Re: terms

A.R.Gus (alp@smartnet.co.za)
Fri, 04 Oct 1996 17:06:29 GMT

weinecks@mail2.sas.upenn.edu (Silke-Maria Weineck) wrote:

>Sylvia T. Paldhan (pald1208@tao.sosc.osshe.edu) wrote:
>: > To say there are no crazy people begging on the streets is itself
>: > crazy -- though the "problem in living" this time is a gullible
>: > acceptance of rightwing ideology.

>: Nobody said there weren't. The definition disputed is
>: mental "illness" as an objective reality - in the sense that the
>: bodily illness of pneumonia is- rather than a subjective label for
>: difficulties people suffer.

>It's a slippery path to believe in biomedicine but not psychiatric
>biomedicine. If they found a physiological correlation to schizophrenic
>symptoms, would you then accept the diagnosis with a greater degree of
>confidence? Since that is what biomedicine does: it matches symptoms with
>causes. You either believe in it or you don't. To believe in it when it
>comes to lungs but not when it comes to brains is problematic.
>Fortunately or unfortunately, as it may be, we are a long way from
>establishing the physiology of sets of behaviors --- nonetheless, it has
>been done (think of the transition of holy fools to epileptics), and it
>will certainly be done again. If you want to resist biomedical
>terminology, be prepared to resist it all the way. Otherwise, you run the
>risk of romanticizing schizophrenia, as Szasz did and others (most
>notably Deleuze/Guattari).

>[...]
>:
> Liberty for the individual is the foundation of all liberty. Read
>: Szasz again, to see the point of that.

>Again, are you willing to support the libertarian agenda all the way or
>just in this instance?

>Silke

>: --
>: "Truth is mighty and will prevail."
Do you mean that what you wrote is TRUTH? THE truth? Aren't you
clever! It's a pity none can understand you. Your silly allusions to
"rightwing" and "libertarian", however, are clear and cogent. And
telling. They place you, girlie, in a camp way away from human
understanding, in a world of gobbledigook, geists, spooks and Jewish
sleight-of-hand. That you take yourself seriously is beyond belief.
Get yourself OUT of this NG which is about politics.
Albert