Disabled World editorial blasts Autism Speaks

Thomas C. Weiss, a regular columnist for Disabled World, has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Autism Speaks' video "I Am Autism" with an editorial entitled Autism Speaks: Friend or Foe?

Although Mr. Weiss indicates in the article that he had been a supporter of Autism Speaks in the past, he also makes it very clear that after watching the "I Am Autism" video, he now sees the organization as anti-disability:


"I Am Autism speaks so badly of the current leadership at Autism Speaks that I have to wonder how long the likes of Mark Roithmayr and Elizabeth Emken can remain in their current positions. The organization of Autism Speaks as a whole will most likely experience a reduction in donations from the public at large due to this horrendous production…"


Mr. Weiss further goes on to liken Autism Speaks' hateful message to the Nazis' attitude toward disabilities, bluntly stating that he finds Autism Speaks' international influence to be terrifying in light of its destructive message:


"…the organization Autism Speaks would have people believe that People with Autism are plague-carriers. Autism Speaks likens People with Autism to family-destroying, misery-creating, hope-crushing, woe-enhancing, sleep-depriving, marriage-killing monsters. Autism Speaks presents People with Autism as being an instant ride to bankruptcy.

Not since reading about Nazi Germany have I seen such an outright negative portrayal of People with Disabilities. The fact that Autism Speaks is *supposed* to be supportive of People with Autism makes me absolutely shudder with disgust. I am not alone where this dismay at an organization that declares itself to be promoters of Autism and People with Autism yet presents such a hateful and destructive message is concerned…

…Instead of placing value on people with autism, Autism Speaks has presented them as some kind of horrifying monsters, loose in society and bent on destruction. Autism Speaks wields immense amounts of money and power, with the ability to sway massive numbers of people in societies across the planet in relation to Autism. They are not using these abilities to the benefit of People with Autism."


Many thanks to Mr. Weiss and Disabled World, as well as the many cross-disability organizations and individual activists who have expressed their opposition to Autism Speaks' hate speech, for standing with the Autistic Community in solidarity.

Autism Speaks Falsely Claims Video Removed

After numerous concerned people wrote to Autism Speaks stating their objections to the "I Am Autism" video, the organization's chief science officer, Geri Dawson, prepared a form reply in which she claims that Autism Speaks understands the criticism and has removed the video from its site in order to be more respectful toward autistics. But in fact, the video is still there.


Dear [name],

Thank you very much for sending me your letter and telling me about your perspective and feelings regarding the “I Am Autism” video. I understand and respect your perspective and I am truly sorry that the film offended you. The video was not intended to reflect Autism Speaks broader viewpoint or attitude toward persons with autism spectrum disorder. Rather, it was created by two fathers of children with autism – Billy Mann, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, music producer and Autism Speaks board member, and Alfonso Cuarón, an Academy award-nominated film director. It is based on a personal poem written by Mr. Mann. It is an intensely personal expression by these two fathers. It was their hope that the piece would inspire other voices and artists in the autism community. It has greatly offended some people, however, and we have removed it from our website.

Again, thank you for writing to me and sharing your thoughts. You can rest assured that I will continue to advocate for a respectful and compassionate attitude and support for persons with autism spectrum disorder.


Sincerely,

Geri Dawson


Seems to me she'd be a lot more convincing if Autism Speaks hadn't been consistently describing autistic kids as horrible burdens for years, beginning with the Autism Every Day film in 2006. And what's more, the I Am Autism video was still on the Autism Speaks website when I looked just now, very prominently featured on a page that boasts of how it was created especially for a United Nations event that Autism Speaks' co-founder Suzanne Wright hosted.

autismspeaks.org/press/united_nations_world_focus_on_autism_2009.php

If you're going to lie to us, Geri, you could at least try to get your story straight…


Edit, October 1: Autism Speaks finally wised up and removed the page mentioned above. Sure took them long enough...

Solidarity

Image: Unionists challenge the Communist regime in Poland, 1981


In response to the despicable "I Am Autism" video by Autism Speaks, the autistic and cross-disability communities have been standing strong in their united opposition. Today in Portland, Oregon, 15 activists organized by ASAN's Portland chapter protested at an Autism Speaks walk and got local news coverage on two channels. [Edit: After mentioning the protest on the 6 PM news, TV station KOIN 6 followed up with an interview of ASAN chapter leader Elesia Ashkenazy, which was the lead story at 11 PM. Way to go, ASAN-Portland! Also, more coverage of the protest on FOX 12 can be seen here.]

Video parodists, bloggers, and others are all over the Internet showing their outrage. I've compiled a list of websites critical of the video below. Please feel free to copy and repost elsewhere to show your solidarity, too.


Parody/Response Videos on YouTube

I Am Autism Speaks

I Am Autism (Hatred and the Autistic Community)

I'm Autistic: Parody of Autism Speaks Video "I Am Autism"

I Am Socks - video response to "I Am Autism"

I Am Socks response to I Am Autism (short version)

I Am Socks response to I Am Autism (no music, clearer audio)

You Are Not Autism. I Am.

We Are the Real Autism

I Am Autism (I Am Nobody)


Blog Posts and Other Articles

When Will They Listen?

Autism Speaks & Alfonso Cuaron: Full of Fail

I Am Autism & The Embarrassment Trope

Harry Potter and the Bigoted Charity

Who Does Autism Speaks Speak For?

"I Am Autism" -- Awareness video by Alfonso Cuarón -- "Ransom" Reprise

Autism Speaks - the sound and the fury

Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks

Taking Action Against "I Am Autism"

News Coverage of Autism Speaks Controversy

Groups Outraged Over Video Released By Autism Speaks

You aren't autism. We are. Shut up and listen.

Autism Speaks Hits A New Low

3 O'Clock in the morning

Autism Sells

No, I Am Autism

Autism Speaks, but What is it Saying?

Autism: responsible for divorce, financial ruin, war, tooth decay, and so on

Hare About Autism Speaks

Awareness versus propaganda

Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks

I Am Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks PR Meltdown (Updated)

Responding to "I Am Autism"

Autism Speaks Gets It Wrong Again: I Am Autism Video

"I Am Autism" Video: Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks' Campaign

Taking Action Against "I Am Autism" Video

The Way Things Get Said

Enemies of Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks has done it again.

Don't Speak for Me

I Am Autism Video (Autism Speaks Gets It Wrong Again)

Response to Autism Speaks "I Am Autism" Video

News Coverage of Autism Speaks Controversy

Warning to Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks media campaign…I am autism

The Autism Speaks bait and switch with I am Autism

Why I don't like "I Am Autism"

I am Autism Speaks

Our Message To Suzanne Wright

Autism Speaks and the Underpants Curse

Autism Speaks Deceives Parents

I Am Pissed

Autism Speaks reaches a new low

An Open Letter to Geraldine Dawson

An Open Letter to Laurent Mottron

What if someone did this with, say, Down's Syndrome?

Calling All Celebrities: Please Stop Supporting Autism Speaks!

Tis NOT My Life!

Facebook: Protesting Autism Speaks "I am Autism" Video

"I Am Autism" -- Awareness video by Alfonso Cuarón -- "Ransom" Reprise

I am Autism Controversial Video

"Autism Speaks" again attacks autistics with neurodiversity insensitive advertisements

Autism Speaks Should Learn When to Shut the Hell Up: I am Autism. Not.

ASAN protests new Autism Speaks "I am Autism" campaign

Autism Speaks: it just got worse

Autism Speaks PSA "I Am Autism" faces major backlash

Autism is a color

To the leadership of Autism Speaks

The Latest Propaganda from Autism Speaks and My Response

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Australia

Autism Speaks' Unethical Video Condemned

Autism Speaks Does Not Speak For Me

Autism Speaks Once Again Demonizes Autism

Backlash and a Few Days Out of the Loop

Autistic Speaker-less

ASAN issues press release condemning Autism Speaks

An Open Letter to Suzanne Wright of Autism Speaks

Help Fight Back Against Autism Speaks' Attempts to Speak for Autistic People!

Autism the boy is Alex Bain - Autism Speaks is just so Wrong

How's Your Day Going?

Two Opposing Views of Autism: Which Strikes a Chord with You?

AUTISM SPEAKS DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME

It's Not an Entity that steals your children. I am Autism propaganda

Autistic Self Advocacy Network, United Kingdom

National Autistic Society (UK) Response to I Am Autism

I Am Autism, We Are Furious

Autism Speaks Hits a New Low

Autism Speaks: Don't Speak for My Family

“I am Autism” Isn’t

Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks' "I Am Autism" Campaign

Worldwide Resistance to Autism Speaks

blah, blah, blah

I Am Autism - Autism Truth from the inside looking out

Autism Speaks Stupidly

Autism Speaks and the Underpants Curse

Autism Speaks Deceives Parents

Don't Support Autism Speaks: Let Autistics Speak for Themselves!

Autistic Self Advocacy Network UK - Cambridge

Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks’ “I am Autism” Campaign

ASAN Protests Autism Speaks "I am Autism" Campaign

Angels all around us so be careful what you do

Tell Bruce Springsteen Autism Speaks Doesn't Speak For Us!

Latest attack from Autism Speaks

New Autism Speaks video

Rethinking Autism

Autism Speaks posts disgusting Video

Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks’ “I am Autism” Campaign

Responding to "I Am Autism"

No Representation Without Representation!

Scots Every Day

Autism Speaks ‘I am Autism’: A short response.

PRESS RELEASE: Autistic Community Condemns Autism Speaks "I Am Autism" Campaign

I Am Autism, and Autism Is Me

From Birth of a Nation to I Am Autism

Quit the Prevarication, That Video Deserves Elimination!

What Celebrities Need to Know about Autism Speaks

An Open Letter to Geri Dawson

Late to the Party

For You

I Am Autism, Autism Speaks Once Again Shows Their True Colors

The Failure of Autism Speaks' E=m*c Squared

"I Am Autism" Autism Speaks Fear-mongering Again

Autism Speaks - Friend or Foe?

'Poetic' autism film divides campaigners

I Am Autism - I'm what happens when you cannot accept Autism

Autism Speaks to confusion within its ranks

Of course, the videos and articles listed above are not a complete list. In fact, they're not even a tiny percentage of the firestorm raging across the Web. While looking at Sphere, an aggregator site, I noticed the following message:

29,238 results found related to the I Am Autism Video by Autism Speaks Controversy

[Edit: As VAB points out in the comments, Sphere apparently made an error. However, there are certainly a great many posts and videos relating to the controversy, whatever the actual number may be.]

Autism Speaks Deceives Parents

As a recent post on the Left Brain/Right Brain blog pointed out, Autism Speaks engaged in a "bait and switch" when Suzanne Wright asked parents to contribute video footage of their autistic children for a new project, without disclosing any of the nasty details of what she planned to do with it. Would the contributors to the "I Am Autism" video have agreed to participate if Autism Speaks had admitted at the outset that it was planning to demonize autistic kids as embarrassing burdens who destroy their parents' marriages and dreams?

Well, at least one parent who posted a comment on the video's YouTube page, under the name BarrysDaughter, made it quite plain that she felt deceived by Autism Speaks' request for video contributions from parents. She wrote:


"I do have 2 autistic children and a husband on the spectrum. When they first suggested a video I was eager to send them one till they outlined what they wanted.

My children and husband don't want or need to be CURED what they do want is people to treat them the same as anyone else, stop the bullying and put more staff in schools to support them…"


How has Autism Speaks managed to get away with exploiting so many parents and taking their support for granted, while draining large amounts of money away from their communities and increasing the stigma and prejudice faced by their families? The answer seems to be that Autism Speaks has artfully packaged the fundraising walks as feel-good social events, thus creating pressure for people to attend because their friends are doing so, and never mentioning the fact that almost none of the money raised goes toward community services and supports. Here's a quote from a blog post written by a mother, Ange, explaining her reasons for participating in Autism Speaks walks:


"Our Autism Speaks walk is coming up soon. In the past I have had very conflicted feelings about this walk since I pretty much can't stand the organization's scare tactics. But I have walked to support my friends and their families more than anything else. I don't know if can do it anymore. I can't just write this off as fundraising anymore or ignore it while I support my friends. I can't ask friends or family to donate to an organization that makes my children look like they have some deplorable, deathly communicable disease that is spreading through the air. Nor can I in good conscience make my children participate in the walk, enforcing a message that they had no part in creating."


For Ange and other parents in her situation, I'd like to make a suggestion: It's quite possible that your friends and their families have the same concerns about Autism Speaks that you have described. Maybe, in the past, they walked to support you and their other friends more than anything else, while ignoring their qualms about the organization for the same reasons you did. It's understandable that you would worry about how your friends might respond if you said anything to them about your conflicted feelings; but you may very well discover, if you do spend a few minutes talking with them about it, that they're just as upset about Autism Speaks' scare tactics as you are.

There is power in numbers, as we know, and that power doesn't have to stay on Autism Speaks' side forever. If just a few courageous parents take the initiative to start a conversation with their friends about why fear-mongering tactics don't deserve their support, and a few of the friends do the same, and so on—then it won't take long, at all, for the voices of reason and decency to prevail.

Autism Speaks and the Underpants Curse

Guest post by Rita Skeeter, award-winning journalist and ultra-reliable source for all the dirt you've ever wanted to read.


That was the name we gave it when I was a schoolgirl at Hogwarts, although the dry dusty textbook simply described it as a spell to reveal the embarrassing truth about someone. I shan't go into the details of the spell on a Muggle blog, but I'll say that it was quite popular with the students because its hapless target might suddenly find himself standing in front of the classroom in nothing but his brightly colored cartoon-print underpants.

When wielded by a more adept and sophisticated user of magic, such as yours truly, the spell has many subtler uses. I've often found it helpful for such purposes as inducing a corrupt Ministry official to make a misstep, thus giving me fodder for another of my highly acclaimed investigative reports while also providing a valuable public service.

I recently put the Underpants Curse on two ridiculously arrogant Muggles who were overdue for some public exposure of the less flattering sort. The first was Suzanne Wright of Autism Speaks, whose atrocious attitude I've mentioned before. She had been putting on a halfway convincing pretense of caring about autistic people, by means of high-profile lobbying for mandatory insurance coverage; why, she'd even managed to go more than a year without spewing any of her usual vitriolic rhetoric about eradicating autistic people. When she appealed to parents to donate video footage of their children for a new promotional campaign, she didn't raise much suspicion as to her intentions.

As for Alfonso Cuarón, the other arrogant fool I put the curse on—well, that inept excuse for a filmmaker has offended so many high-placed people in magical society that I'm surprised he hasn't gotten an Unforgivable Curse put on him yet. If it weren't bad enough that he caricatured our lives for the entertainment of common Muggles, he didn't even pay any attention to the details. I mean, really, who doesn't know that werewolves have hair? And showing that unkempt, ill-mannered little hooligan Hermione Granger as a paragon of fashion. Puh-leeze!

Now, I'm quite clever if I do say so myself. But even though my outstanding talents are widely renowned, I wasn't expecting when I put the Underpants Curse on Wright and Cuarón that both of them would reveal their true selves so thoroughly in one fell swoop. What could they have been thinking when they decided to make their "I Am Autism" video, which—just like the short-lived and widely condemned Ransom Notes ad campaign—portrays autistics as kidnapped by an evil monster and intolerable burdens on society? This explanation is as good as any (though I must say it's rather disrespectful toward my stellar reporting).

Whatever their reasoning or lack thereof might have been, their Bigots-R-Us store-brand underpants are now on display for the whole world to see. Nobody who watches that video will ever again think of Cuarón as anything but a third-rate propagandist. As for Suzanne Wright, if enough outraged autistics and their friends and family members take action, this might finally be the moment where Autism Speaks' true colors as a hate group become so obvious that its sponsors all jump off the sinking ship with their little furry tails twitching anxiously as they swim off into the sunset.

Stay tuned—there's more to come. A lot more.

Cultural Symptoms

Over the weekend, I got into a discussion about whether a scientifically based argument could be made to convince researchers and other professionals not to use disease-oriented language like "symptoms" in discussing autism. Although I have seen several articles that take the approach of citing research studies that show autistics to have superior cognitive and perceptual abilities in some respects, and then going on to argue that it does not make sense to describe superior abilities as symptoms, I think that's a dubious approach because identifying superior abilities is not a scientific way of determining whether or not something is a disease or disorder. Rather, it depends on how society values the particular set of abilities being measured, which is based on the cultural expectations of the majority population. If autistics were in the majority, for instance, it's likely that written language would be valued more highly than speech, and being chatty might be labeled a symptom of a disorder.

Ultimately, whether or not something is a disease or disorder isn't a matter of scientific fact, but is instead a social value judgment on the desirability of the characteristics at issue. In the book Unstrange Minds, cultural anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker makes this point quite clearly (page 11) when he states that "autism, like all disorders, does not exist outside of culture. It is culture that sees something as abnormal or wrong, names it, and does something about it..."

Throughout history, diseases have been defined as a matter of popular consensus. Often, as with cancer and influenza, it was based on simply observing that people were dying or in serious pain. In other instances, cultural beliefs led to the popular acceptance of such things as demonic possession and witches' curses. But although modern medical science has studied many conditions in great detail, identifying their particular characteristics to an extent unimaginable in more primitive times, the underlying determination of whether or not something is a disease is no less a cultural one.

So there's really no way to prove by scientific means that autism is, or is not, a disease or disorder. The argument against using language based in the disease model is fundamentally one of ethics: Should a group of people be labeled as disordered if they themselves do not agree with that characterization? This is the same argument made a few decades ago by gay rights activists who successfully argued against the medicalization of homosexuality, and society ought to respond to it in the same way.

Money Speaks

No, this post isn't about the salaries of Autism Speaks' executives, although that interesting detail does seem to get mentioned a lot. Rather, it's about the online discussion of why autistic people don't like Autism Speaks, which—after more than three years—finally drew a response from Alison Singer on just what she was thinking when she made that infamous statement about driving off the George Washington Bridge with her autistic daughter Jodie in the car:

From the Autism Science Foundation blog:


The point I was trying to make in the film was that the lack of appropriate services and the thought of putting her in a terrible school made me want to drive off the bridge; not that Jodie did…

…After Jodie and I had visited several schools that day I remember I pulled the car over to the side of the road and just cried. There was just no way that I was ever going to let her be in a terrible school like that. I was overwhelmed and shocked because I thought these were our only options.


Assuming for the sake of argument that her explanation was sincere and that she genuinely was distraught about the lack of adequate schools, I'd say that she chose a very unproductive way of addressing that concern. Whatever one may think about the likelihood of a prenatal test or other eugenic nastiness resulting from the genetic research funded by Autism Speaks and ASF, it's indisputable that these genetic studies do nothing whatsoever to combat the social barriers faced by today's autistic citizens and our families. They will not improve educational opportunities for Jodie—or any other child like her—one iota. They are counterproductive because they soak up funds that might otherwise be put toward improving education and services.

Earlier this year, ASAN issued a statement calling on organizations that fund autism research, such as Autism Speaks and ASF, to show their commitment to improving the lives of autistic people by shifting their research funds away from genetic studies and toward projects that yield practical benefits. In short, these organizations are being asked to put their money where their mouth is, rather than just vaguely claiming that they are somehow advancing our futures. When it comes to judging their intentions, money speaks a lot louder than words.

Susan Moreno of MAAP, Cassandra Cult Recruiter

Now that the hate group FAAAS has been quite thoroughly exposed on numerous Internet sites with regard to its nasty claim that autistics are unfit for family life, there hasn't been much obvious activity from its supporters in recent months. Unfortunately, that does not mean Cassandra adherents in the United States have come to their senses; it simply means that their propaganda efforts have gone underground, so to speak.

A conference entitled Knowledge is Power will be presented on October 10-11 in Kansas City by MAAP Services and the Autism Asperger Publishing Company. One of the scheduled activities is a "spouse workshop" by Susan Moreno, director of MAAP, and consultant Julie Donnelly. Autistic individuals will be excluded from this workshop, according to its description, so that "candid discussions" can take place.

Presumably Ms. Moreno thought that by avoiding any mention of Cassandra or Maxine Aston or FAAAS in the conference materials, she could entice unsuspecting spouses to sit through a presentation of their repulsive ideology, while also flying under the bloggers' radar. However, as we all know, a person's associations can be quickly searched with a few keystrokes. Take a look at this page on the FAAAS website detailing the content of a previous Moreno-led spouse workshop (as usual, it's a partial URL because I don't give active links to their hate site).

faaas.org/doc.php?40,288

After claiming that autistic people commonly cause our spouses to suffer "embarrassment and isolation," the description of the previous workshop went on to state explicitly that it was a Cassandra presentation:


Cassandra Syndrome, Cassandra Affective Disorder or the Cassandra Phenomenon was named to describe the symptoms of stress (low self esteem, depression, anxiety, often seen in partners of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. Other symptoms partners may experience include lethargy, loss of libido, changes in mood and a weaken immune system. CAD was named after a mythical princess who was granted the gift of prophecy but cursed with the fact that no one would believe her even though she was right. Experts such as Maxine Aston feel it is brought on by emotional deprivation.

After highlighting the above issues in the presentation successful techniques and strategies to address these issues will be presented…


I've noticed that recruiters for the Cassandra cult always follow the same basic script. First, they lure non-spectrum partners into relationship workshops from which the autistic partner is excluded; after that, they lead a group whinefest complaining about all the faults, real and imagined, of autistic partners; and then they finish the presentation with a hard sell for Cassandra books and future workshops, which they claim are absolutely essential to recovering from the hideous depression and misery caused by living with an autistic partner. Never mind the pesky little detail that their marks weren't feeling particularly depressed or miserable before the Cassandra gang got them in its clutches.

This is pretty much the same modus operandi followed by exploitative cults of all sorts. Cult indoctrination tactics generally begin with deception of the potential recruit, such as by describing a workshop or other presentation in very bland and innocuous terms, so that he or she doesn't suspect there is anything out of the ordinary going on. The next step is isolating the person from family members, such as by holding an event in an out-of-the-way location where telephone use is not allowed, or (as with Susan Moreno's workshop) by specifying that family members may not attend. The group leader then encourages recruits to vent about their problems, for which the cult's ideology is presented as the only real solution, while becoming increasingly emotional about it. Because of the social pressure to agree with the group, the highly charged emotional language, and the isolation from family, the recruits end up being much more vulnerable to the cult's sales pitch than they might otherwise have been.

The way to counteract such groups' influence is, of course, to shine a very bright spotlight on their devious schemes and make those cockroaches go scuttling for cover. To any of my readers who might have been thinking about attending the conference, I suggest that you stay away; MAAP doesn't deserve a penny of your money. If you have a friend or family member who is considering going, warn them about the spouse workshop. And if you have already registered or have a specific reason to attend, well, then, you may want to stop by the spouse workshop for a few minutes and give Susan Moreno and Julie Donnelly some candid discussions of quite another sort.

After all… knowledge is power.

Our Big Fat Intolerant Society

An article in Newsweek addresses the issue of why there is so much prejudice against heavy people in the United States, even though most of the population is either overweight or obese. The authors observe that weight gain is generally seen as a consequence of personal failings such as gluttony and lack of willpower, even though a modern sedentary lifestyle makes weight management quite difficult and many people have a genetic predisposition toward obesity. Some of the hostility toward the obese, they suggest, could be misplaced anger arising from the frustration that many people feel as a result of struggling to lose weight. People tend to attribute their own failings to their circumstances, while blaming others for having made bad choices. And there's also a bit of general mob mentality thrown in, the authors conclude:


What is it about fat people that makes us so mad? As it turns out, we kind of like it. "People actually enjoy feeling angry," says Ryan Martin, associate professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, who cites studies done on people's emotions. "It makes them feel powerful, it makes them feel greater control, and they appreciate it for that reason." And with fat people designated as acceptable targets of rage—and with the prevalence of fat people in our lives, both in the malls and on the news—it's easy to find a target for some soul-clearing, ego-boosting ranting.


The authors also point out that public statements and articles describing obesity as a burden to the health care system have contributed to a widespread perception that the obese are consuming more than their fair share of resources. At the end of the article, health policy expert Deborah Levine is quoted as stating that although the goal of efforts to raise awareness about obesity as a medical problem has been to fight obesity and not obese people, "it's very hard for many people to disentangle the two."

When I read this article, I was struck by how closely it parallels what autistic rights activists have been writing about the "war on autism" rhetoric and the use of cost statistics in awareness campaigns. One might say that the human species has not advanced as far beyond primitive tribalism as we like to think. When social issues are framed in terms of battling against a dangerous enemy, such language incites fear and anger on a mostly subconscious level. We react instinctively as if we were our prehistoric ancestors going to war to defend the tribe's scarce resources against invaders.

It's not simply, as the article suggests, that people scapegoat and attack unpopular minority groups just because we "enjoy feeling angry." Somewhere in the less evolved depths of our brains, we actually feel that we are righteous warriors protecting the tribe. Because battlefield imagery evokes such strong emotional responses, it works very effectively as a tool of demagogues and unscrupulous fundraising campaigns. Logical arguments often fail to have any effect in countering such rhetoric because of its inherently irrational nature.

So what's the answer? Well, frankly, I think our society needs to grow up—to become self-aware enough so that we can avoid being manipulated by propaganda of this sort. With just a smidge more maturity, it shouldn't be too difficult to comprehend that autistics, the obese, and other stigmatized groups are not wicked enemies stealing our resources. Rather, they are our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members—and, quite often, ourselves.