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March 15th, 2009
So people with chronic fatigue syndrome are a minority in society. People with vaguely similar chronic illnesses and disabilities are less of a minority, I have no idea how much less.
But I still get very annoyed when people assume that anyone who does *blah thing to save energy* must be lazy. Yes, in the old days we didn't have labour saving devices etc. And in the old days, being chronically ill or disabled really sucked. (It still does, but not as much)
Pre-prepared food, remotes, scooters, whatever.
I mean I can understand saying "Surely not EVERYONE who uses this actually needs it, so the overall popular trend is bad even if some uses are valid" but you can't judge any given person without knowing their circumstances.
Even if they're overweight, especially since mobility issues tend, oddly enough, to lead to weight gain. Sometimes people's ill health is either unrelated to, or the cause of their weight issues, and we have just as much right to do unhealthy things like eating junk food as anyone else. Sick and disabled people do not fit into neat little boxes of "lovable perfect victim who never complains" and "entitled whiner who brought it on themselves".
Not aimed at anyone in particular, inspired by hearing about examples of overweight people with similar symptoms to mine (shortness of breath, low blood sugar meaning I need to eat often, slow ungainly gait etc) being judged for "making themselves sick by not losing weight", and thinking dark thoughts about my future since I can't see how I can not gain weight with my current level of immobility. Also this post, which has the added fibre of classism!
Oh, and that woman at the station who said to the man awkwardly carrying his crutch off the train before putting it back on "You obviously don't need that, haha"
Phew! I feel better now.
But I still get very annoyed when people assume that anyone who does *blah thing to save energy* must be lazy. Yes, in the old days we didn't have labour saving devices etc. And in the old days, being chronically ill or disabled really sucked. (It still does, but not as much)
Pre-prepared food, remotes, scooters, whatever.
I mean I can understand saying "Surely not EVERYONE who uses this actually needs it, so the overall popular trend is bad even if some uses are valid" but you can't judge any given person without knowing their circumstances.
Even if they're overweight, especially since mobility issues tend, oddly enough, to lead to weight gain. Sometimes people's ill health is either unrelated to, or the cause of their weight issues, and we have just as much right to do unhealthy things like eating junk food as anyone else. Sick and disabled people do not fit into neat little boxes of "lovable perfect victim who never complains" and "entitled whiner who brought it on themselves".
Not aimed at anyone in particular, inspired by hearing about examples of overweight people with similar symptoms to mine (shortness of breath, low blood sugar meaning I need to eat often, slow ungainly gait etc) being judged for "making themselves sick by not losing weight", and thinking dark thoughts about my future since I can't see how I can not gain weight with my current level of immobility. Also this post, which has the added fibre of classism!
Oh, and that woman at the station who said to the man awkwardly carrying his crutch off the train before putting it back on "You obviously don't need that, haha"
Phew! I feel better now.
Tags:
- class,
- disability,
- links,
- rant
What is hard sf? What are the soft sciences?
THESE DEFINITIONS ARE ARBITRARY, not the "one true meaning". We just need to delimit the discussion so we know what we're talking about.
Hard sf: I have somewhat arbitrarily defined it as "science fiction which extrapolates from science ideas in a way that wouldn't make an expert in that field want to hit their head against a wall"
Soft sciences: Natural and social sciences, like biology, psychology etc.
Give some examples of "hard soft science fiction".
-The Sparrow (properly worked out languages, clever relationship between two species)
-Mars trilogy (terraforming)
Is there less hard soft sf than hard hard sf? If so, why? If not, why do people think there is?
Do authors feel more comfortable ignorantly making up soft science (eg psychology) than they would be hard sciences? If so, why? Do they get it very wrong?
Idea: People feel more comfortable with "pop psychology" than "pop physics". We all need a basic model of psychology to deal with the people around us but can happily not think about physics or maths at all.
What are some good hard soft sf books?
Depends if you mean good books or good science.
Here is my list.
What soft sciences seem to suit it best? What soft sciences seem to never get written about?
Linguistics is very popular, for some reason!
What are some cool soft science ideas that would make cool books?
THESE DEFINITIONS ARE ARBITRARY, not the "one true meaning". We just need to delimit the discussion so we know what we're talking about.
Hard sf: I have somewhat arbitrarily defined it as "science fiction which extrapolates from science ideas in a way that wouldn't make an expert in that field want to hit their head against a wall"
Soft sciences: Natural and social sciences, like biology, psychology etc.
Give some examples of "hard soft science fiction".
-The Sparrow (properly worked out languages, clever relationship between two species)
-Mars trilogy (terraforming)
Is there less hard soft sf than hard hard sf? If so, why? If not, why do people think there is?
Do authors feel more comfortable ignorantly making up soft science (eg psychology) than they would be hard sciences? If so, why? Do they get it very wrong?
Idea: People feel more comfortable with "pop psychology" than "pop physics". We all need a basic model of psychology to deal with the people around us but can happily not think about physics or maths at all.
What are some good hard soft sf books?
Depends if you mean good books or good science.
Here is my list.
What soft sciences seem to suit it best? What soft sciences seem to never get written about?
Linguistics is very popular, for some reason!
What are some cool soft science ideas that would make cool books?