simply withdraw from them. Perhaps these egotists lack such a stable upbringing and family 'style'.

Either way, whatever the reason, I just don't understand egotism and egotists, and avoid them wherever possible.