Coral Rhedd

That is unfortunate and you have my sympathy. Still, someone of true rectitude -- knowing that your parents would be the ones to have to put you back together if his affections messed you up -- would have consulted your parents. We allow parents to have this sort of say over their children, not because we are imagining a bunch of ideal, kind, encouraging, and understanding parents, but because it is a system that supports individual freedom while acknowledging that the costs of parenting such as medical care, clothing, food, shelter, and higher education, are the parents' costs. Governments also set all sorts of rules about when people may do certain things at certain ages. This is because they acknowledge that children need special care and protection.

Actually, I thought she was making a play upon Canadian Geese?

I was just looking at your avatar. It's not a penguin? Sorry. As you have rightly pointed out, I am in a silly mood tonight. But what if the government decided that they wanted your child to possess a particular trait. Goverments have a way of using people -- even children -- to suit their purposes. Think Ender's Game.

So, did the 32 year old man who "seduced" you seek your parents' permission first so that they, from their position as adults, could judge his "rectitude?"

Would you want your child to have an orange bill and blue hair?

So should you become a parent, may I assume that you would be totally cool with a 34 year old man having sex with your 11 year old son or daughter?

Let's think about that one for a moment.

Probably not. There are always some people who enjoy being different.

I oppose required community service, I oppose this bizarre "mandatory volunteering," both as a phrase and as a concept, and I oppose all military drafts. I believe these all to be a form of slavery. People, who have commited no crimes, should own their own time and their own bodies.

Yes, but this is not about magnetic north. I am trying to resolve an argument that arose at a dinner party. I said my house faces due west and a guest (more an interloper ) said I could not be sure if I was going by the sun. I told him I was not going by the sun, I was using the city map which should be pretty equivalent to True North and he said "not necessarily, blah, blah . . ." So is Map North and True North always the same? How to I find out?

What is the degree variation between Map North and True North and how can one tell if a map is accurate? If this is not a good place for this question, where should I post it instead?

Yes. One of the primary contributors to physical child abuse is that parents do not understand what their children are truly capable of a particular stages of their development. When the child is different from the "norm," these problems are exacerbated. Mentally retarded children suffer more victimization than any other group. I am not truly very interested in being or even appearing to be normal. That effort would bore me. Unnatural to what. We have only the environment that we do have to work with, do we not? In toddlers there is often a natural exuberance and venturesomeness that disappears (is suppressed?). It is sad to see this go. I do not know enough about child development to know if its disappearance is natural or not. Do you think this is due to alienation. If so, then a child need have no diagnoses of anything to have this alienation. What is natural and what is normal are two different things. I am not a psychologist. I am a writer. So yes, you are no doubt correct that I do not know much about schizophrenia. However, what is the "necessary environmental component to schizophrenia? I know in the past people thought it was a rejecting mother. But in the past, people held mother's responsible for all their children's woes. Could you provide an example as to how this comes about? Thank you for the terminology correction. I am no expert in this, but I know that interventions with adults and children over 12 have not been especially efficacious. What interventions would you propose? It means point of view. Was I? English is my first and only language. I have an M.A. in English. Being able to write and being ADD are not mutually exclusive. I can take my time to respond. I am medicated. (But I still spend up to two hours a week searching for my glasses, my car keys, my grocery list, my dog's leash, my checkbook, and so on and so on. ) LOL! You'd better check the DSM. You're sure to have something. You know, making up stories could be an illness all of itself. I strongly disagree with this. Perhaps it does children little good to know they have a disorder, but I feel adults should embrace their disorders. Adults have political power and can make the environment bend to their needs. I am a strong proponent of disability rights. I was being a little glib. The saying, "May you live an interesing life." is a Chinese curse. However, detailing my interesing life would benefit me little in this forum. I have found scientific types have little sympathy for anecdote as evidence.

I just did a search on crimes in general but didn't post that particular link. Remember that unfounded is not the same thing as false. Unfounded merely means that for one reason or another, the police and the prosecutor prefer not to pursue it. As you may concur, social and cultural reasons, also enter into these decisions. I would like to see rape cases pursued more vigorously.

Even the liquor didn't help. Yes' date=' I have scratched nice doctors off my list. Ouch! Okay. That gives me a clearer understanding. Hmmm. I wonder if Bill Gates is a people person. But it would be unfair to assume that he is somewhere along the Autism Spectrum. Thank you for that caveat. I admire and envy all women who can multitask. Everyday, in every way, we are getting better and better. I too prefer to be optimistic.

What makes you think that psychiatrists, psychologists, or counselors are able to determine if a rape claim is false or not? My opinion remains the same: That general unfounded reports of all crimes is about 8%. Trials usually boil down to one person's word against another's and the aversarial system of justice reflects that. People sometimes lie about thefts and often have an economic motive for doing so. I am not sure what your point is here. In general, men who have been raped get very poor treatment from the justice system -- when they even have the courage to report at all.

Could you expand on this? I am not understanding you -- especially since you are now discussing autism. If they think they have the disorder and ultimately tests and an expert's opinion confirms their thinking, then were they not correct? Yes, I know this. However, why should psychiatry be a realm where people cannot also correctly speculate upon their illness? A person who falls off a building may correctly speculate that he has broken his leg, why can a person who has had long term problems with short term memory and who has done some reading in the subject correctly speculate she has ADD? Is the disagreement we are having about the word diagnosis? Or is about people thinking for themselves about their own minds?