In which I disagree with David Kirby
In the November 6th Huffington Post, David Kirby writes about why the parents of autistic children are “fed up” with the GOP: Two of its “most reliable cash cows”—whom Kirby refers to in Tweedle-Dee Tweedle-Dum style as “Big Energy” and “Big Pharma”—are (Kirby writes) “responsible for most of the mercury that ends up in our kids.” After acknowledging that a link between autism and mercury has yet to be proven, Kirby turns to the main topic of his article, that “pesky parents” and “fed up voters” will “repay the GOP for what they say has been six years of hostile indifference, at best”—six years, that is, of not listening to persistent claims about a connection between mercury and autism. This, Kirby writes, has led “many Republican parents” whom he knows to plan to vote Democratic this year.
Without getting into my own political proclivities or what I think about vaccines and autism (that’s in this post), I wish to note one aspect of Kirby’s article that I am in complete disagreement with.
In noting that Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, has introduced a bill to reform how the NIH gets and allocates research money, Kirby writes:
Barton may resubmit his bill - even if he is a lame duck Chairman - after Election Day. But it’s a safe bet that his version won’t contain any specific funding into environmental causes of autism. In the meantime, he is excoriated almost daily by Don Imus, whose colorful adjectives to describe the Chairman are gleefully repeated on autism blogs nationwide.
That is the second (this is the first) and will be the last time you hear mention of Don Imus on this autism blog. As for Kirby’s description of writers of autism blogs “gleefully” repeating” Imus’ “colorful adjectives,” I strive to be neither “gleeful” in my tone in writing here at Autism Vox, and not to simply repeat what others say.
Autism blogs, and discussions of politics in the autistic community and in autism circles, can and ought to go far beyond what Kirby limits his discussion to, namely, money and mercury.
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