Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children

[Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li>]

On Tue, 9 Jul 1996, William Knowles wrote:

> Below is a list of famous people with Attention Deficit Disorders 
> and/or Learning Disorders, and I'd be willing to bet that Perry Metzger
> either has, or knows someone with ADD. 
>  
> Albert Einstein, Galileo, Mozart, Wright Brothers, Leonardo da Vinci,
> Bruce Jenner, Tom Cruise, Charles Schwab, Henry Winkler, Danny Glover,
> Walt Disney, John Lennon, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, 
> Stephen Hawkings, Jules Verne, Alexander Graham Bell, Woodrow Wilson, 
> Hans Christian Anderson,Beavis, Nelson Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, 
> Gen. George Patton, Agatha Christie, John F. Kennedy, Whoopi Goldberg, 
> Rodin, Thomas Thoreau, David H. Murdock, Dustin Hoffman, Pete Rose, 
> Russell White, Jason Kidd, Russell Varian, Robin Williams, Louis Pasteur, 
> Werner von Braun, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robert Kennedy, alberto Tnmba
> Prince Charles, Gen. Westmoreland, Eddie Rickenbacker, Gregory Boyington, 
> Harry Belafonte, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Steve McQueen, George C. Scott, 
> Tom Smothers, Lindsay Wagner, George Bernard Shaw, Beethoven, Carl Lewis, 
> Jackie Stewart, "Magic" Johnson, Weyerhauser family, Wrigley, John Corcoran.

Considering that most of these examples existed, even thrived before the
existance of the medications being discussed, it would seem to me you just
shot yourself in the foot with a rather large bore weapon.

I'd also like to know how one diagnoses an entire family with a condition
that is rarely, if ever, passed on genetically.

Look, perhaps a certain medication has helped you.  Fine.  I'm sure
alt.medication.advocacy will be interested.  Even as this may be so,
lumping all learning disabilities in with ADD (an overdiagnosed condition
generally the result of second career housewives who to our
collective misfortunes managed to get a master's in social work and read a
few booklets on ink-blot testing and aquire a job at the local middle
school by means not at all related to their intellectual capacity) is
both a mistake, and misleading.  So too is the implication that drips from
your post that medications could have helped all the people you list
above.

If anything, the list indicates that the importance of medication is
slight.

And will someone please tell me how  Leonardo da Vinci was diagnosed
either with ADD or a Learning Disorder?  Or why "Beavis" was included?

I used to think Mr. Metzger was just being an old fuddie duddie when he
complained about topicality.

I keep looking around wondering if the list is being trolled.  (Anyone
else notice Mr. Duvos' username is "mpd"?)

> One can only wonder how much more great some of the people on this list would 
> be today if they knew ADD back then.   

This is a list for discussing cryptography and the occasional
political offshoots thereof.  Given your post above, it's fairly clear
that your medication has done little to keep your thoughts on track.  

So, your post is entirely off topic, and lacking in any logical support
for what it is you proport to advocate.

I would prefer an unmedicated Stephen Hawkings, thank you.

> William Knowles    <erehwon@c2.org>
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