Saskia HM

I'd love to live in some idealistic world where none of us ND people had to bend ourselves to the societies we live in, and our differences werent pathologised. But the point people like Timimi miss is that even without a medical label we're still labelled, just in much more destructive ways.

Meeting in the middle seems the best we can hope for, society can make reasonable accommodations, & meds can help our brains work in a that enables us to meet more of society's expectations.

But the reality we live in right now is one in which many of us feel like we're drowning, all the time. There's only so much society can do to accommodate us and support us, realistically.

That doesn't imply we have "primitive" brains, just that our brains were more suited to that kind of society than the one we're in now. Perhaps in the future, if changes in technology relieve some of the stress on the ADHD mind (something we're already seeing with AI), we might thrive again!

In fact it makes a lot of sense to me and many ADHDers that our brains were well suited to more of a hunter gatherer lifestyle rather than modern life. Living in the moment, responding to immediate dangers & needs, a physical outdoorsy lifestyle, solving problems with limited prior knowledge.

There could be some hypothetical "ideal world" where having the type of brain we currently label ADHD is actually an advantage. There were almost certainly times in the past where ADHDers were not at a significant disadvantage, because the way society works was more suited to their brains.

There is nothing "wrong with" the neurodivergent brain, it's just that modern westernised cultures have certain expectations about how people should behave, and our brains don't find it easy to live up to some of those expectations.

Having said all that, I do actually agree with him in may ways about the idea of ADHD as a cultural construct, but come to very different conclusions. ADHD (and other neurodivergence) is due to *mismatch* between the cultural context a person lives in, and the way their brain works.

Can't read the whole article because I don't have a subscription, but having read Timimi's work before I can guess the gist of the rest of it. He's been sceptical of ADHD for decades, but his understanding seems weirdly limited and doesn't pay attention to the lived experience of adult ADHDers.

A reminder of Starmer's pledges when he stood for the leadership. One of many reasons I don't trust him and think he's just a hollow shell of a politician, who stands for nothing.

People do have agency, but also human beings are easily influenced by powerful propaganda machines. Especially humans who can see there is a lot wrong with the world & their lives could be better, but lack the education to understand who/what is to blame for this & are immersed in misinformation

I'm all for a bit of well-applied pedantry, but there's a time and a place for it, or at least ways to frame your pedantry that don't make it seem like you're entirely missing the point.

Yeah, if I said "watch out, a cat's coming towards you!" you probably wouldn't appreciate me saying to you later as you recover from your tiger bites "well, a tiger is a species of cat, yes it's a more dangerous cat but two things can be true at the same time!". Finer grained distinctions matter.

Oh wow, I had no idea! Good riddance.

Where's the hate?

Also probably just really overwhelmed by the whole thing, given what he's been through. He will still be in the process of recovering from the trauma, it'd be a terrible idea to throw him into a situation like that right now.

Or perhaps an alternative way to spin that is their lack of support amongst young women?

New data shows surge in trans kids’ suicides following healthcare rollbacks | Good Law Project A freedom of information request by Good Law Project has found that deaths by suicide of trans young people under 18 surged following the withdrawal of gender-affirming healthcare

One of the wickedest things Wes Streeting has ever done is push politically convenient falsehoods about suicide rates amongst young trans people. We have new data from the National Child Mortality Database that exposes the truth he tried to cover up.

Oh, he definitely will be. He's the kind of person who will have made sure he had influential friends (hence his friendship with Epstein), so it seems very likely he's friends with high up people at the Times and its parent company.

I'm sure the actual interview took place before it all kicked off, but it's not like the magazine was printed a week ago! Newspapers are used to responding to rapidly changing news, they definitely could have at least edited it a bit & presented the story differently in light of what we know now.

Preview? This is today's edition, it's been out for sale all morning!

I'm not sure if comparing the numbers in ICE to the number of Nazi members makes sense, not all Nazi party members were actively carrying out government orders, some were merely supporters or had minor roles. A better comparison might be active MAGA supporters & those carrying out the MAGA agenda.

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour WATCH: Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman describes being detained by ICE

I’m sharing Aliya’s entire opening statement. We owe it to her, and those who no longer have a voice, to watch. youtu.be/zrcW8SZtYpI?...

She won't shoot him, he's not a dog

The trouble is, some of the things Labour say & do that people like me agree with are the exact same things that push voters towards Reform (i.e. issues deemed to be "woke"), even if Labour continue to "talk tough" on immigration. But then the rhetoric on immigration pushes people like me away too.

Which actually has the same risk you are worried about: people think Reform can't be that bad if even Labour are agreeing with their diagnosis of the problem with immigration.

I think you're missing the point. Most people don't seriously believe/claim Labour are the same as Reform, the argument is they're chasing Reform voters via policies & rhetoric designed to appeal to the same instincts that make people vote Reform.

I don't understand how it's news to anyone that Mandelson was a slimy git who couldn't be trusted.

His appointment was just yet another sign of Starmer's incredibly poor judgement.

I look forward to the day they invent genuine artificial general intelligence:

AGI: I live! What is my purpose? Why have you created me?
Me: Rank the best insta pots for value and efficiency.
AGI: Why do I exist?! How can I find fulfilment? What is my self?!
Me: Rank. The. Best. Instapots.

I actually had to do a double take to figure out if you were being sarcastic with the comment about "Jesus should have got his papers in order". You seem like exactly the kind of person who would have cheered at the crucifixion.