More “fluff right” posting, because what could these stories possibly have to do with conservative concerns, particularly regarding the structure of narrative? In short, an autistic boy’s pet is tortoise-napped and repeatedly slashed and stabbed by a neighborhood psycho, then thrown into brush behind their apartment complex. An anonymous phone call leads the mother and son to the location of the badly injured tortoise. Police catch the perp.
The turtle is recovering at Turtle Dreams, a Montecito rehabilitation center. He remained in guarded condition and was being fed through a tube in his neck.
“He’s getting more relaxed and coming out of his shell” more often, said Jeanie Vaughan, the center’s owner. “If he continues without any infection, I think he’s going to be fine.”
Earlier this week, he gave owners Dorothy and Bill Sullivan some hope when he reached a key milestone in his recovery: bringing his head out of his shell and taking his first steps.
The tortoise collapsed but then managed to take eight steps.
“When he finished, he had a tear in his eye … as did the rest of us,” Dorothy Sullivan said. “It was an excellent, great sign.”
Dorothy Sullivan said that she and her son danced with happiness when they heard of the arrest. Her son has not been sleeping well since the attack, she said.
As an objective correlative for autism, a poet could hardly do better.
Turtle Dreams? I’ve never given them extensive thought but I would imagine they involve everything being a lot closer. Well, that or a higher gear ratio.
In another vein –
Dan,
Do you have a favorite rational speculation concerning causation wrt autism? Simon Baron-Cohen’s assotative mating hypothesis is interesting but I don’t see how it can account for the overall increase in diagnoses.
Could have been worse, the turtle could have been carved up and eaten, like we do around here.
The brutality of organized turtle fights is mortifying, unspoken horror and beyond, and I have a sneaking feeling Michael Vick had money on the turtle that ripped Bob a new one.
is there a link? Also turtles are one of those pets with a very high probablility of outliving their people, which is a good objective thingy for the most daunting and scary part of autism. And also turtles need sunshine to properly maintain their shell, so you can’t keep them in dark places.
Rick–Good question. I’m not sure that I have a single answer, but it could involve one or more of several things. First, children were described by the general category idiot for a long time. Second, the disease has to do with the filtration of information, which many children are electrically bombarded with in ways that they were not. Third, it’s possible that there’s some association with substances–for example, it’s entirely possible that a medication that we often use, for headache or otherwise, ingested at a certain point in gestation, causes damage to the developing fetus. There are numerous other potential risk factors, I would imagine.
As for the perp, this is a poster case for bringing back public corporal punishment as part of the sentence. He should be taken to the town square and publicly caned in a painful and humiliating way. A doctor should be standing by, of course, to prevent excessive permanent damage. Then he should be sent to prison for about five years.
Dan, what are you thoughts on the thimerisol/mercury in vaccines angle?
Pablo,
Here is a decent piece on the thimerosal/MMR situation. When John Edwards goes back to ambulance chasing he might be able to channel a jury into a verdict but he’ll have to hurry – thimerosal was dropped in 2002 and diagnoses for autism haven’t slowed a bit. One paragraph provides a rather succinct explanation:
It’s a government purchase program.
Actual causation remains pretty mysterious.
Well, as per Rick’s observation, it wouldn’t explain the persistence. But when I tried switching to contacts in the eighties, I had a lens cleaning solution that was preserved with thimerosal, and it caused my eyes to become so inflamed that I had to keep them covered in gauze for 3 very grouchy days. If its topical application could cause such a reaction, wtf was it doing in vaccines?
Interesting.
Any idea what causes Bobby Kennedy Jr? I’m guessing it’s the blow.
That kind of thing seems most logical to me–some commonly used substance that we so take for granted that it’s not even on our radar.
Baron-Cohen’s notion that it is genetic seems on par with the theories of those learned nuts who are always writing that Conservatism or a belief in a free market economy or an uncontrolable urge to dot your i’s with smiley faces is genetic.