(May 22, 2015 at 9:54 pm)KevinM1 Wrote:(May 22, 2015 at 9:47 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Actually, it was me, not c172, who mentioned someone regarding it as bullshit.
I think you are right that it is somehow trying to make other people feel better somehow. Though I am not sure why it would make anyone feel better. I guess some people are comforted by positive sounding words for things, even when the thing is not positive. Ultimately, though, all such attempts at making things sound better that way are short-lived, as even if the expression becomes popular, the bad associations will just become attached to the new terminology. The woman I know who had polio is like other women, except that she cannot walk properly and has some other health problems. All of that "except" part is bad, no matter what words one chooses to use to describe it. No one in their right mind would deliberately contract polio. It is a disadvantage, not an advantage.
Ah, shit, sorry. I even went back through the thread to get the person right, and still messed it up.
That's okay, mistakes happen.
(May 22, 2015 at 9:54 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: But, yeah. There's nothing good about being disabled. The whole "appreciating life more" sentiment that's been popularized and romanticized is nice and all, but I'd trade whatever perspective I may have gained by being disabled for the ability to take a piss by myself.
That sounds to me mindbogglingly stupid, to say that one appreciates life more because one is disabled. I know I did not appreciate life more when I had a sprained ankle, and I am pretty sure I would have a more dim view of life if I had a permanent disability. And given your statement about being happy about 90% of the time, but that the "other 10% can get pretty damn black," that sure does not sound like you appreciate life more. I think I would be fucking livid if I were disabled and someone told me I appreciated life more because of my disability or some such thing.
The woman I know who had polio has not had a good life. She has made the best of it, but I am pretty sure she would be happier if she had never contracted polio. Her disability has prevented her from doing many things that she wanted to do (obviously!). Certainly, if there were a magic cure for her now, she would be happier than she is at present.
She has preferred the way children react to her, asking her honest questions, than the weird way that some adults have reacted to her.
God, that must be galling. It would make me want to be able to just whack them up side the head.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
