You sat across from me as we discussed your disabled son’s employment prospects. Because your son will soon be considered an adult, funding options for his employment training were an issue that we needed to sort out. In the course of our discussion, you repeatedly made reference to the “paltry” thousands of dollars the government—we taxpayers—has given you every month for the last 20 years in the form of Social Security benefits and the like. You rolled your eyes as a sarcastic cue to the rest of us in attendance to sympathize with you, as you blurted something about Washington being “so cheap.” Dear Mrs. Fuckface: Fuck you. The havoc your egg and Mr. Fuckface’s sperm has visited upon you does not entitle you to more of my money and resources, does not entitle you to feel victimized because the tens of thousands of dollars you have already received are less than the thousands more you think you deserve for nothing more than piously squeezing out an autistic child two decades ago. By fucking, you and Mr. Fuckface took a gamble. By carrying your disabled child to term, you lost your gamble. Now you would have me and the state and our world believe that you are entitled to even more of our money and resources, and that we should feel sorry for you because the legislature won’t allocate ever more funds for your disabled child. And don’t get me started on all the homes, boats, and vacations you can’t stop talking about every time we meet, as your sweet but emotionally arrested son recites Dora the Explorer verbatim in the corner while his laptop babysits him. Your son is a good person with a disability who has great challenges ahead of him. You two, Mr. and Mrs. Fuckface, are totally fucking retarded.
—Anonymous
Ummm
there is no way to diagnose autism in the woumb.
Downs, sure, but still no way to tell how severely any given child will be affected.
These parents sound like entitled asses, but abortion is not really gonna address that issue, now is it.
FYI- you’re Libertarian douchebaggery is showing.
(and it was a nice touch feigning sympathy for a special needs child in the last sentence when three sentences earlier you were calling for him to be aborted. Classy!)
*second-to-last sentence. dammit.
Need any more proof that retardlicans are evil?
I’m glad my kids don’t seem to be autistic. So glad that I can’t even muster the spite to hate on this fool or those other fools the main fool is hating on, or even to correct people’s misspelled possessive pronouns.
This is disgusting and I hope this person reaps the karmic rewards of their horrific, eugenic views. I’m sorry that you believe that a HUMAN BEING does not deserve a full and fulfilling life. As both the sibling of a person with autism and a special education teacher I can only say that our world is a much worse place for you being in it and I hope you die.
Ayn Rand is back from the dead, writing in to the stranger, and is advocating to build a time machine to go back and abort in utero Jesus because pacifism and curing the sick were probably disabilities and Mary and Joseph were fuckfaces for begging for a room at the inn. or something.
Ron Paul!
YES! And the parents should be sterilized afterwards. Mandatory genetic screening for all!
@6 I’m hoping you see the irony of your post.
I think you might have the wrong job.
I didn’t read this as the IA saying that they should have aborted their son because he has a mental disability. Rather, she was saying that the woman and her husband had chosen to conceive, carry, and give birth to a child and that it was their responsibility to care for him rather than putting all responsibility on the gov’t. It’s always a gamble to have a child since there are so many problems that can occur, and a parent should accept this and work with it instead of depending on others as these people obviously are. She should feel lucky that the gov’t is giving her ANYTHING.
@6: Yes, because if it’s in the womb, it deserves a life, but if it’s out of the womb, it’s okay to wish death on it. *eyeroll*
Bitch, your involvement is half an hour with an annoying woman. Her involvement is two decades and counting.
SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.
@6: You should go back and reread what anon actually said before jumping your guns and threatening lives.
@11: That’s how this I,Anon reads to me.
What @11 said.
one million dollars
Too many people fail to prepare for the regular expenses of raising a healthy child, much less one with special needs. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. IA also seems to indicate the parents have spent frivilously.
The obvious point the author was making is that don’t bitch and whine about not getting MORE than what you’re already getting from the taxpayers, and then talk about all your vacations and cars, and boats, etc.
Fucking retards!
People are cute and by cute of course I mean absolutely predictable and annoying. The author of this post has raised the exact response that was intended. To offend and educate all that the same time. As an artist we are more then willing to take the steps needed to expose a truth. Especially in a society that uses truths to help hide the REAL truth that would make us see them for who they really are.
The author is both correct and offensive FACT.
Sure these people probably will need to work a little harder in life to play the hand they have been dealt. However it isn’t our responsibility to sacrifice our place at the table in order to see this happen. Life in a sense is like chess and we are all out to protect our own side. Black or white…and not to be viewed as race but just at opposites. It is always Us VS. The WORLD. We can’t make their child better any more then they can. We can however choose to help them or pass them by. This is the beauty of it! Everyday people are asking for spare change and handouts. These people are no different. Let them seek what they feel is owed to them. The truth is we shouldn’t have to deal with them. Just like they shouldn’t have to deal with the burden of autism that was bestowed upon their child.
@17,
I don’t know if they necessarily spent frivolously, just that they are clearly very wealthy in addition to the disability payments they receive. But rich people, in my experience, can never stop bitching about how cash strapped they are.
The saddest thing about the parents’ attitude in my mind is the fact that SSI isn’t enough to care for a disabled adult. It is (or should be) enough to support a family with one or two working adults, especially combined with Medicaid and local/state assistance. If the parents don’t plan ahead and make sure their son is cared for after they’re gone (and if they’re really that entitled, they probably won’t), their son will have a miserable life starting at middle age.
@11–that’s a really horrible thing to say. Oh, we all take a gamble raising children so too darn bad if yours has a disease or disability that severely limits its quality of life? Do you hear yourself? I can’t imagine such a cavalier indifference to the challenges of caring for a disabled child, and it’s awfully easy to say, “Well, too bad for you!” when I very seriously doubt you’ve actually had to see how difficult and expensive it is to take care of a disabled child.
And Anonymous–you’re a hateful, penny-pinching Scrooge. Accept that taking care of a special needs child is harder than you can probably imagine, and we don’t need to resent people enjoying their lives *and* deserving extra help for something that will be a challenge for them their whole lives. Their lives shouldn’t have to be bleak, Dickensian, and miserable in order to deserve our support.
Half you people are cluless with these comments that suggest that these parents are just lazy and entitled. You must not realize that NO ONE GETS GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE JUST BECAUSE THEY WANT IT. You must first prove that you are INDIGENT.(unemployed or severely under-employed and lacking significant savings.AND NO-It’s usually not because of laziness but legitamately out of their control circumstances that put them in that position. No one wishes to be in such a dire position and TO QUALIFY FOR DISABILITY BENEFITS ONE MUST PROVE TO THE STATE THAT JUST SUCH A DIRE POSITION IS TRULY THE CASE. I’m on disability following a debilitating stroke and I’m not happy about collecting tax-payers’ money but I rely on it to survive. AND I MUST GO BACK EVERY SIX MONTHS AND PROVE THAT I STILL NEED THE ASSISTANCE!seriously people, you act like indigent people actually LIKE their station in life. COME ON! I’m sure that if all of the people on government assistance had a reasonable option that would allow them to support themself they would be happy to decline any further assistance and rather pull their own weight. I know I would!
@23 Do you tend to forget how most people want to be paid for doing nothing?
@22 – Wow, you assume an awful lot. I am actually disabled as is my mother. However, my family and I don’t go around whining “Oh, the gov’t isn’t doing enough for us!” We work hard to have what we have, with or without help from the gov’t. Next time you make a comment berating someone, kindly make sure you know what the fuck you are talking about.
I would also like to add that one of the complaints that the IA makes is that the woman whines about the gov’t not giving her enough money, yet, she spends money on multiple homes and vacations. Perhaps if she would stop spending so much money on things she doesn’t need and spent it on her disabled son, there would be no problem.
Amazing how many of you TOTALLY MISS THE POINT of what this Anon is writing. Calm the fuck down.
All Anon is saying ( something that can’t be said face to face, aka the point of this column) is that when someone is receiving free money, try and be a little more grateful and a lot less entitled.
Pretty simple. Especially you @1-8, 10, 12 holy shit what are u talking about?
You people DO realize that north american society is in danger of crumbling because we DONT HAVE ENOUGH BABIES? RIGHT?
Society has to take care of it’s children. Or they end up stabbing you and taking your wallet.
Complain about her whining about money when she has enough for boats and vacations, but parents of disabled children who AREN’T wealthy have a terrible struggle. I could hardly stand 4 hours of babysitting two severely autistic children, I can’t imagine being there 24/7. But for the grace of god/luck, guys.
this person is an idiot.. the one writing.. and the parent..
i’m a parent of an autie myself – he gets disability (ssi) based on MY income.. so, if i make too much.. guess what.. even if i’ve spent the last 20 years paying into this system, he doesn’t get anything.. not even medical..
the governments programs are screwed all the way around and you want to take your quizzling little whining off on someone who maybe is just trying to vent after spending so many years raising a child like this..
if taxes were FAIR, we wouldn’t have as many issues as this
this person is an idiot.. the one writing.. and the parent..
i’m a parent of an autie myself – he gets disability (ssi) based on MY income.. so, if i make too much.. guess what.. even if i’ve spent the last 20 years paying into this system, he doesn’t get anything.. not even medical..
the governments programs are screwed all the way around and you want to take your quizzling little whining off on someone who maybe is just trying to vent after spending so many years raising a child like this..
if taxes were FAIR, we wouldn’t have as many issues as this
I agree with @11 and also agree with anonymous.
Life sucks and isn’t fair. Don’t blame me and make me pay for they way your life turned out. I’ve had my share of troubles too.
agree with IA. i want my money hard-earned tax dollars to be spent killing swarthy complected people in far-off lands. no more hand-outs for the most vulnerable among us! yer on yer own now. yay GOP! yay Glenn Beck! people are finally starting to get it – compassion and generosity are for the weak. it’s really the only way to survive in a complex and difficult world – every person for themselves, and f**k the dumb.
@28: It really isn’t my problem the previous generations took a stupid gamble and decided the best course of action would be the one that their children and grandchildren would be paying for. So no, I’m not going to pop out brats because they decided on a poor business model, and I sure as hell am not going to cut lazy, entitled, piece-of-crap “parents” any slack for blowing their money on vacations and stuff instead of the well-being of their children, disabled or not.
NOT MY FUCKING PROBLEM.
I agree with IA. The writer of this letter is stating that the couple who has the child is taking tax payer’s money for granted and spending it on materialistic goods for themselves. This is while the child is shoved in front of the t.v.. Then has the audacity to ask for more money. IA was also stating that these parents had the choice to carry out the birth. As it is there duty to take care of a child not use it as monetary gain for the Federal Government. Its not our duty a country to pay for every disability that a child has. This is partially the reason why we as government is running out of money.
Hey lets keep sending these parents money so we can pay for there vacations.
Best IA in awhile.
The times get harder – the resources rarer – the language tougher – the fear to become poor gets bigger
Best IA ever.
People are totally missing IAs point. Well, not everyone. @11 seemed to cover it pretty well. My boyfriend is the father of a toddler with Spina Bifida, who will probably never walk, has an ostomy bag, and enough other health issues to make your head spin.
Yes, he gets SSI for his child, but it typically comes to the tune of less than $200 a month. Even when he and his ex-wife were making less that $15,000 a year. So the thought of someone who has enough money to afford boats and fancy vacations complaining about the thousands of dollars they get each month not being enough? I find that offensive.
No one is saying that they should have aborted the child, they’re saying that you shouldn’t complain about what you’re being given when you’re obviously well off.
Also, IA writes, “as your sweet but emotionally arrested son recites Dora the Explorer verbatim in the corner while his laptop babysits him.” This leads me to believe that they aren’t really caring for their child, just enjoying the benefit of the extra money and complaining that its not enough.
To be fair, benefits given to the parents of learning disabled kids ARE horrifically low in some cases. I’ve seen the mother of a child I work with close to tears because her daughter was throwing ANOTHER autistic tantrum and she hadn’t had a break in weeks. It must be incredibly hard.
Other than that, I totally agree.
A lot of this resentment has been earned by the parents of “special needs” children. The Social Security aspect of this is peanuts. The real societal drain is coming in the educational system. Parents of these children have lobbied successfully for mainstreaming and demanded special accommodations for their children. The cost of mainstreaming has been huge, at the expense of the rest of the children, even more so as educational dollars have declined. The impacts on the classrooms have been significant when a more focused, clustered approach to educating children who have no real prospects for achieving the “norm” would benefit all. Especially the special needs students, who could be better prepared for their reality when school ends, rather than graduates of some social gerrymandering.
I agree with the I anon. Whether or not your child has a isability, all parents need to start, at birth, saving for post-secondary education. It is NOT the state’s job to fund anything past high school (and when I say state, I mean the institution of government, not Washington specifically). Perhaps subsidy for special learning tools….but regular university/college costs? No way!
And to know that the parents squandered their money (assuming they didn’t use junior’s state funds) on extravagances instead of saving to fund a possible education…my word! It wouldn’t surprise me if she snorted cocaine while she was preggers too…same parental irresponsibility really.
Half you people are cluless with these comments that suggest that these parents are just lazy and entitled. You must not realize that NO ONE GETS GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE JUST BECAUSE THEY WANT IT. You must first prove that you are INDIGENT.(unemployed or severely under-employed and lacking significant savings.AND NO-It’s usually not because of laziness but legitamately out of their control circumstances that put them in that position. No one wishes to be in such a dire position and TO QUALIFY FOR DISABILITY BENEFITS ONE MUST PROVE TO THE STATE THAT JUST SUCH A DIRE POSITION IS TRULY THE CASE. I’m on disability following a debilitating stroke and I’m not happy about collecting tax-payers’ money but I rely on it to survive. AND I MUST GO BACK EVERY SIX MONTHS AND PROVE THAT I STILL NEED THE ASSISTANCE!seriously people, you act like indigent people actually LIKE their station in life. COME ON! I’m sure that if all of the people on government assistance had a reasonable option that would allow them to support themself they would be happy to decline any further assistance and rather pull their own weight. I know I would!
Oh look, the Rawn Paaal sockpuppets are out.
Half of you people are clueless with this attitude that people collecting government assistance are just lazy and entitled freeloaders happily sponging off the taxpayers by choice. You seem to think that anyone can go sign up for government assistance if they want it. That is so not the case. One cannot get government assistance without being indigent- Poor, unemployed or severely underemployed and barely able to survive. (earning $11,000 or less anuallyfor a family of 4) One must first prove that he or she has tried to find work without success also they check bank accounts the applicant must prove that they haven’t any money. No one wishes to be in such dire straights. The states don’t give money to people who just don’t feel like working. It’s a hard life that qualifies one for assistance. Not something anyone would wish for. I should know. I’m on disability following a debilitating stroke that left me unable to work to support my family. the state sent me to 3 doctors to verify that. and I must go back every 6 months to prove that I still need assistance to survive. It’s not an easy life on government assistance either. They decide how much my kids an I need to scrape by and give me the bare minimum. I don’t live like a wisconsin teacher I love like a dirt poor pauper in thrift store clothing and barely able to pay the bills. The state won’t award money to people who can keep a roof over their heads without help. I’m sure that if most recipients of government assistance were able to find adequate work to support themselves without assistance they happily would forego the check and work to pull their own weight. I know I would. Go easy on poor people who have a rough lot in life and be grateful for what you have without putting down human beings who need help to feed and clothe their children. Nobody asks for such rotten misfortune.
@41/43 Yes, many people would prefer to pull their own weight. But I have known people personally who have chosen to live off government support and keep themselves in bad positions as opposed to trying to better themselves. Anyone who needs the help deserves it, but I’ve seen too many examples of people who were on SSI and foodstamps only to pull out a wad of $100s to pay for things. You may be a good person, but not everyone is.
I’m not a parent (yet), but from friends with autistic children – parenting is always difficult, but autistic children are graduate-level difficult. Even with a lot of resources. I can’t imagine it with a SSI cheque alone.
IA should consider another line of work. Although I suppose that IA knows it, too. That said:
1) IA works for the SSA. He or she is not Mrs FF’s friend or her therapist.
2) The SSI should be spent, as much as possible, on her child. Within reason. But that’s not what IA sees.
3) Why is IA even holding this meeting? I’d think – perhaps I’ll think differently in the future – that planning for a disabled child’s adulthood is something that should start roughly 5 minutes after birth. Not when they’re about to turn 18.
What a mess.
@45 That sounds like proof that so-and-so is poor, or at least was poor, not proof that they’re rich. A roll of bills – as impressive as it sounds – is gone when it’s gone. There’s no carrying a balance forward or spending money you don’t have or writing checks that might not clear.
@43 Yes–we get it: you’ve been dealt a lousy hand in life and it isn’t easy for you. We also get your point that one has to prove their need to the point of indigence in order to receive public funds. Part of the message IA is trying (obviously unsuccessfully) to communicate is that the parents in question obviously live a fairly upscale lifestyle including expensive vacations, boats, and second homes. A lifestyle far from the requisite poverty which you describe. This should upset you as much as it upsets those whom you attack: these wealthy free-spending parents are taking funds which are earmarked for those in extreme need, such as yourself. Other readers are agreeing with IA because they don’t enjoy paying taxes only to see their hard-earned income redistributed to people who already live a luxurious lifestyle which is out of reach for most people. Is that sufficient simplification for you?
I say we speculate on which of the Republican candidates for president sent this in…
I totally agree. Nice to see someone break past the PC bullshit and say it like it is. Why do fuck head parents like that have such a sense of entitlement? Secondly, I don’t like retarded people. Sorry, I know that sounds cold. When I’m forced to interact with them I’m kind and patient but brief as possible. If I had a retarded baby I would give it to the fucking state. So there it is.
I have a problem not with the IA, but with the attitude that other people’s woes are not your problem, and that you shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s misfortunes with your taxes.
Why should a child pay for the financial mistakes of their parents? They should starve and recieve no medical attention because their parents don’t make enough (this case obviously excluded)?
Fuck all of you. I hope you have to go on disability or welfare or receive assistance for a time and see how fucking awful it is.
As usual I would not wipe my ass with this column. What is not usual is the fact that I would like to stomp on the head of the motherfucker who wrote this trash then it could go on assistance and I could call it’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Fuckface. What a heartless piece of shit you must be and what a miserable life you must have to be able to think like you do. You actually have my sympathy but I would still enjoy a few quick stomps, motherfucker.
Shame on you for breaching the trust and any sense of professionalism in your position!!! You chastize the parents for not assuming more responsibility for the needs of their child and acting in an entitled way. Check yourself out in the mirror!! YOU obviously are burned out in your job but don’t want to take personal and/or professional responsibility to leave. No…YOU prefer to “serve with contempt” while keeping your inflated salary & benefits that have no basis in merit. You should not be entitled to have the job you have.
There’s nothing funny about autism
Unless the kid says goofy stuff and acts retarded and is googly eyed. Then it’s funny
@47 I can see where it could look that way, let me rephrase to state that they pulled out a wad of bills EVERY time they paid for things. I worked in a grocery store at the time and had repeat customers. Also, my uncles ex-wife actually refused to find a job so she could continue to collect welfare checks.
As I said, I’m all for people who need it having it. I know plenty of those people as well. But for someone to say that everyone who has it does so because they need it is unrealistic. Some people are just that good at playing the system. Such as people who have 5 different foodstamp cards because they’ve got 5 different SSNs. Seen that one too.
Wow, I just found out that my IA was published!! What an honor. As for you dolts who took from this that I believe all autistic kids should be aborted, you are obviously missing the point. The point is that having children is a choice– actually it is a series of choices: The choice to fuck, the choice whether to utilize birth control methods, and the choice to introduce yet another human to the fold which recently hit 7 billion. To pretend that your child just happened to you, or that you are somehow the victim of the universe because the child you had is not the nobel laureate you deluded yourself into believing you deserve is disingenuous. To lash out at the rest of us for not taking care of your child is the height of inconsideration, maybe narcissism, and definitely retardation. No one is saying the child shouldn’t be taken care of–in fact, I am in the line of work I am in because I recognize the epidemic of disastrously unprepared parents giving birth to children, healthy or otherwise. And so I have chosen a profession where I help these parents who have deliberately inflicted upon themselves the heartbreaking task of tending to someone who shits themselves regularly and cannot construct a simple sentence even in adulthood, like many of you. It is ASTONISHING how many of you are out there. And I even have a simple test to help determine whether you are a wretched piece of shit of a parent: If you have ever said out loud or to yourself, “you have no idea how hard it is,” then you have failed. The fact is, we all know how hard it is. In fact, the smarter among us have realized how hard it is by doing a little exercise I like to call “thinking,” and have chosen to get vasectomies. These are covered under most insurance plans. If I deliberately cut my arm off–and producing a child is a deliberate act–I give up my right to bitch about not being able to tie my shoes. I give up my right to whine about how hard it is to bench press. I don’t get to bitch at people for not helping me as much as I think they should, and I don’t get to abuse those people who are compassionate enough to wade into the murky waters of my selfish decision. When you can produce a cogent argument for the necessary proliferation of human beings, when you can prove to me that we absolutely MUST continue to populate the planet at the bogglingly expansive rate that we currently are, then I will acquiesce. I will then agree that because we have a mandate to produce hoards of consumers, the people who heroically oblige this mandate but end up with children who require an inordinate amount of assistance to simply feed themselves or take a piss will thus be entitled to whine about their plight. They can say, “I was just trying to fulfill the mandate, and I got robbed, and so the rest of you need to bend over backwards and give me more.” However, I believe there is no mandate. There is no shortage of people, and so there is no REASON to produce more people. If you choose to produce a person (or many of them), you are also choosing the consequences. When I look up at you with my missing arm and say, “why aren’t you helping me more than you are? Why aren’t you doing more to help me tie my shoes?” You have every right to say, “dude, why the fuck did you cut off your arm?” And then you have every right to be disgusted by me. There is a cure for Autism. Come to think of it, there is a cure for global warming, for food and water shortages, for acid rain, for traffic congestion, for long lines at Bumbershoot, and for that piercing shriek in my ear every time I am in the vicinity of a playground: get a vasectomy.
Wow, I just found out that my IA was published!! What an honor. As for you dolts who took from this that I believe all autistic kids should be aborted, you are obviously missing the point. The point is that having children is a choice– actually it is a series of choices: The choice to fuck, the choice whether to utilize birth control methods, and the choice to introduce yet another human to the fold which recently hit 7 billion. To pretend that your child just happened to you, or that you are somehow the victim of the universe because the child you had is not the nobel laureate you deluded yourself into believing you deserve is disingenuous. To lash out at the rest of us for not taking care of your child is the height of inconsideration, maybe narcissism, and definitely retardation. No one is saying the child shouldn’t be taken care of–in fact, I am in the line of work I am in because I recognize the epidemic of disastrously unprepared parents giving birth to children, healthy or otherwise. And so I have chosen a profession where I help these parents who have deliberately inflicted upon themselves the heartbreaking task of tending to someone who shits themselves regularly and cannot construct a simple sentence even in adulthood, like many of you. It is ASTONISHING how many of you are out there. And I even have a simple test to help determine whether you are a wretched piece of shit of a parent: If you have ever said out loud or to yourself, “you have no idea how hard it is,” then you have failed. The fact is, we all know how hard it is. In fact, the smarter among us have realized how hard it is by doing a little exercise I like to call “thinking,” and have chosen to get vasectomies. These are covered under most insurance plans. If I deliberately cut my arm off–and producing a child is a deliberate act–I give up my right to bitch about not being able to tie my shoes. I give up my right to whine about how hard it is to bench press. I don’t get to bitch at people for not helping me as much as I think they should, and I don’t get to abuse those people who are compassionate enough to wade into the murky waters of my selfish decision. When you can produce a cogent argument for the necessary proliferation of human beings, when you can prove to me that we absolutely MUST continue to populate the planet at the bogglingly expansive rate that we currently are, then I will acquiesce. I will then agree that because we have a mandate to produce hoards of consumers, the people who heroically oblige this mandate but end up with children who require an inordinate amount of assistance to simply feed themselves or take a piss will thus be entitled to whine about their plight. They can say, “I was just trying to fulfill the mandate, and I got robbed, and so the rest of you need to bend over backwards and give me more.” However, I believe there is no mandate. There is no shortage of people, and so there is no REASON to produce more people. If you choose to produce a person (or many of them), you are also choosing the consequences. When I look up at you with my missing arm and say, “why aren’t you helping me more than you are? Why aren’t you doing more to help me tie my shoes?” You have every right to say, “dude, why the fuck did you cut off your arm?” And then you have every right to be disgusted by me. There is a cure for Autism. Come to think of it, there is a cure for global warming, for food and water shortages, for acid rain, for traffic congestion, for long lines at Bumbershoot, and for that piercing shriek in my ear every time I am in the vicinity of a playground: get a vasectomy.
@50 – if you think that giving the child to the state to be taken care of will be less expensive to the taxpayers, you are fooling yourself.
Ok, well then I don’t want to help you with any shit you didn’t prepare for, either.
No pension. No food banks either.
No roads, I don’t use em. I have a mountain bike.
No chemo, I’m not the one who smokes or worked in a chemical plant.
no free grade school or high school, your life chances aren’t my problem.
No free meds if you have schizophrenia, free loader.
Lets close the food banks! and the city pools! and the parks! I hate raccoons and poision ivy!
No foreign aid for any one else, even if we WERE the ones who fucked up their country. They have to deal with it, like our poor have to deal with it.
And actually, not everyone had some of the choices you were talking about. I know several people who became pregnant from rape. So fuck off and die, you selfish bastard.
Wow, this is so depressing. @59, you could have been prevented. But you weren’t, and so the rest of us are required to forever endure the flaccid logic of people like you for whom paying attention is just a bridge too far. I am selfish because I would like parents of ALL children to assume responsibility for their children? Or at least be grateful to those who do? This is not about eliminating entitlements for those in need. This is about my astonishment over those in need believing they are owed something, and their belief that I am the one who owes them. I am not saying that all people in need feel they are owed something, I am saying that the very few who feel they are owed something are incorrect in their logic. Like if I were to say that it would be bad to close food banks because there are so many children of rape victims who need food. I would recommend you start paying attention to that still, small voice you hear during commercials between Jersey Shore episodes, the one that says, “what the fuck am I talking about?”
Um… Technically a person who was raped still has a choice with whether or not to have the child.
And while I feel as though this is beating a dead horse… No one is stating that people who deserve help shouldn’t get it. Just that they shouldn’t feel entitled, or play the system to get more help than they deserve. I do find it unfair that I work full time and can’t afford to eat as well as some people who are on welfare not working. Let me stress again that I am speaking of people that I know personally, so I am not speculating that they could work and don’t, I know. I have actually heard the phrase, “Why should I go to work when the government will pay for it?”. THAT is the type of person that shouldn’t get help.
Whatever – this is exactly *why* I want to pay taxes: to help level the playing field between the have and have-nots, so that everyone can have access to health benefits, education and the like.
Too bad my government doesn’t funnel my monies into appropriate allotments according to my interests! I try to make up what difference I can by charitable contributions, i.e. pissin’ in a well.
I want to believe that most people do care about the quality of life of others … and that even if given the choice, they would help to subsidize it. I think our tax structure is just so fucked up that people don’t realize the true cost of ‘lower’ taxes when it comes to social services and of what I consider the misuse of the funds we do collect.
No, I don’t believe in unicorns.
@Larry1 Your belief system is incompatible with your line of work. Do yourself and the citizens (like me) who pay your salary a favor and find another line of work. Honestly, after reading your rant I feel cheated knowing that my tax dollars pay your salary.
Quite enjoyed IA and especially Larry1’s writings in Posts 56 & 60.
Acerbic? Yes. But tell it like it is brother!
This is a shameful “i anonymous”–as a person with a disability I am offended and feel discriminated against just reading this. Shame on “the stranger” for choosing to publish this.
shame on the stranger for printing this discriminatory drivel–it is not only offensive, it is idiotic. as a human being with a disability i am deeply offended–i’m done reading this publication.
Gee, @60, I sure wish you had been prevented too. It certainly would have made my last 90 seconds more pleasant. I’m sure it would be a relief for those unfortunates who cross your desk too, if they came across someone who actually genuinely gave a shit for the value of community, instead of someone who lives his life doing something he clearly hates in the expectation that others will extensively rim him in humble and beseeching gratitude. Did you miss the list of stuff in @59 that you, too, partake of courtesy of other taxpayers? Where’s your gratitude? You’re a truly poisonous being.
I detect a major case of burn out. It’s time to move to another profession.
what a bunch of cunts!
Unfortunately, this guy (guy?) is right on the mark. I work with people with disabilities, too, and I cannot tell you how thankless a job it is, particularly when we have to deal with parents or other legal guardians who put you in a position to feel like you are their bitch. I agree that IA’s words are direct, but incorrect? Lt me tell you from vast experience that this is by far one of the more insightful and honest pieces the Stranger has had the gonads to publish. Kudos to you, Stranger, for allowing it. And my hat is off to you, IA, for putting into print what so many of us in the field have felt for decades. Please tell me you have a blog I can subscribe to?
Good ole Seattle, where people are too pussy to tell people things to their faces. Lame.
You know what I love *the most* about this IA? It’s inaccuracy! No one gets SS disability benefits until they are an adult. IA, your BS is showing.
If you choose to have kids, you shouldn’t complain! But if you choose to be in a profession dealing with kids and parents, complain as much as you want! We don’t know how hard it is!
These parents might well be douchebags, but IA’s comments prove who the douchiest is of all the bags.
Hey libertarian, guess what?
(to the tune of the “You are Dead” Total Distortion song)
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!
You thought you were cool, but instead you’re a tool!
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!
Brought your whole brain to a screeching halt!
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!
Your heart is calloused and your soul is cold! You’re such a total BITCH!!
And now for your rudeness you’re getting told! You’re such a total BITCH!!
This revelation, cuts like a knife!
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!!!
You’re a pitiful waste of a human life!!
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!!
Your heart is calloused and your soul is cold! You’re such a total BITCH!!
And now for your rudeness you’re getting told! You’re such a total BITCH!!
Aww, such a sad sad story
You’re immature with a heart of manure, YOU SUCK!
You’re JUST BAD
How’s it feel to be such a BITCH?
(You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!)
Go die in a fire, you jerk! You SUCK!!
I hope you quit channeling Scrooge
Adios, See you later, Bye Bye
Get a clue!
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!!
You’re a BITCH, BITCH, BITCH!!
Agree 110%. For the rest of you who are ripping Anon, I’m willing to guess that you are living off the government teat (my hard work) and are scared that your free money will be cut off, as well. I, too, am tired of paying everyone else’s way and then having to listen to how bad the welfare moms, crackheads, and idiots begging on street corners wearing North Face jackets have it. In terms of this submission, I’m sorry your child didn’t come out perfect – I can sympathize with the amount of work it has taken to this point, as well as the rest of all your lives – but it is not for the rest of society to support you. I am always willing to help someone in need, but you don’t get to complain that I’m not giving enough.
@76 You make some legitimate points. The beggars in Seattle need to be controlled at some point (a street corner can sustain 3 beggars, yes, but what if 3 becomes 10, then 15? Where should the line be drawn?). I feel nothing but compassion for them, but in my opinion they lower the moral of the city. This is where privatized Church organizations are beneficial to society. Even if you don’t believe in a specific denomination, a well organized Church can fellowship, act as a center for those in need, and provide practical morality based teachings to give someone an honest jumpstart. I’m willing to guess, based on “BigOleRightousSOB,” that you are an honest Christian who puts charity first, but who also understands the negative impact on society that enabling someone in the name of feeling good about oneself can have. I’m not particularly religious, but I have contributed my time (not enough of it unfortunately) to food drives that some of the downtown churches have organized over the years. Do know of a “hub” (downtown or Eastside) where a non-religious person can volunteer?
@15
My mom’s friend has a retarded kid. She’s too old and frail to care for him herself. He doesn’t like other retarded people so he can’t live in a group home. His rent is paid. He has a staff- someone comes daily to clean and fix meals, the short bus comes to take him to “work” which is adult daycare, a nurse visits regularly, a social worker to coordinate it all. All paid by the government, that is to say, us.
#78
And it’s far better for the government to pay for that than it is to have it pay for things like the slaughter of Asian and Latino people who disagree with your right-wing economic ideas…you know, the kind of government funding that reactionary selfish jerks like you APPROVE of.
And, idiot, using the “r word” is just as evil as using the “n word”, so DON’T FUCKING USE THAT WORD, OK?
What part of “the government should subsidize life, not death” do reactionaries not get?
My 11 year old brother has a rare condition that leaves him with prominent physical characteristics, renders him with a toddler’s brain in regards to certain behavior, and also results in autism. They didn’t know he was going to be autistic because there are twenty thousand different ways this condition can manifest, and conditions -like Down’s- can actually be symptoms. We knew something was neurologically wrong, we just didn’t know what. This means that while autism may not be detected in the womb, any brain damage that causes it can. My father receives minuscule benefits for my brother because they’re in Kenya, and the cost of care, occupational therapy, and special schooling in a country that has limited special ed resources is extremely high.
That said, l’m with those that are reminding people to be objective and re-read the OP, which neither encourages abortion (but encourages the parents to be prepared if anything is amiss with fetus), nor is it unsympathetic to the child or his plight. The statement that they have money with which to care for their child -yet spend it on their own comforts- clarifies that these people aren’t desperate for the funding they receive, they are simply pissed it cuts into their own spending freedoms. The OP is not addressing the child; it is addressing the entitled attitudes of the parents, who seem to care more about the trip to Tahiti than a child who deserves more than a fucking box and Dora the Explorer to entertain what could possibly be a different but brilliant mind. Despite all the challenges in his way, my kid brother is a SMART fucking kid, and his case is one in only a few hundred in the world. If this child’s parents cared more about their child than their country club membership, they might realize that nurturing his mind might result in genius rather than mediocrity.
Parents who fail to live up to the intellectual and developmental needs of their disabled children -and then complain about the many incomes that support them for healthy and obvious reasons- should be summarily shot and dumped in unmarked graves.
IA author and commenter #81 = tied FTW.
@ 57 “If I deliberately cut my arm off–and producing a child is a deliberate act–I give up my right to bitch about not being able to tie my shoes.”
If you consume food and water—and consuming food and water is a deliberate life sustaining act—you give up your right to bitch about “the epidemic of disastrously unprepared parents giving birth to children, healthy or otherwise.” And unless this epidemic involves parents who make can make a jungle gym appear in the middle of your living room out of thin air, entering into the vicinity of a playground is also a deliberate act.
In spite of your low tolerance for the piercing shrieks, I honestly suggest you seek out a playground and reacquaint yourself with some of the old nursery rhyme wisdom. Start off with something basic like, “The logic on your bus goes ‘round and ‘round, ‘round and ‘round, ‘round and ‘round. The logic and your bus goes ‘round and ‘round, all through The Stranger.”
I’m the father of a disabled son who became that way when he was 17. There was no choice there, he gets less than $600 a month from the government, which about covers his food bill. What I have to say to IA is fuck you for not having enough compassion to realize that any decent society would take care of those less fortunate.
This is the number one reason that the US is fucked up is because of self centered pricks who don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves.
@ 57
“And I even have a simple test to help determine whether you are a wretched piece of shit of a parent: If you have ever said out loud or to yourself, ‘you have no idea how hard it is,’ then you have failed. The fact is, we all know how hard it is. In fact, the smarter among us have realized how hard it is by doing a little exercise I like to call “thinking,” and have chosen to get vasectomies.”
Firstly, I want to thank you for suggesting a test that people can perform on themselves by asking one simple question. Many of the tests I’ve worked with in the field of psychology consist of pages of extensive multiple choice questions that require selecting from one of four possible answers (sometimes five when the “none of the above” option is used).
Your question, Larry, reminded me of an experiment my professor at UW conducted during my last semester before I graduated. As part of a field trip, our professor took our class to the top floor of the Columbia Center, selected the student with the highest GPA (me), asked that I drop my trousers, stick my backside out the window, and point it straight at Pike Place Market. As best I could, I pointed my bare behind right at the heart of our fine city’s Farmers Market. My professor then asked, “As accurately as you can, provide the number flying fish that are sent back and forth between any two guys in suspenders over a 90 second span. For a full hour, I dug deep and did my best to produce the most accurate number possible every 90 seconds, only to be rebuked each time by my professor with statements like, “You’re not even close, Mr. Chapped Ass USA.” The class finally ended, and not even once was I able to provide the correct number of flying fish that crossed the threshold of my anus. The students left the building, but my professor stayed with me as I removed my backside from the freezing rain. His course was rigorous, and he was a firm believer in old school discipline, but he was also a man of compassion. He wrapped my mid section in swaddling clothes (in reality it was a scarf he was wearing, one that I knit for him earlier in the semester,), and asked me in a whisper as he held me close, “Why Malcholm, why could you not guess the number of flying fish as I had asked of you?” Humiliated, but with a resolve to answer him with as much integrity and honesty as I knew, I proudly stood up and replied,” Teach, you have no idea how hard it is to count flying fish in the freezing rain by looking through your anus.” He took a step back, removing the aforementioned swaddling scarf as it was still attached to his neck, and asked me to pull a note out of his front pant pocket and read it to him. I followed his request, looked at the note, and found the words, “Teach, you have no idea how hard it is to count flying fish in the freezing rain by looking through your anus.” I looked up, stunned, not realizing yet how profound the lesson I had just learned was, when my professor admonished, “You are a wretched piece of shit student, and most likely will be an even more wretched piece of shit parent. If you want to be counted as one of the smarter ones among us, in other words, if you want an A in this class, you will get a vasectomy this very afternoon. And you will have one of the nurses record the entire procedure with this digital camera and return it to my office tonight before I go home.
I did as he said, and I have never been the same man since. What I learned that day about flying fish and my anus’ inability to count them from great heights in the freezing rain was all I needed to know that had it not been for my vasectomy, this world would certainly have been overpopulated by now with the likes of me, someone who can’t even figure out how to count flying fish in the freezing rain with his own wretched asshole.
#84, did you even bother to READ the I,A’s responses here (under the name Larry), or are you too busy spouting off to notice that you missed the whole point?
#82: Thank you. l know it’s easy for those posting here with handicapped children, siblings, parents or friends to have a kneejerk response to this I,A; l had the same response at first, but (a) l read the whole thing, which provided some clarification, and (b) used a little deductive reasoning to figure out what Larry was actually saying. l get the sensitivity, but objectivity in regards to any single issue that is sensitive needs to be applied, or we’ll constantly make asses of ourselves when we inevitably blow something out of proportion that was never aiming to offend us in the first fucking place.
Larry is clearly a jerk who is ill suited for his profession and should go and retrain to be an investment banker or something. The child’s parents may well be jerks as well, but so what? The amount of money given to people with disabilities in the US is laughable in any case – so it’s no surprise if the recipients bitch about how little they get. Everybody bitches, Larry. No one is satisfied with their lot in life. Just wait until you meet your new colleagues at the investment bank, and you’ll see what I mean!
IA loses major points (and is tuned out by many) when s/he suggests a child who is anything less than genetically blessed should be aborted. That said, as the mother of a child with autism, I can say unequivocally that I am more than willing to go without things that I need (material and otherwise) in order to provide for my son. We have not sought SSI because, frankly, the system is so screwed up I’d rather eat ramen until the end of time than have to deal with those jackasses. Also, we are now in a position where SSI is not necessary, so why take it from people who need it? As far as us terrible, awful parents of children with developmental disabilities lobbying for mainstreaming? Screw you very much. If my kid’s class was graded on a bell curve, he’d be the one everyone hated for throwing it off. Tomorrow is his last day of first grade and he has a fifth grade reading level and a third grade math level. He is not a disciplinary problem and we only mainstreamed him when we knew he could handle it and not be a burden on the other students or his teacher. He’s a damn sight better behaved than many of the little miscreants he goes to school with because his father and I refuse to tolerate less. Disability or not, there is a standard of behavior that we know he understands and can abide by. So my mainstreamed kid with autism sets a better example for how to be a good student and overall decent human being than a lot of the “normal” kids I’ve met whose parents can’t be bothered to actually parent.
Aha. Ha. Ha.
This anonymous writer? HILARIOUS.
Because, see, my benefits, personally, when they’re not all fucked up? $698 a month from the federal government. And about $150 of that gets taken out to pay for my also fucked up Medicare premium (because hey, you know, disabled or retired people, we can SO thoroughly afford to pay a PREMIUM for HEALTH CARE that–in my case–is CONVINCED I live in California, even though I filed the move in OCTOBER, before I even LEFT California for Iowa–and, as a special fun bonus, California is supposed to PAY my premium if I’m receiving benefits there because I’m below the state cutoff, but the state got the memo that I moved while the feds didn’t), leaving me with–what’s that? Is that–is that a HIGHLY GENEROUS $548 a month? To pay for food and rent and utilities? Oh my, taxpayers! How very awesome of you!
I mean, it’s not like my partner couldn’t find a job and we weren’t begging money off friends and her family to cover the bills for MONTHS or anything. Not like my rent alone isn’t $500, or the utility company doesn’t dick you over with deposits or anything like that. Oh no, $548 a month? So very definitely enough for one person to live on and have a roof and power and water and food and meds!
Except…wait.
I challenge you, Anonymous, to live on $548 a month. It has to cover everything. No cheating. You have to use it for all your bills. You have to PAY your bills. If you don’t, services get turned off and then you have to pay a fee PLUS what you owe on the bill. Food is an absolute necessity. So is a roof. So figure that one out, Anonymous. Figure out how a whole hell of a lot of us do it EVERY FUCKING MONTH because we get routinely dicked over. Try it for awhile! See if you’ll SURVIVE.
#48 — If you believe that “wealthy and free-spending parents” are collecting “thousands” in SSI every month, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.
If this so-called social worker were doing hir job properly, s/he would not have approved these parents for such a high SSI allowance.
YOU try squeezing a dime out of this government. I am not the only one in these comments trying to tell you it’s well-nigh impossible to do.
This IA is a patent lie. To all of you who have defended this falsehood, aren’t you feeling proud now? Suckers.
@72 – Your ignorance is showing. Developmentally disabled people qualify for SSI from the time they are diagnosed. Their guardians have to apply on their behalf, but (until recently) it was pretty much a given that they’d be approved. Nowadays, you could be a quadriplegic and they’d make you jump through 19 different red tape-bound hoops to prove you’re disabled.
“Nobody owes me anything”
Repeat this into the mirror every morning. You’ll be surprised how liberating and empowering it is.
I agree with the writer of this weeks I, Anonymous. Does he lack sensitivity? – yes but seriously – this is the “I, Anonymous” column, not the Dr Phil show. Being disabled is terrible. It is sad and yes, we have programs that help offset some of the costs HOWEVER, the article referred to a disabled couple who chose to have a child knowing there was a high probability of having a disabled child. They couldn’t afford to care for their child, why should they have even had this child? I tell ya, if I ever ran for office, I would lobby very hard for a “Child License” law. There are too many idiots out there having kids that they “choose” to not care for – and we the taxpayers have to flip the bill.
Wow. You need to get out of that profession. NOW! As your lack of empathy or compassion has you do a disservice to every developmentally disabled individual you meet, as well as their parents, guardians, and caretakers.
Oh, BTW? The PARENTS are not developmentally disabled. If you don’t even know the difference, then you never EVER had any business being in a profession that works with people with developmental disabilities in the first place.
As a clarification, Social Security Disability benefits are NOT “thousands of dollars” every month. Maybe if you put 12 months in a year together, you get “thousands of dollars”, but most people on Social Security Disability get less than $700 per month. If the parents can afford to take vacations and buy boats, that’s great! But that $700 or less they get from Social Security (which they’ve been paying into, by the way, so it’s not like they’re scamming the system in any way) is not buying boats or giving them luxury vacations.
Like I said, get out of that profession NOW. You have no business being in it and feeling the way you do.
I notice that IA says his clients ‘can’t stop talking’ about homes, boats, vacations. I don’t see any evidence these folks actually enjoy such. When you’re without, big talk about how you’d like it to be is common.
I am temporarily on SSI after being ill and somewhat homeless for four years. Let me tell you, that $674 the gov deems I ‘deserve’ doesn’t go very far. After rent and utilities, I have $249 to cover everything else besides food. That’s transportation, clothing and shoes, home and bodycare goods, non-prescript meds, and heaven forbid a used book now and then. And that rent doesn’t get me running water or a toilet on site. For that, I get to hike across the acre to a ‘real’ house.
Is there abuse in the system? Most definitely. Could the system stand a sane overhaul to reach more who need it and weed out the ones who’re scamming? Yes, yes. Is that gonna happen? Politics and stakeholders stand in the way, as always.
So those of you that think we disabled lowlifes don’t ‘deserve’ to share in the standard of living of the wealthiest nation on the planet, don’t know what to say except may you be given the privilege of walking in my shoes someday. May you experience and thus understand what it’s like to be ill, alone and homeless. May the children you bear be especially challenging such that you can learn to view the world from a perspective other than your lily-white, hands-off my slice, privileged one.
@90,
The parents are not necessarily living off several hundred dollars a month unless they’re unemployed. They are collecting SSI for their son, and if there’s some sort of income qualification for the guardians of a developmentally disabled child to collect SSI, it definitely doesn’t kick in until the family is at least comfortably middle class since I know several middle class families who collect SSI on behalf of their disabled children.
Also, I don’t know where you’re getting the condemnation of independent, disabled adults from this I, Anon.
Well, this has all been such a sad realization. While I knew there were many people with certifiable disabilities out there, I really had no idea the ratio of dummies to thinkers. I have been astounded to see that so many of you have filtered my words through your own muddy prisms, and have projected your own irrational biases into what I was sure was a highly banal topic. I have been so surprised at the lazy scrutiny and knee-jerk incredulity, that I now have that much more support for any book I may write about the value of a rigorous, liberal education. A few gems that have given me a case of the “what-the-fucks”:
@97 “Also, I don’t know where you’re getting the condemnation of independent, disabled adults from this I, Anon.”
What? Who said anything about condemning independent disabled adults? I sure did not. I swear, my IA is sooooo much better when you read it with your eyes open.
@96 “I notice that IA says his clients ‘can’t stop talking’ about homes, boats, vacations. I don’t see any evidence these folks actually enjoy such.”
What? Should I have included a photo? You see no evidence of such? Is this how you think smart people talk?
@95 “As a clarification, Social Security Disability benefits are NOT “thousands of dollars” every month.”
As a clarification, nobody said they were. Go ahead and read it all one more time,
@90 Something tells me you are the very person I wrote about in my IA.
@85 “Your question, Larry, reminded me of an experiment my professor at UW conducted during my last semester before I graduated.”
UW is on the Quarter system, you friggin retard.
@83 “If you consume food and water—and consuming food and water is a deliberate life sustaining act—you give up your right to bitch about “the epidemic of disastrously unprepared parents giving birth to children, healthy or otherwise.”
By keeping myself alive I forfeit my right to bitch about inadequate parents? So, if I kill myself I can bitch? You’ve got scrambled feces for brains, which collide as they swim about the emptiness in your skull. As they squish together, they make the shit that you are trying very, very hard to pass off as logic. You are a hack masquerading as someone who knows what the fuck they are talking about. Only you give yourself away when you do that little thing. You know, that thing where you don’t know what the fuck you are talking about.
@72 “You know what I love *the most* about this IA? It’s inaccuracy! No one gets SS disability benefits until they are an adult. IA, your BS is showing.”
Sorry, @72, you are correct. Oh, wait, I just did some simple research and it turns out you are actually wrong. Weird. It’s like when Bush said the war was over. Only it wasn’t. How crazy would it be if some of us made our assertions AFTER we knew whether they were correct?
@67 “Did you miss the list of stuff in @59 that you, too, partake of courtesy of other taxpayers? Where’s your gratitude?”
Thank you.
@66 “shame on the stranger for printing this discriminatory drivel–it is not only offensive, it is idiotic. as a human being with a disability i am deeply offended–i’m done reading this publication.”
I am offended that you are offended.
@59 “And actually, not everyone had some of the choices you were talking about. I know several people who became pregnant from rape. So fuck off and die, you selfish bastard.”
Seriously, this is the saddest. So extreme, so voracious. So full of shit.
@52 “As usual I would not wipe my ass with this column. What is not usual is the fact that I would like to stomp on the head of the motherfucker who wrote this trash then it could go on assistance and I could call it’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Fuckface.”
Oh yes, that was cut and pasted exactly as it was written. Corky Thatcher meets Hitler.
@36 “Best IA ever.”
Bingo.
Larry, I loved your letter and thought it was one of the best IAs ever.
I agreed with everything you said. People can’t handle the truth. That’s why every politician hires a spokesperson to lie or spin the truth for them.
Taking care of the less able is awesome when a country is wealthy or has a healthy middle class but entitlement and ingratitude is lame and unsustainable when times get hard.
I just wonder how many people who benefit from entitlement programs – Medicaid, Medicare, ssi etc, also support politicians who allow corporate greed to reign unchecked.
@ AI
“When you can produce a cogent argument for the necessary proliferation of human beings, when you can prove to me that we absolutely MUST continue to populate the planet at the bogglingly expansive rate that we currently are, then I will acquiesce.”
Go online and search world population growth rates for the last century. You will find that every graph indicates a decrease in the world population growth rate over the last forty years. Perhaps from your “Bumbershoot” worldview, where the lines must be getting longer and longer, the growth rate in your mind is “bogglingly expansive,” but in the minds of demographers who have dedicated their entire careers to analyzing population data sets, the rate for some strange reason has been steadily decreasing.
The logical conclusion here is that you are a stupid shit.
Now before you work yourself up about how it’s our responsibly to keep an eye on the human population, climate conditions, and available resources, I want to remind you that you failed world population history 101. Let the fact that the growth rate has been DECREASING for forty years sink in to your skull for a few days before your start recalibrating your doomsday charts.
“I recognize the epidemic of disastrously unprepared parents giving birth to children, healthy or otherwise.”
Oh really? Does this epidemic have a name? Do tell!! Quick! Give it a name. But don’t use “The Bumbershoot Epidemic,” because that’s already been saved for the boggling population growth rate increase we’ve seen over the last 40 years.
“By keeping myself alive I forfeit my right to bitch about inadequate parents?”
No. All of your bitching went into print you stupid fuck. That’s my point. I’m mocking your piece of shit analogy:
“If I deliberately cut my arm off–and producing a child is a deliberate act–I give up my right to bitch about not being able to tie my shoes. I give up my right to whine about how hard it is to bench press. I don’t get to bitch at people for not helping me as much as I think they should, and I don’t get to abuse those people who are compassionate enough to wade into the murky waters of my selfish decision”
Wow! Cutting off your arm in analogous to having a child? And I really like the “murky waters of my selfish decision” part. What exactly is selfish? Cutting of one’s own arm? Having a child? And let’s say I had a child with a disability, and Washington pays only 20% of what it pays now. Would I be able to complain then?
If you should one day turn 80, you’ll need government assistance most likely. Even if you don’t, you’ll need youth to keep the economy going if you want there to be a market to spend your saved dollars on. Hey! Let’s pretend there’s a war and the US is attacked when you’re 85. No youth means no one to defend your ass, which would surely get shot first for being such a whiney old bitch. Would you be “entitled” (in the bitchy sense of the word that you use it) to any of this help or protection as an old man? No. You would just be on the receiving end of a little help via a system that every advanced society in the world has established.
So should we all run out the door and get vasectomies so that we can be counted among the smart group of men? Maybe 85% of us should? Give us a number. C’mon, you’ve got this figured out. What percentage of us should not procreate? There’s got to be equilibrium. That is unless you want to see the human race discontinue. If that’s the case, just say so. Don’t be afraid.
“So, if I kill myself I can bitch?”
You will have to check with Jesus on that one. If he found you attractive enough you could probably bitch your retarded ass all the way to the right hand side of God.
Having a child is a choice? No shit. You create a false argument by repeatedly stating that those who procreate think it’s a mandate. To suggest this, you must accept that keeping yourself alive by eating and drinking is also a mandate.
@100
I said “expansive,” not “expanding.” A dictionary can help you with the extreme challenges of deciphering the difference between these two words. And while the rate may be decreasing, the actual population continues to increase, doesn’t it? You don’t get to 7 billion from 6 billion by subtracting, do you? So the majority of your post is little more than an underscoring of my previous point about people projecting their own misinformed biases onto my IA, isn’t it. Let’s see, you made some other points…Oh yes, the epidemic of unprepared parents I will name “fuck your mother.” What else…Oh, yes. Cutting off your arm is kinda like having a child. Only that Def Leppard guy could play drums without an arm, but I am not sure he could play with a child taped to his lap. And that is what you said, a child taped to the Def Leppard guy’s lap? You you are a dumb guy, aren’t you. For your information, the Def Leppard guy’s lap probably isn’t even BIG ENOUGH to tape a child to! You stupid fuck! And for that matter, even if it were big enough, his legs are moving so fast from hitting that big drum that any child taped to his lap would be BUCKED AROUND FEROCIOUSLY!! YOU STUPID FUCK!! And you mentioned that I “repeatedly (state) that those who procreate think it’s a mandate.” Can you point out where I say this even once? More importantly, YOU are the one creating a false premise by telling everyone at the AM/PM where you work that Bentley told you that he was going to try to three-way with you and Ashley, and that you were going to be responsible for bringing the 64 oz. coca colas and the Doritos!! I know for a fact that you HATE DORITOS!! You obviously failed corn-chip procurement 101, and so the logical conclusion is that you are a stupid shit. Hey, did you read that NY Times article about the evolution of argumentation? Where it says we developed logic not in the pursuit of truth, but simply to win arguments. And so this would explain, for example, why so many thousands of years into our evolution, there are still people who believe–or who desperately wish to be perceived as believing–that there is a magic caucasian in the sky who hates homosexuals, but thinks blacks and women are ok now. The article pointed out that it is not logic per se that has been honed over the centuries, but rather our willingness to accept words arranged in a fashion that would appear to represent logic. Like if you perceived me as authoritative, and I said, “Jesus died for your sins.” And you said, “wait, what?” And then I go, “yes, he died for your sins so that you can have ever lasting life.” And you’d be like, “what the fff…” And then I’d be all, ” YOU HAVE TO HAVE FAITH!! Through faith you are saved, but without it you will catch on fire and will burn like VD and it will never end!!” And then you’d be like, “Well shit! I don’t want to burn like VD!! What do I have to do again?” And I’d be like, “You have to have faith that Jesus died for you, and then you’d have to help me uh, get satellites up in the air to get this message out so others do not burn like VD!!” And you’d be all, “Holy shit? That sounds LOGICAL!! Where do I sign?” And I’d be like, “Oh, yes, you sign right here, at the bottom of your check book–I’ll fill the rest in later.” And you’d be all, “Awesome! That makes total sense.” Charles41, you’re a bitch girl, and you’ve gone too far but you know it don’t matter anyway. You can rely on the old man’s money, you can rely on the old man’s money. Thank you for understanding.
@101
“And while the rate may be decreasing, the actual population continues to increase, doesn’t it?”
Yes it does. And when you divide this increase by a specific period of time, you get “population growth rate.” Now what was your response again to my statement that this rate has been decreasing for the last forty years? A yes, here it is.
“I said ‘expansive,’ not ‘expanding.’ A dictionary can help you with the extreme challenges of deciphering the difference between these two words.”
Allow me to point out that you have not only been the only person in this discussion to entertain deciphering the difference between the words “expansive” and “expanding,” you’ve also been the only person to use them.
Is possible your dictionary prescription is a result of you projecting your own misinformed bias onto yourself?
As someone who was born with a “birth defect”—a mild one (club foot). I know this cost my parents thousands in the 60s to repair. That was their choice.
As I age, I find that although I shine intellectually and in other ways, I work in education and know that I contribute to the enrichment of others lives. Yet I have trouble walking, frequent pain, and know that I’ll never be as strong as others.
So I often wonder if my parent’s investment was worth it. I don’t have such a big ego or have the stupid judeo-christian “every life is sacred” ethic. Creatures and people die everyday! If I died 40 years ago as a result of not having those surgeries, then the world would continue. I know that and appreciate every day I have, but am unafraid of death if the pain becomes to much for me.
@85 FTW
I hope I never become disabled. It would be bad enough having to deal with all the pain and frustration that comes with the disablity, but knowing there are angry, judgemental people like IA out there in “helping” professions is truly terrifying.
IA, take the advice of the commenters and change careers. Perhaps ultimate fighting? That might help you get out some of the rage that you’re spewing all over The Stranger.
Glad to see responses blasting this fucker for spouting ablist crap while trying to just attack these ridiculous parents who are so horrible. (It’s nice to see, as the last public forum I saw disability discussed in was horribly depressing–people arguing vehemently that disabled parking privileges are unfair.)
Don’t be shocked that the anonymous post, so couched in ablism, has been attacked for implying eugenics is a good idea. Not what you meant? Fair enough, but if it sounds ablist…it’s fucking ablist. (This is how words work–being subject to interpretation. If you don’t want to be misinterpreted, be more careful and conscientious about what you say.)
This shit gets tiresome, you think it’s banal, but people who are aware of the history of treatment of people with disabilities can’t help but see shit like this in context.
It does sound like the parents had an entitlement issue that wasn’t really about their son’s quality of life, which is perhaps sad. (I can’t really comment on a situation I know nothing about.)
But what do you want, sacrifice? Should they live in the street and eat dirt to show how grateful they are because they get money from the government to help their son?
This is a common line of attack, not only for parents, but people with disabilities. I’m embellishing a bit, but it goes roughly: “You live off the government, so you shouldn’t buy/do things that I don’t think are worthwhile! Instead, you should live like a penitent, thankful that we give you anything because we own your life when you get our tax money!” It’s complete shit, and no more true than trying to claim you own the road because it was paid for with taxes. Public money becomes just that–public (not yours).
So don’t think it’s so innocent to attack the parents as if it’s not also reasonable to see it as an affront to their child.
I’ve deleted bits of my post aimed at defending the existence of disability benefits, etc, as that seems irrelevant and already covered.
I was pretty fucking annoyed by this one though.
Why you liberals at the stranger always have to hate on libertarians? We’re actually pretty damn similar, we just don’t trust the govt with our $$ as much as you do. Anyway…
the Anon clearly isn’t saying that there should be NO money for these people, just that they already have and are receiving quite a bit of money- enough for vacations and multiple homes! She’s not saying NO aid, she’s just saying not MORE than a few thousand a month. I think that’s reasonable, frankly. These adults surely have jobs and can pay some of their own expenses. Surely private charities can help out. Why I should be FORCED to give this woman more of my money so she can buy a third home (under the guise of taking care of her son) when I can barely afford new clothes (not to mention a laptop) is beyond me.
Seriously, I’m down with some welfare, hell I’m on foodstamps, but all good things in MODERATION, people!
It is near impossible for two adult human beings, making less than twice a median income level, to fully meet the needs of some children independently. WA needs to grow up and start taking disability and mental health seriously and prevent some of the more serious crimes and humanitarian disasters that are par for the course. SSI is distributed based on income. Medicaid and Medicare are also based on income. What this means is that parents who work hard to meet the needs of their children and exceed aid income guidelines are mostly strapped and unsupported by a system that doesn’t provide an adequate skills sector in the private market.
As long as disability is considered “that person’s problem” and not taken seriously by us, as a collective society, the needs of the more seriously disabled, and even probably dangerous, if not simply disruptive, will go unmet and society WILL suffer for it.
A single-payer health care system will go a long ways toward resolving many of the problems that are currently, unfortunately, barely managed. Once there is a consistent, productive health care system meeting the basic health and therapeutic intervention levels that are deemed necessary by society for the care of the disabled and mentally ill, talking about other practical levels of intervention can be better developed and standardized in ways that make sense to the wholistic benefit of the whole individual.
Consistent, practical care and intervention for those in need of it benefits us, as a society. The sooner we figure this out, the better…and the quicker we can get rid of parents *abusing the system* if need be, and make sure the benefits are going to the person in need, i.e., the disabled person…and the sooner people like Anon will have less to complain about.
Dear The Stranger,
Why have you posted this horrible article – and commissioned a graphic to boot??!! I have a child with disabilities and the fact is that people with disabilities are not eligible to receive Social Security benefits until they turn 18 years old. The suggestion that these parents have been living it up on their child’s Social Security checks for 20 years is just stupid and mean.
Yuck.
I love listening to people of unbelievable privilege bitching about how they’re subjugated by the incredibly underprivileged. My favorite is where half of the commenters are 15 year-olds who don’t even pay taxes.
Hey IA, have fun living off the grid! Let us know if you need toilet paper.
Anybody got any toilet paper? It’s getting shitty up in here!