Thursday, February 17, 2011

toleration, activism


it seems to be that, while a majority of NTs are the sort that wants to be like other people & likes other people to be like them, a smaller but significant proportion prefers to be different from other people & appreciates difference in others. i have almost always found tolerance, & often support, among the latter, who tend to be alienated just as much in their own way (cf the first group i mentioned). conformity in our pseudo-individualistic age is a serious problem, true. but it does not help anyone to look at this in an alarmist way.

the first thing that comes to mind, is the fact that the group of like-minded (i associate these with Myers-Briggs dominant Sensing, mostly Extraverted Sensing types--but this pattern is not limited to those) is susceptible to what they are told; & if they are told there is a new minority among them that needs to be respected, eventually they will raise their kids to respect them & it will not always be prejudicial to grow up as one of that minority.

another point, is that there are what might be termed healthfear-crazes, or hot topics that sweep through society, by the same media, influencing people's insecurities into taking irrational & sometimes drastic action. maybe profit lies behind these, maybe they just happen & charlatans latch onto them. the thing about childhood immunization falls under this head. basically, put the facts out & discredit the fearmongers, is the way to proceed.

finally, i have come to understand that resistance to difference is not all the same even in those who are like-minded; & autism-spectrum affects them more viscereally even than skin color or physical deformity. this may be because they cannot imagine a mind that is otherwise & not inimical. or else maybe it is not even that close to being a thought.

this last may be beyond remedy; hence the need to write protection explicitly into our laws.


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