[kj] Antithesis of Killing Joke -- good catch

[Jim Harper]

I'm sure there are many people on the Gathering already aware of the case, since it is front page news here, after all.
 
Myself, I'm not convinced that Asperger's Syndrome makes for a watertight defence in this case. Despite all coming under the one umbrella, no two individuals with Asperger's or autism are alike; to produce a generalisation like "No-one with Asperger's could have done this!" is ignore the million different ways these conditions manifest themselves. It's not a black-and-white disease like the flu, wher you've either got it or you haven't. I've known severely autistic kids who barely noticed it when they hurt themselves severely, and others who didn't seem autistic at all until you knew them well. 
 
"No-one with Asperger's could have done this" is the kind of statement only a lawyer looking to win a case could make. This doesn't mean he doesn't deserve leniency, and I'd be very surprised if he doesn't get it, but I'm also not about to succumb to the allure of generalisations that might have been whipped out by a canny defence lawyer.
 
Jim.

--- On Sun, 5/7/09, Stephen Lawrence <stephen.l at live.com> wrote:


From: Stephen Lawrence <stephen.l at live.com>
Subject: Re: [kj] Antithesis of Killing Joke -- good catch
To: "gathering at misera.net" <gathering at misera.net>
Date: Sunday, 5 July, 2009, 1:21 PM




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nicely put paul 
btw are you aware of the plight of GARY MCKINNON ?
have you signed the petition ?
 
would you like to make the gathering aware of the situation as a fellow autistic ?
i could do it but feel it more appropiate if you did the honours 
all the best 
it would be good to get a global response 



      
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