[RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children

Mon Jul 8 23:48:05 PDT 1996

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OK, so I lied.  However, I can fit some crypto relevance into this.

> On Mon, 8 Jul 1996, Arun Mehta wrote:
> > Ritalin is a lifesaver for a small % of children who suffer from a condition
>                                ^^^^^^^
>      Key word here.            |||||||
> 
> > Ritalin... mother was furious.  
> > 
> > Some of the kids who use foul language (a very small %) have Tourette's
                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > disease, and also need medicine (a different one)... by and large the

As long as we're talking about "key words", the "very small %" is very small
indeed.  In the next paragraph you say "most kids" which is not at all
contradictory to "a very small %".  I may have my facts mixed up, but
Tourette's disease is an illness where one tends to say things that one was
thinking but not meaning.

> 
>      Bullshit. Most kids (these days) who use profanity are simply 
> undisiplined louts. Yes, I use profanity today, at 28. However, I would 
> NEVER have called my mother a "Fucking Asshole" under ANY circumstances, 
> My father would have torn my head off. In fact if my father had caught me
> speaking like that to ANYONE at 8 years of age, I would have had trouble
> sitting for a couple days at least. 
> 
>      Of course my parents made sure not to talk like that around me. 

You are forgetting that this is a _disease_.  That means that someone cannot
be cured of it by discipline or common sense.  It's no different from diabetes
or any other disease.

> 
> > politically correct thing is sometimes to label a kid as sick rather than
> > bad or spoiled, this is probably why drugs are over-used.  But we can't
> > throw the baby out with the bathwater!
> 
>      On the other hand, if only 20% of the children that are being drugged
> need it, that means that we are sacrificing 80% of these children to save 
> 20%. 

That wasn't the point.  The point is instead of dopping every kid that doesn't
pay attention in school up with Ritalin, kids should instead be diagnosed as
having ADD before receiving Ritalin treatment.  It can be helpful for the kids
who actually have ADD.

> 
>      Drugs are supposed to be for fun, not for long term behavior 
> modification. People need to learn to deal with life. 

Someone with a disease such as bipolar disorder would disagree with you.  There
are some bipolar people who, without lithium, will end up with large wounds
caused by razor blades on the arms and legs.  Others that use sleeping pills
give them to a trusted third party (see the crypto relevance) who will prevent
them from overdosing.  Some people with ADD need Ritalin to be able to be
successful and function.  You can wax philosophical about how drugs alter a
person's personality making them a zombie, but people voluntarily take drugs
that can help them dramatically.  Some people cannot learn to "deal with life."

OK, now for the real crypto relevance.  Snow seems to be in denial about
psychological illnesses.  This is the "it will never happen to me" attitude.
Such an attitude is very common and is human nature.  However this can be
very dangerous, especially when applied to governments.  People may eventually
believe that it is OK for the government to violate the civil liberties of
those suspected of committing a crime.  After all, law abiding citizens are
never suspects in crimes.  Mandatory key escrow is perfectly all right.  The
only people that will get wiretapped are the people who are criminal types.
And even if a law abiding citizen is wiretapped, it won't matter because that
citizen unit never breaks the law.

Tyranny can effect anyone and everyone.  It's not limited to criminals.  This
is why strong crypto is necessary.

- -- Mark

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