Random Thoughts

I fully recognize that my random thoughts may or may not be interesting to Vocal readers. And also that a number of them have been covered in my previous articles (as well as other people's) in more depth. I'm afraid that although I do not intend for this article to be political per se, it's likely that much of it will end up that way anyway... because these days basic human rights are considered to be controversial and political.

See what I mean?

Anyway, on with the random thoughts.

I miss little-kid TV. I mean, I was brought up on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. I brought my kids up on The Backyardigans and Blue's Clues. When did we forget those early lessons of Be Kind to Each Other? And Learning is Fun?

Heh - I thought Mr. Rogers' Lady Elaine Fairchilde (from The Land of Make Believe; she ran the Museum Go Round) was based on my paternal grandmother. A couple of decades later, I called my dad to tell him that his mom was on TV... and I was watching Auntie Mame. No, wait, I was watching Mame, the musical version of the same story.

In other childhood misconceptions, I was under the impression that anchovies were a vegetable (they were right above artichokes on the pizza toppings list at my local pizza shop) until I was about ten. I also thought that "boldygo" was its own verb, thanks to William Shatner, Gene Roddenberry, and my own lack of knowledge of split infinitives.

This brings us back around to TV I watched as a child, which triggered my tendency toward cultural appreciation (not to be confused with cultural appropriation), and my interest in linguistics, with a side of musical theater and the Oxford comma.

See how Random Thoughts work? At least, this is how they work in my (probably) ADHD brain.

"Why 'probably'?" You ask. Because my diagnosis is "hyperactive with learning difficulties and short-term memory issues." But that diagnosis is from 1983, and is seriously out of date. If you translate my experience to the current vocabulary, it's almost definitely ADHD with a side of that flavor of autism they used to call Aspergers but don't anymore (most of us say this is because Hans Asperger was a Nazi collaborator). These days we call it Autism Spectrum Disorder Level One, because terms like "high-functioning" and the like smack of ableism... these terms only express autism in terms of how well the autistic person functions in "normal" society.

And "normal" society is messed up in the extreme. Maybe because it focuses on success in material terms only... and the likes of those who succeed in material terms but have no social conscience use autism as an excuse for poor behavior. (note: that link has a LOT of swearing). I wonder how much of the perception that autistic people have little empathy is down to people like these. Although, if you ask her, my fiercely activist younger teen will say she doesn't have empathy; she has morals and ethics.

I'll take credit for instilling those in her; I don't care why she does Good Things, as long as she does them.

The one thing that really bugs me (as opposed to just generally bugging me, I guess) is the utter hypocrisy of folks who say they're against socialism or whatever... until it affects them. Even then, these types don't say, "Oh, hey, I was wrong, social programs are awesome when used correctly." Nope, they just accept the help from firefighters or the public library or the public school system and keep decrying it in public, or worse yet, try to get private perks on the public dime. Even if it involves destroying other people to do it.

Whoops - there's that political bit. Sorry.

Anyway, random thoughts...

Uh.

Nope, that's it. I'm done for the moment. I might come back to the other - more politically charged - bit in more detail in a few days.