Post by Doan the Nado on Oct 17, 2007 13:24:42 GMT -5
1. I disagree with your conjecture that calling alcoholism a disease in any way affects CFS's recognition as being a disease. CFS is what it is, regardless of what anything else is. This sounds like a case of misplaced frustration to me. Instead of getting angry at the medical community for failing to recognize CFS as a disease, you get angry at alcoholics? That would be like blacks getting mad at women before the civil rights movement because women could vote and they couldn't. Using that example made me realize just how backwards your reasoning is, actually. It seems to me that the more things that are accepted as a disease, the better your chances of CFS being accepted as one. As soon as you start pointing at things and claiming they are not diseases, you are becoming the very person you condemn, the person who fails to realize the actual suffering that is part of the disease-sufferer's condition.
2. The premise of your episode is interesting. I like the idea of a smart killer who leaves no evidence behind, but who has a clear motive that eventually gives him/her away. Your conclusion is a bit problematic, though, in that such a smart killer probably would not make such an egregious mistake as to leave the fingers in a dumpster near his own house. Unfortunately, it rapidly deteriorates into a public service announcement for CFS, and for that reason, it is unlikely to be made in its present form. Honestly, I felt like I was hearing the storyline for some new drug commercial or something the farther along we got. It is not logical for the cop to know exactly how you feel about alcoholics, and the jump necessary to get from "he has CFS" to is a far too great to be sensible, let alone to be used as a line of reasoning in a police investigation.
I understand that you suffer because of your disease (see, I acknowledged it
, but there are better (and more realistic) ways of getting the word out there. Also, just because you suffer does not mean that no one else does. That you haven't enjoyed the "right" of having your condition universally recognized as a disease does not give you the right to take that right away from other people who are suffering in their own, different ways. I hate to say it, but in denying people the ability to call their affliction a disease, you are in danger of running counter to your goals. It's not like there is an upper limit on the number of diseases and crossing out alcoholism will give CFS a better chance of "getting in".
To put it another way, someone in the grips of alcoholism who read your post would be just as angry with you as you are with those perceived people in the medical community who don't "get" CFS. In other words, you are severing ties with a potential ally in your efforts to get CFS recognized. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to band with sufferers of "fringe diseases" (as in, those that aren't universally recognized as being diseases) to try to promote the idea that all of your conditions are truly diseases?
Misplaced aggression in attempting to solve a problem is without a doubt worse than no action at all. Instead of promoting and furthering your own cause, you instead expend resources trying to bring others down, hurting your credibility and running counter to your original goals.
2. The premise of your episode is interesting. I like the idea of a smart killer who leaves no evidence behind, but who has a clear motive that eventually gives him/her away. Your conclusion is a bit problematic, though, in that such a smart killer probably would not make such an egregious mistake as to leave the fingers in a dumpster near his own house. Unfortunately, it rapidly deteriorates into a public service announcement for CFS, and for that reason, it is unlikely to be made in its present form. Honestly, I felt like I was hearing the storyline for some new drug commercial or something the farther along we got. It is not logical for the cop to know exactly how you feel about alcoholics, and the jump necessary to get from "he has CFS" to
he is our killer because someone with CFS would want to kill alcoholics since alcoholism is considered a disease by many while CFS isn't universally accepted as a disease
I understand that you suffer because of your disease (see, I acknowledged it
, but there are better (and more realistic) ways of getting the word out there. Also, just because you suffer does not mean that no one else does. That you haven't enjoyed the "right" of having your condition universally recognized as a disease does not give you the right to take that right away from other people who are suffering in their own, different ways. I hate to say it, but in denying people the ability to call their affliction a disease, you are in danger of running counter to your goals. It's not like there is an upper limit on the number of diseases and crossing out alcoholism will give CFS a better chance of "getting in".To put it another way, someone in the grips of alcoholism who read your post would be just as angry with you as you are with those perceived people in the medical community who don't "get" CFS. In other words, you are severing ties with a potential ally in your efforts to get CFS recognized. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to band with sufferers of "fringe diseases" (as in, those that aren't universally recognized as being diseases) to try to promote the idea that all of your conditions are truly diseases?
Misplaced aggression in attempting to solve a problem is without a doubt worse than no action at all. Instead of promoting and furthering your own cause, you instead expend resources trying to bring others down, hurting your credibility and running counter to your original goals.