Andrew Solomon Scrubs Pharma from Autism Mass Murder Connection
By Adriana Gamondes
Another Andrew Solomon fail. For his recent New York Times op-ed on autism and mass murder, it appears as if he scoured AofA's and other coverage of autism/mass murder spin and then surgically excised any mention of prescription drugs. It's no surprise. Solomon famously takes psychiatric drugs himself, and is the son of Howard Solomon, CEO of Forest Labs for the past 35 years. He's a shill, though with a genuine blind spot and the NY Times is using him to defend drug sales.
"The Myth of the Autistic Shooter"
Despite what is probably Solomon's sincere intent to deflect the mass murder/autism association, his theories do nothing to protect people with autism or any other mental disorder to set off an alternative witch hunt for the "psychopathic gene.” It simply opens the door for a gold rush of diagnostic theories that psychopathology “often coexists” with autism and we’re back at square one—with a bulls eye across the backs of entire diagnostic categories. As Solomon himself admits, there’s no biomarker for psychopathology. It’s diagnosed through subjective observation, so therefore can be pinned on anyone handy. And who could be more handy than the population of individuals with autism whose inconveniently rising ranks stand as evidence against the safety of another profitable pharmaceutical product line?
And worse, considering CDC whistleblower disclosures that African American boys exposed to certain vaccines suffer a 340% increased risk of autism that likely explains the current massive increase in diagnosis within minority populations, and considering the Minority Report-style hunt for criminal genes has historically centered on race, Solomon's resurrection of the crime gene hypothesis is an ill wind that blows no good. It was the theme of Peter Breggin’s chilling history of racist psychiatric abuse, The War Against Children of Color. Reference to the modern crime gene program was the final warning in Cologne geneticist Benno Müller-Hill’s seminal study of the Nazi T-4 killing program, Murderous Science: The Elimination by Scientific Selection of Jews, Gypsies, and the Mentally Disabled in Germany, 1033-1945. And according to political philsopher Hannah Arendt, the idea of a biomarker for criminality – the “objective (scientifically proven) enemy”—is the core of every totalitarian cult of the 20th century.
More than a century of hunting for this crime gene has turned up nothing because it doesn't exist, though the concept that it does has unleashed horrors and repression.
I agree that autistic"meltdowns are often simply frustration. Last year I observed an autistic kid in my school who was continually facing meltdowns because he loved puzzles with letters (A to Z) and usually one letter would be missing . It was quite upsetting to see his frustration and be unable to do anything to help him. His mother's comforting efforts helped a bit. One of the great autism doctors made the statement "Metal is Rage" . I completely agree with this and I wonder if it should be amended to" Metal + hormones is rage" because so many of the autistic kids experience rage in teen years. Now, remember- it wont be just autistic kids who have too much metal in their bodies. There are other people too- mercury in fish? Mercury from dental amalgams? Other metals ?
One of the most interesting stories I heard was about a family of 6 daughters living in northeast India. The person who related this story to me was the husband of the eldest daughter. The mother suffered from a great deal of anger which came out on all of the children, but most of all on the eldest. So went a great deal of her childhood,until it was realized that the abdominal problems that the mother had suffered for years, were due to a metal intrauterine device that had been inserted , unknown to the woman, after her last pregnancy. The device was removed and the mother's rage abated.
Posted by: Cherry Misra | October 22, 2015 at 09:17 AM
Oh, and by the way - if you or your love one tries to get off of them - heeee, heeee, heeee, -- well that takes several long weeks too; for them to wear off.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 14, 2015 at 09:52 AM
http://www.tbiguide.com/angerdepress.html
Following brain injuries of any kind there are all kinds of emotional issues.
Do you all know how ridiculous it is to get good help for these emotional problems?
It will finally hit the fan - and you have an emergency and where do you go. Oh, you get an appointment with a nurse practitioner who is soooo busy with patients (all these brain injuries????) that they squeeze you in at 5:30 in the evening.
But the nurse practitioner is really good; some thing close to one of those people that puts rags on their heads and peers intently into a glass orb - and in no time at all they have you loaded up with prescriptions headed out to the nearest pharmacists. However, they do warn that these drugs will not take effect for a couple of weeks.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 14, 2015 at 09:49 AM
Birgit, I don't experience that an "autistic" person's melt-down is because of a state of rage. It is more a profound frustration at not being able to communicate one's needs. Even I, who have some use of language, find that I am often totally unable to get across to people what I am trying to express, and they are always blissfully unaware that they are misunderstanding me. After all, the correct medical term for autism is Aphasia - the inability to comprehend or express language.
Posted by: Grace Green | October 14, 2015 at 06:59 AM
Unfortunately he has been biased by decades of suffering from depression himself, as his book The Noonday Demon points out, and admits that drugs saved his life.
Maurine
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | October 13, 2015 at 08:51 PM
Color me not surprised that he is biased.
Posted by: Son of a pharma gun | October 13, 2015 at 07:53 PM
If the violent or non-violent nature of an autistic person is no different from that of the general population, it would first have to be properly assessed. That hypothesis is, of course, possible. When it comes to how an autistic person reacts in a state of rage, is a different matter.
My question is: Are autistic people, given that they are not empathetic toward their counterparts, do they act more strongly when they are in a state of rage. Do they care as much what their fellow man feels? Are they assessing what happens after a violent act?
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | October 13, 2015 at 05:07 PM
"psychopathic gene.” good luck with that one. I don't think they found the "Autism Gene" either.
Only, pharma whoring, numbskull`s ,would go through the motions of finding non-existing genes,running down Scientific resources hoping Pharmageddon will limp along for another few decades?
Thanks Adriana.
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | October 13, 2015 at 08:17 AM
"And according to political philsopher Hannah Arendt, the idea of a biomarker for criminality – the “objective (scientifically proven) enemy”— is the core of every totalitarian cult of the 20th century."
This is how HR at the CDC work in their recruitment surely .
A concentration of greater crooks for the biggest crime has never ever been gathered before in all history.
Posted by: Sophie Scholl | October 13, 2015 at 05:59 AM