Amid a surge in autism diagnoses, Arthur Mann found a friend’s children detached and glued to their screens. Is it not more likely, he wonders in the Spectator, that we are suffering from an epidemic of disastrously bad middle-class parenting? Here’s an excerpt.
I recently reconnected with an old friend; I went to his house and met his children for the first time. One of them looked up from his screen as we entered the room, faintly curious about the intrusion. The other, with his back to us and his face obscured by a hoodie, didn’t bother. My friend announced their names as if that was sufficient introduction, but it felt weird that the children did not say hello and that one of them did not even show his face. Was something wrong with him? It was a bit creepy. Obviously I let it go. Maybe he was chronically shy or autistic, or facially disfigured. But the brother didn’t behave very differently, so probably not.
It later emerged that Hidden Face did indeed have ‘social-connection issues’ and that his parents were thinking of seeking a diagnosis for autism. By that time, he had deigned to show his face briefly. He shot his mother a venomous glance when she nervously suggested he might sit up for lunch. He whispered some compensatory demand that was instantly granted. I dread to think what it was. I wanted to shake the parents by the shoulders until some sense emerged. Instead, we had a pleasant chitchat about where to go on holiday and what to watch on Netflix.
It chilled me, the glance he shot his mother. It should have earned him a stern rebuke. But it seemed that he was holding an invisible Kalashnikov. His parents feared him. It chilled me but didn’t massively surprise me. Depressingly, I have seen many such cases.
Most readers will agree with the next sentence strongly, but will seldom have seen its sentiment in print. We are suffering an epidemic of disastrously bad middle-class parenting. Dramatically spoiled children are no longer a Roald Dahl rarity but are semi-normal, and many parents dodge blame through the procurement of a diagnosis of this or that condition. …
To be clear, I am not arguing that most children diagnosed with a behavioural condition are really just spoiled. I know some families with autistic children who have worked hard to socialise them, to ensure that they greet family friends when they come round, and so on. But I also know families where the source of the problem is clear as day: the parents have drifted into the terrible habit of failing to teach their children how to behave.
I nearly wrote ‘of failing to discipline their children’. Maybe that word is best avoided, as it suggests six of the best and so on. But discipline really just means teaching, or maybe ‘deep-teaching’. And a child must be taught how to behave around other people – how to keep quiet about his or her desires, how to behave in a vaguely formal way, even at home if people come round. Even this might sound a bit harsh and Victorian to some. “We don’t want him to conform and be polite, we want him to be himself,” a parent might say. But this is a subtle cruelty, because it will lead him to be disliked.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Nigel Farage has said GPs are “massively over-diagnosing” children with special educational needs and disabilities. During a press conference in Dover, the Reform leader criticised an overdiagnosis of “those with mental illness problems and… other general behavioural disabilities”.
So many of these diagnoses – for SEND before 18, for disability register after 18 – so many of these have been conducted on Zoom, with the family GP. I think that is a massive mistake.
If I’m your family GP, and I’ve known your family for generations, and you’re saying to me ‘doc, there’s a real problem here with depression’, or whatever it may be, it’s quite hard for me as your GP to say no.
So I don’t think any of these allocations should be done by family GPs. I think they should be done independently.
I think we are massively – I’m not being heartless here, I’m being frank – I think we are massively over-diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities.
And I think we’re creating class of victims in Britain who will struggle ever to get out of it. That’s not good for them and it’s not good for us, so I worry about those things.
I do accept though, I do accept that repeated lockdowns – particularly the third lockdown – were probably the biggest mistakes ever made by a peacetime government in this country. And they have caused great long-term harm.
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Breaking news! Someone is said to have had sex with someone else 450 years ago!!
Student drehte sich versehentlich selber durch den Fleischwolf! BILD sprach zuerst mit der Frikadelle!!
The relevant question is who funded him and why. Epstein clearly didn’t have the wealth to cavort on endless private jets to secret desert Islands. That’s a level of wealth few ppl on earth enjoy. Now why would someone want compromising pics of the rich, powerful and famous, avd who were they?
Exactly! And this question is not being addressed.
It’s a bit late to address this question. Epstein is dead. Those of his former buddies who aren’t also dead are either well into retirerment age or quickly approaching it. A much more interesting question would be “Who is doing this now and together with whom?” as someone certainly is. A good starting point would be these COP happenings of the climate change jet set. Or MPs flying to Caribbean holiday destinations to study the effects of climate change. That this involves making intimate acquaintance of some member of the local population can pretty much be taken for granted.
Of course, this revelation is important. But I always ask myself, if the mainstream media are saying “look at this!”, what do they want to distract me from at this particular point in time?
Dead guy reportedly claimed other dead guy had at least once sex someone! US state laws might have been broken!!
What’s to be done about this? Exhume a few corpses and burn them at the stake?
In my humble job I have to declare any ‘gifts’ I may receive which may leave me vulnerable to the company’s ‘Bribery & Corruption’ declaration.
These gifts might normally be a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine at Xmas from grateful customers.
If I had been entertained at Mr Epsteins expense and had possibly been entrapped in a compromising position I could be wide open to B&C.
If I was a captain of industry I dread to think how that would influence my decision making.
I sort of agree but on the other hand these lefties screwing around are utterly authoritarian. It jars with me that they are trying to remove our comforts in life, cars, boilers meat, whilst they bone teenage girls.
That’s probably God’s punishment for their sins. I’m often glad that I’m no longer of an age where I have to deal with teenage girls.
:->
On a more serious note, rich man has sex with much younger women is a really hackneyed trope (or would be if it was). This has always been happening and it will always be happening. Moreover, the number of men who’d mindlessly switch into shag now ask question later (if at all) mode if they only had such an opportunity is certainly anything but small.
A story from the UK from some years ago I remember was about a guy who had hooked up with a girl while standing next to her in a taxi queue. Later, he broke down in tears in court and swore he was totally convinced that she must have been sixteen. But her parents thought she was twelve. Nevertheless, due to this impressive performance, he got away with a better slap on the wrist punishment. Or the maths teacher who fled to France with a 14 or 15 year old pupil of his and got caught while looking for cash-in-hand jobs in hospitality venues.
The world could do with a lot less hypocrisy in this area.
If Bill Gates doesn’t feature in this list then I think we all know what’s really going on here.
They released some of the names because Drumpf was on the list.
No Drumpf, no release of names.
How does the guy in a wheelchair with head tilted to the side participate in an orgy?
What does that say about ‘science’ and the fakery of Hawking’s philosophies?
https://www.globalresearch.ca/replicon-mrna-vaccine-japan-approves-worlds-first-self-amplifying-mrna-vaccine/5845033
A worrying development if the mRNA shyte becomes the default carrier for ALL drugs.
”Stephen Hawking” and ”orgy” in the same sentence though… Well there’s a first time for everything, I s’pose. Haters can add ”ableist” to my long list of attributes now…..
Well, he did appear to smile a lot.
I’m probably going to hell for that.
Hi Mogs, am I the only one who thought he was laying it on a bit thick with the funny voice and the wheelchair, I could be wrong.
The downvote – someone who hasn’t grasped humour yet. No hope for that one.
I always used to think he was American when I was a kid because of that voice.
But what I’m really wondering now is if there was any truth in the ‘naked dwarfs doing equations on a blackboard’ rumour…
The back-pedalling is a joy to behold. We should award a prize to the lamest excuse of why they happened to be visiting Epstein.
I hadnt heard of Dershowitz before but have heard his name twice in two days!. He’s the Defence Attorney for the lawsuit South Africa is bringing against Netanyahu’s government for the genocide in Gaza.
As always with a story like this, look for what they may be trying to distract you from
Two words…Limited Hangout
Where’s the curse of the Clinton’s when you need someone erased?
Not working too well now is it Bill? As it sounds like Ms. Sjoberg, & Ms. Giuffres would be prime targets for a bit of silencing.