Monkey Pliers

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Dangerous People

 A Post by Monkey Pliers
on August 16, 2013
* and edited 6/18/25 for clarity *

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TRIGGER WARNING: Violent stereotypes. Hate and hate crimes. Murder. I'd been triggered when I wrote it, and it was somewhat triggering to write, as well as fulfilling of a deep need.


  I remember when, because of AIDS, homophobes moved from just calling gays corrupters and abusers of children, destroyers of families, and converters of innocent and naive young adults into depraved monsters to crying that gay men, in particular, were the carriers of death who would bring down all of humanity if not quarantined and put to death themselves.

  I remember when the first of our current war's veterans began to return home, and the same fear some had once held towards Vietnam vets - that any one of them could snap at a moment's notice and fly into violent, uncontrollable rage, raping and slaughtering even those they loved - began to surface.

  I remember the more recent panic over Asperger's and whether or not the public should fear mass premeditated murder at the hands of autistics who weren't clearly identifiable enough by their co-morbid conditions on sight to provoke ignorant people's pity.


* section edited 6/18/25 for clarity *

  But who should be concerned about cases in which parents and other caregivers end the lives of poor Autistic children in pain? They're just putting a stop to everyone's suffering, that of the children and their carers alike, Right? They can't help themselves in the end, after all. Really, they've done the sane, understandable, justifiable thing, haven't they? Don't those beleaguered parents deserve our sympathy for what they do to their kids (and sometimes themselves, in the process)?

  This is not actually about the parents, who really do need proper and adequate support for themselves and their children. It's about blaming autism, rather than the building hype and the lack of services, for the degree of challenge, so that desperate murder in the face of it somehow seems reasonable. Pitying someone in a helpless position distances people enough for those who feel a need to be powerful to feel safe - safe enough to not have to listen to the concerns of the object of their pity, not to have to consider that person's humanity, not to have to value that individual's life. It makes the very idea of their own independent thinking irrelevant, with the automatic assumption they have nothing worthwhile to say. It allows putting an end to them seem merciful.

  When it comes to the disenfranchised, people don't have to be murderous to scare everyone... just autonomous. Able to assert themselves. It's those who can petition for redress of their grievances who pose the real threat. And, apparently, it's those who are "too needy", as well. Mainstream members who kill become heroes, whether they knock off the vocally dissatisfied or put an end to those without the means to make themselves heard. It's all the same. Dominance is maintained when society is rid of these "threats" and "burdens", whether they loudly make clear their demands, or are simply demanding of great care.

  Those who work to be good allies in a diverse world prove every day that folks can be better than this. "Gay panic" and "The Twinkie Defense" were bogus arguments for killing gays, as was the fear that men with HIV (positive women being invisible, of course) would somehow cause worldwide human extinction. Nobody should get their view of returning war veterans from a handful of news reports and from films that sensationalize their struggles for the sake of action and audience thrills. There's no excuse for killing a disabled child, and there's no excuse for excusing it.

  When you deny someone else's humanity, you throw away your own. Can we all get this through our heads at last? Why does this thing keep needing to be repeated?

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