Generation Rescue's Bigotry
Originally posted October 2005
As a rule, I write about ideas, organizations, and social assumptions on this site, not about the wrongheaded behavior of individuals. The way I see it, dumbasses come and go, but ideas are where the real power lies.
But I decided to make an exception after I saw this argument between neurodiversity supporters and Generation Rescue's goons on Kevin Leitch's blog. The initial post quoted certain insulting comments made by John Best Jr., one of the so-called "Rescue Angels" of Generation Rescue (comments that included, among other things, comparing neurodiversity supporters to the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center), and asked if these views were representative of the biomed community in general.
JB Handley, the founder of Generation Rescue, promptly showed up to support his pet vicious pitbull. Although he disavowed the World Trade Center comment (too extreme even for him, apparently), he also wrote that Best "has our full support" and "excels at helping parents" and that "we are deeply grateful to him."
Apparently emboldened by this expression of support, the fuckwad (I'm referring to Best, in case anyone is in doubt) posted a long and bigoted diatribe that shows what Generation Rescue really thinks of the people they're claiming to help:
"Some autistic people (whose brains don’t work right) and others think it is a good idea to try to prevent parents (whose brains do work right) from helping their children whose brains don’t work right... Parents would be remiss in their responsibilities to their children if they allowed them to become adults whose brains don’t work right rather than trying to help them become adults whose brains do work right. That’s why I go to the bother of stating my opinion whenever I see nonsense that was written by people whose brains don’t work right."
There's more where this crap came from. A lot more. The site owner finally locked the thread after it had grown to 144 comments. I'm not going to bother with copying any more of it. It's all there, preserved for posterity. Go read it for yourself.
Parents, take note: if Generation Rescue and other such groups continue spreading this sort of intolerance, your autistic children will also become targets of hatred and contempt, just as soon as your children start speaking for themselves.
(Edit, December 2005: Hmmm, I haven't seen any Generation Rescue ads on webpages for the past several weeks. Maybe they're running out of money after buying that infamous junk-science New York Times ad that was repudiated by several researchers whom they quoted. Let's hope so.)
As a rule, I write about ideas, organizations, and social assumptions on this site, not about the wrongheaded behavior of individuals. The way I see it, dumbasses come and go, but ideas are where the real power lies.
But I decided to make an exception after I saw this argument between neurodiversity supporters and Generation Rescue's goons on Kevin Leitch's blog. The initial post quoted certain insulting comments made by John Best Jr., one of the so-called "Rescue Angels" of Generation Rescue (comments that included, among other things, comparing neurodiversity supporters to the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center), and asked if these views were representative of the biomed community in general.
JB Handley, the founder of Generation Rescue, promptly showed up to support his pet vicious pitbull. Although he disavowed the World Trade Center comment (too extreme even for him, apparently), he also wrote that Best "has our full support" and "excels at helping parents" and that "we are deeply grateful to him."
Apparently emboldened by this expression of support, the fuckwad (I'm referring to Best, in case anyone is in doubt) posted a long and bigoted diatribe that shows what Generation Rescue really thinks of the people they're claiming to help:
"Some autistic people (whose brains don’t work right) and others think it is a good idea to try to prevent parents (whose brains do work right) from helping their children whose brains don’t work right... Parents would be remiss in their responsibilities to their children if they allowed them to become adults whose brains don’t work right rather than trying to help them become adults whose brains do work right. That’s why I go to the bother of stating my opinion whenever I see nonsense that was written by people whose brains don’t work right."
There's more where this crap came from. A lot more. The site owner finally locked the thread after it had grown to 144 comments. I'm not going to bother with copying any more of it. It's all there, preserved for posterity. Go read it for yourself.
Parents, take note: if Generation Rescue and other such groups continue spreading this sort of intolerance, your autistic children will also become targets of hatred and contempt, just as soon as your children start speaking for themselves.
(Edit, December 2005: Hmmm, I haven't seen any Generation Rescue ads on webpages for the past several weeks. Maybe they're running out of money after buying that infamous junk-science New York Times ad that was repudiated by several researchers whom they quoted. Let's hope so.)
posted by abfh at
3:05 PM
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