Quote:
Originally Posted by davidmash
I do not know what they are but to place them on the same level as say cancer, MS, or any other genetic type disorder some how seems a bit wrong to me. I have a hard time equating an addiction to a disease. Exerting self control will not make MS go away, it can make a eating disorder go away. Big difference in my opinion.
I also think part of the classification falls into the "not wanting to hurt peoples feeling' category. If it's a disease, a person is not responsible for their actions, if it's an addiction issue, then it is at least partially your fault.
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The PRINCIPLE is the same as with what I read a few years ago about NAMBLA wanting to classify themselves as homosexual men. After all, it is about 2 males going at it, right? Why would they want the classification? SYMPATHY. It is easier to feel sympathetic to someone who is ostracized because he is gay as opposed to someone who is ostracized because he likes little boys. So, if I am going to be unpopular, it might be best if I link myself up with a less objectionable group. I have MS so I can't have much output at work. You need to feel sympathy for me when I am slower and cannot get things done. If I have an addiction to heroine, you might not care. OTOH, if I classify it as a disease, it puts it in the same class as MS so you might be more forgiving when I am late for work or not at my peak.
That is EXACTLY it IMO. Think about this. If we didn't give any breaks to people who had this "disease" in court and their punishment was the same either way, do you believe that Mindfawks (psychology or psychiatry) will be so widely used? Before ADD or ADHD, a lot of kids behavior was blamed on sugar. "Oh, Johnny was a monster because he ate too much candy.". What a load of crap. The Lunar New Year is 15 days of sweet stuff. Families who celebrate it would be having kids go amok. Predominantly Chinese areas would be having to have the riot squads out ever LNY. Unfortunately for the Mindfawks, telling the parents "Johnny is a brat because you did a crap job of raising him" doesn't sell as well as blaming a disease that is God's fault. If the Mindfawk did that, the parents would go to another more sympathetic or disease blaming Mindfawk and the first guy would lose money. So why not. Blame a disease that is nobody's fault.