Torsten pouts:
>This exchange of ideas is a very good example of what I have grown to
>expect when I mention the possible connection between heavy metal poisoning
>and general decline and decay in some particular
>society: Initial denial, then curiosity, then a stream of verbal
>abuse; [...] Anybody still interested in the pain and suffering and general
>paranoia and cruelty that heavy metal poisoning may cause I call on to go
>to the medical department of your place of >learning and pick some books on
>toxicology at random and read the >chapters on mercury and lead.
Torsten, so far I refuse to be bothered by your strange and misguided ideas.
You are who you are. Of course there is alot of suffering and madness caused
by metal poisoning. That's not the issue. The issue is that you are using it
to explain everything and you're becoming annoying to those who desire an
intelligent, well-rounded conversation.
As you can judge by my name, I'm predominantly of Irish descent. To claim
that the admittedly crazy behaviour of some individuals and groups in
Ireland (vis-a-vis Catholics and Protestants) is caused only and truely by
metal poisoning is outright childish. For this, you deserve the negative
comments thrusted towards you.
I'll let you in on a dangerously frank secret concerning my father. He had a
cute little pet name for me as a kid. He'd call me "retarded" or "stupid" or
pretty much any adjective to run my self-esteem to the ground and build his
own up. He'd do loony things like spank the living daylights outta me at the
dinner table if I wasn't eating fast enough for his liking. Yes, it seemed
like he would drink a 12-pack of beer every day right through my childhood
and adolescence. He'd mentally abuse my mother too. He'd also call her
affectionate names like "whore", "slut" and "asshole". Nothing says loving
like calling your spouse a whore, I always say. I personally find it amazing
that his liver is still functioning. I can only hope that I've inherited the
sturdiness of his organs. Clearly, however, his thinking processes are
irreversibly affected and so there _is_ justice in this world afterall.
Sufficed to say, I choose not to speak to my father anymore and I'd much
rather have coffee with my mother.
Now, are you going to continue to be an idiot on this List and blame my
childhood trauma and that of many other persons suffering from family
alcoholism on metal poisoning too, Torsten? No, I choose not to believe that
you would be so warped. I think alcoholism is obviously far more readily
available as an explanation in this case to explain my father's psychotic
behaviour.
What's the lesson here? If we must stubbornly take an uneducated view and
restrict ourselves to only physical factors to explain individual and social
behaviours, we still have many factors to choose from: drug
abuse/alcoholism, ergot poisoning, metal poisoning, malnutrition, gas
poisoning, etc. There are still many other important factors to explain
human behaviour such as mythology, societal values, xenophobia, etc that
escape your narrow reasoning. This is unfortunate because you will remain
ignorant and often offensive as a result. Your vast knowledge on metal
poisoning when misapplied means little to many on this list. Your views are
simply too shallow to consider. If your intent is comedy, you're not very
funny. If your intent is to learn, you're not listening very carefully.
- gLeN
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