"93% won't copy and paste this"

By
This is a meme that seems to be making the rounds on Facebook status updates these days
Please put this on your status if you know someone (or are related to someone, or are someone) who has AUTISM. My wish for 2010 is that people will understand autism is not a disease; people with autism are not looking for a cure but for ACCEPTANCE...... 93% won't Copy and Paste this, will YOU make this your status for at least one hour?
Now for the most part I agree with the sentiment expressed. Autistic individuals are not broken or diseased and for the most part do not want a cure. Many in fact find the implications of curing something that is such a significant part of who they are to be quiet disturbing, as do I. Autistic individuals do, however, want to be treated with respect same as anyone else.

I want to comment though on that last little bit of the status update, "93% won't copy and paste this." It's a common feature with these kinds of status updates that often ruins a perfectly good status update for me. It always makes me think of grade schoolers on the playground daring each other to go up and touch the fence of the neighborhood curmudgeon's house. Who comes up with these "X% won't copy and paste this" claims? Makes me think of the saying, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Slap a number on that bad boy and all of a sudden it looks more official, more compelling.

I hope there is a grad student somewhere working on a dissertation on the manipulation of people through status updates on Facebook. That would be a fascinating read.

Comments

  1. ShannonJanuary 13, 2010 5:53 PM

    the whole 93% thing kinda reeks of nanny nanny bo bo bet you can't get me, on the playground type taunting. When the status got to me through friends I guess someone had already nixed the 93 per cent part becasue I didn't even see it, just the rest.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cockney RebelJanuary 15, 2010 9:12 AM

    It annoys me because I reveals people whom I know as being gullible twats

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJanuary 15, 2010 7:32 PM

    93% of you won't comment on this blog post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SamJanuary 19, 2010 8:08 PM

    Looks like you're probably right.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LeonardJanuary 25, 2010 5:10 PM

    I posted just that phrase as my status and at least one person made it his or her status.

    I then asked for the origin and was pointed to your site.

    Well said!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Rise Up In The Darkness

By
Image
The teenager who joked with me over physics and algebra homework tonight was 6 months old the morning of September 11, 2001. He spent that day like many other 6 month olds spend their days, exploring his world and being saved from his own curiosity by mom. That morning after I got tired of hauling him back from the edge of the bed he was intent on crawling over I took him downstairs to safer level terrain. I turned on the television to check the news like I did every morning back then. At first I was horrified by what I saw. One smoldering tower. Not long after, while all the reporters and newscasters were struggling to make sense of what they were seeing, one plane, another tower, and I was pissed. At that point I understood what was happening. Why did people think, and still think, that kind of wretchedness served their cause? I didn't care what the cause was. These were arrogant fools. But the news kept coming about just how wretched humanity had been to itself that day. The
Read more

Treating autism as traumatic brain injury

By
I've been doing research into autism, dyspraxia, how the normal brain works, and how an autistic/dyspraxic brain works (or doesn't work). Traumatic injury to different parts of the brain can cause the same problems suffered by autistic and dyspraxic children. Compare this list of the functions of different parts of the brain and the problems caused by injuries to those areas with these descriptions of dyspraxia and autism. What is Developmental Dyspraxia? Developmental dyspraxia is a disorder characterized by an impairment in the ability to plan and carry out sensory and motor tasks. Generally, individuals with the disorder appear "out of sync" with their environment. Symptoms vary and may include poor balance and coordination, clumsiness, vision problems, perception difficulties, emotional and behavioral problems, difficulty with reading, writing, and speaking, poor social skills, poor posture, and poor short-term memory. Although individuals with the disorder may b
Read more

Battlestar Galactica needs more colour?

By
Here are the letters I mentioned in the previous post. The one that started it (I'm guessing these letters were written after the show's first airing at the end of 2003): Galactica Needs More Diversity The problem I had with Battlestar Galactica was there were no major and very few minor African American characters. There were no Black men in the show at all or if they were, they had virtually no screentime. In the original series, Boomer and Tigh were both played by African American actors. In this rendition of Battlestar, those characters were played by Asian and White actors. In the Caprica city, there no African American extras. On the Galactica's bridge, there was only one African American actress. Another Black actress could be found playing a religious official that swore in the new President of the colonies. This was very troubling to me. Do you not want African Americans to watch your show? Do you want to project the idea that African Americans are not part of the
Read more