Radical Ask Blog

True dankness is measured largely in radicalness. The more radical the meme is, the more dank it is.

However they are not exact synonyms because making your memes dank also requires some aesthetic sensibilities. So take a class in creative writing or graphic design if you’re not confident in those areas, but remember to push the Overton Window in your messaging.

Should they be allowed to? Of course. That’s a matter of cognitive liberty, which should be afforded to all people at all ages. Bad things happen when you try to legislate thought.

It seems like maybe you meant to ask if they should be taught those things in the first place? Depending on how you ask, the answer may be “delicately” or “absolutely not.”

Part of setting up children for success is giving them an awareness of cultural iconography, to enable easier integration into a highly social world. Phrases like “I’ve been told…” or “some people believe…” are useful for presenting things as merely options rather than the ultimate truth, allowing children to become aware of them without sabotaging their capacity for critical thinking.

Without that nuance, when parents simply say Father Christmas/Santa Claus is real, and commit to the story by signing gifts in his name, their children eventually figure it out and understand that they have been lied to. This weakens the important parent-child bond, and depending how much it’s done (tooth fairy, leprechauns…), may create trust issues well into adulthood.

This is a complex issue where you have to consider the legal and logistical ramifications. How it’s been handled so far is the worst of both worlds: Governments keep shutting down Deaf schools, while still segregating disabled students in “special” classes.

To be pragmatic, we can recognize that Blind and Deaf schools have worked very well, especially the more actually Blind/Deaf representation there is among the teachers and administrators. We should continue to make these two exceptions because alumni overwhelmingly self-report that it was better than being mainstreamed. Autism schools aren’t working at all, but might if they stopped doing conversion therapy and hired Autistic teachers. For all other disabilities, we don’t have this sort of data. We also don’t have any existing examples of diverse classrooms where neurotypical/able-bodied students are included as a minority. We just have “special education” classrooms where all the disabilities are lumped together and no one gets appropriately taught or accommodated. We would have to try pilot programs to see what else works.

Sure, let’s talk about the social construction of “mental illness”!

First, it’s important to define our terms so that we’re on the same page. One of the many peculiarities of English language culture is that saying “my mental health is bad” and “I have a mental illness” may not mean the same thing.

Only a small subsection of the “mental health awareness” community uses “mentally ill” to mean feeling sad, depressed, or generally unwell. To most people, including myself and the law, “mentally ill” is a closer synonym to “crazy”, and it’s especially used in context to say that someone cannot make their own decisions because something has taken over their brain and is preventing it from functioning properly.

When I (or similar Mad Pride activists) say “mental illness doesn’t exist”, I am saying that there is no such demonic possession analog in the brain. There is nothing that can be picked up by a scan, surgery, or blood test, and if there is, such as in the case of Alzheimer’s, we call it what it is, a biological disease affecting living tissue, not a vaguely defined “mental illness”.

That’s not a question, but I’ll try to answer it anyway.

Given the preferences expressed within Tumblr subculture, I think an intentionally silly picture is entirely appropriate to hit my target demographic.

The cognitive error here is called argument from fallacy. In a formal debate, this means asserting that your opponent didn’t argue well, therefore their position must be incorrect. While truer positions generally have more evidence in their favor, someone’s skill (or lack thereof) at presenting that evidence, doesn’t actually affect what the truth is.

Image description: The word “radical” in dripping blood, illustrated by a personified slice of pizza riding a skateboard while wearing sunglasses and a backwards baseball cap.

Run by neuroqueer activist @actingnt, this blog is dedicated to providing radical answers to any questions you may have. Basic “101″ questions and advanced analysis are both welcome and encouraged.