AOL

Terry, I also posted about this in the media thread. I was really shocked at the ignorance I saw on that board. It honestly made me feel sick.
Beth

I read it too, and I posted some info in response to all those posters who thought that the main problem would be solved by teaching the PA kids to not eat PB.
But I think that some of the "hate" messages, the ones that basically say that a PA child dying from pb is natural selection, are just from teens and other 'net potatoes who have nothing better to do than post outrageous things. These are the same people who crash serious chatrooms on AOL (such as parenting or gardening groups) and starts talking about abusing kids or slings around a lot of racial slurs.
Remember that mental evaluations, etiquette lessons, and IQ tests are not required to have an aol account or any internet access.
[img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img]
Amy

Triciasmom,
I like your last paragraph. I'll have to remember that one when I'm just dealing with plain old ignorance in the real world.

I've never seen a discussion board on AOL that didn't have a bunch of morons mouthing off most of the time. If it's not the idiots commenting on the news boards it is the religous whackos.
After the earthquake in India there was a great deal of callous comment about culling overpopulation combined with psuedo evangelicals (or maybe these people were real) applauding it as an additional sign of the last days and some also implying since their souls were lost to christ (i.e. hindus and muslims) they in some way "deserved it". This was the tone in many many messages.
I was extremely emberrassed and hoped that no Indian person I knew and worked with ever saw it. Just because someone has access to a computer it doesn't mean they aren't an ignorant fool.
On this peanut discussion it is clear there is a lot if ignorance and people trying to provoke. I am heartened to see a few rational posts in there and encourage everyone to post real info in there. Forget about explaining your anguish, the sickos just love to make fun of that.
The moderators on AOL don't seem to do much of a job sometimes. Knowing how many people are on AOL, it's sad to see how many of them posting are morons. It really says something about the general population we have to deal with- some of them are even dumber anonmously than they are face to face.

Terry,
Thanks for bringing this up. I would probably not have seen it. The type of people making comments on the aol board made me think about using their meanness to help us protect our kids. The following is very long and just a random sample from the aol board. I think that we should send the following info to the Senate, the House of Representatives, the FDA and the Department of Education - and anyone else we think needs to hear a sample of what we are up against when trying to protect kids with life threatening allergies.
Sue in Sunny Arizona
The following Posts from an AOL Board on a news article about Peanut Alergy June 2001
These posts are part of the reason we need the ADA to help people with disabilities. Why must people be so mean spirited and nasty? What has happened to understanding and compassion?
STARTED AOL POSTS HERE
Subject: Re: Life or death vs. a sandwich?
Date: 6/10/2001 10:10 AM US Mountain Standard Time From: LenBone
Yep...You are ridiculous...This kid won't be able to cope with the ass whupins that will come from his mean classmates when they find out he's the one who ruined it for everyone else...It's not a big deal...Should we stop driving cars, so blind people can cross the street by themselves? It's just a matter of dealing with a mediocre hand...Besides this child is going to grow up and be just another waste of space...it's a child now, but won't be so cute and worthy of protection later on. Clearly, someone who is allergic to peanut dust, which is everywhere, won't have any value to society anyway, so why waste the effort on them now?
LenBoneMalone
Subject: Adjusting our society to accommodate the weak
Date: 6/10/2001 7:59 AM US Mountain Standard Time From: Texasfeller
Will eventually result in a weak society, subject to any and all ills known to mankind. I would suspect that the increase in the number of cases, as stated in the article, is due to the fact that we are assisting the weaker breeds to reproduce. Case in point: a while back a mate was found for an idiot so they could be married and not be lonely. What do two idiots produce? I am of the opinion that if you aren't capable of living in the enviornment, its not the enviornment that needs changing.
Subject: ...from my cold, dead hands.
Date: 6/9/2001 8:20 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: Houlahan
I'm a first-grader at a school attended mostly by the offspring of progressive, upwardly mobile parents, and I swear by all that's holy that if any bleeding-heart cafeteria lady tries to deprive me of my PB&J I will "go postal" in a crowdwd lunchroom with a great big serving spoon of Jif Extra Crunchy. If you don't believe me, you can just damn well try me.
Billy
Subject: Why all the defective children?
Date: 6/8/2001 8:34 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: Tracyarts
I don't remember so many frail and fragile defective children in years past. Why are we breeding a nation of hothouse flowers who can succumb to the mere whiff of peanut butter or the most superficial brush with latex?
Maybe in the past, defective children just died and did not have to be brought up in a life of suffering and fear of common everyday substances that could kill them?
I don't know, but makes you wonder why so many children today have "issues", "problems" and "complications". Seems every other child is impaired or defective in some way or another.
If it is not a deadly food allergy, it is a mental disorder, a disability, or a rare medical syndrome that requires lots of special attention and accomodations. I guess "specialness" is something to claim and flaunt now. Not something that is just dealt with privately on a family level anymore. None of the people I know who grew up with serious food allergies were part of a national outcry of demands for their special needs. And some of the kids had very special requirements that were met by their families and nobody else was expected to take their responsibilities for them.
There was no major epidemic of attention deficit disorder, or all the assorted syndromes.
Are we just breeding sickly defective children who in years past would have just died in infancy from their complications? Are is it the parents and society who want to label every variant as a special needs population?
I wonder if it is a change in the actual physical population, or a change in society as to why we are seeing all these problems in children these days.
Tracy
Subject: Ban kids not peanut butter
Date: 6/8/2001 7:32 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: Gadzonka
The environmentalists have now officially stated that peanuts have rights over people since they were here first. Children will now be banned. The peanut rights and peanut hate crime law is pushing through congress as we speak. Redford and Travolta are lobbying hard for peanut rights. Peter Pan and Mr. Peanut have given millions to congressmen for re-election. The deal is done. Kids, it's over for you.
Subject: Re: death by peanut butter
Date: 6/8/2001 7:28 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: MR PAUL F
Big deal...Kids die from bathtub accidents. Shall we ban bathtubs??
Subject: OH MY GOD!
Date: 6/11/2001 6:17 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: Dotcares
How ridiculous are we getting here! I've never heard of such nonsense when I went to school and none of us were poisoned by the food. Just label the food as "real peanut butter made from real peanuts" and "artificial peanut butter made from...whatever they use,oil?" I dunno.
Subject: Don't go
Date: 6/11/2001 11:55 AM US Mountain Standard Time From: LEN GUSS
Any parent unfortunate enough to have a child so violently allergic to peanut butter that he or she would die if in contact with it has to be stupid to send that child to public school and to expect that all the other hundreds or children will forego peanut butter or food containing peanuts.
Subject: Re: HELLO ! JUST TEACH YOUR CHILD NOT TO EAT IT ! SIMPLE !
Date: 6/11/2001 3:32 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: GRADWELL
>From: for goodness sake, it's just peanut butter. Is your child going to die because he can't have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch? I doubt it. Get a grip. Better that your child eats a sandwich with some lunch meat than another child dies.>
When will you take your own advice? Your or this child's "rights" end exactly where my or any other person's rights begin. If a child has such a dangerous condition, any type of public/private school setting is NOT appropriate and the child should choose an alternative type of learning environment. For example, our district has a homebound program for children unable to attend school where the teachers visit the home. This one person's needs should not restrict the freedoms of the group, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Gradwell - Jacksonville, Florida
Subject: This is so Stupid!!!
Date: 6/10/2001 12:20 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: Drumr4FireDrll
Come on people...People who are allergic should know not to eat peanut butter, and if they are too stupid not to realize what will kill them...then maybe they should die...in the meantime....people who can eat peanut butter...and like it...can go ahead and eat it all they want!...Just because one person is different...doesn't mean they have to change the whole
system!
Subject: Re: This is so Stupid!!!
Date: 6/10/2001 7:58 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: SongmanDan
>Subject: Re: This is so Stupid!!!
>Date: 06/10/2001 12:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time >From: KD4KIDS
>I have three children who when are touched by peanut butter experience anaphyletic shock within 5 minutes ...the allergy is serious , they no not to eat it but they can not always stop someone from touching them after eating peanut butter!>
Gee! That's too bad! Highly educate them about avoiding the pitfalls of their problem, or keep them permanently from harm's way -- at home! It's the parents' responsibility, not the general public's nor the school system's, nor any branch of government's -- Sorry!
Wake Up America!
Subject: Re: This is so Stupid!!!
Date: 6/10/2001 2:12 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: JessTex
Put your kids in a bubble and leave mine alone. There are alergies and handicaps all over the world. Do we stop the children of the world from leading a normal life? Allergies are not normal (2M out of 100M plus). Get real.
Subject: A PEANUT! RUN!
Date: 6/10/2001 8:53 AM US Mountain Standard Time From: Lord Molio
For the love of God why should we ban peanut butter in school because one child can die? Why cant she or he just go to another table? Gd why is this world so stupid? Who cares about the messed up child anyway. She would die soon anyway.
END OF AOL BOARD POSTS

I THINK I'M GONNA THROW UP!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THESE POSTS!! SOCIETY IS GOING TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET AND I CANNOT BELIEVE THE CALLOUSNESS OF THESE MORONS!!! OK FOLKS, I WAS UPSET BEFORE AND WANTED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, WELL WATCH OUT NOW!!! THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY FOR WISHING MY BEAUTIFUL SON DEAD YOU PIECE OF GUTTER S--T!! SORRY BUT I AM INCENSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I KNOW THIS POST IS LATE BUT JUST CAME ACROSS IT NOW.
IM JUST BEGINNING. WATCH ME YOU BASTARDS!!!! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/mad.gif[/img] Fran

We've been through all this before. It never gets any easier.
I do have to make a comment about what Texasfeller wrote. Obviously, he suffers from delusions of perfection and immortality. I'm sure he'll be the first one to complain that not enough is done for the elderly in this world when he becomes one of them. At some point, we all are weak, and depend on the compassion of others. And... God can take any one of us out in the blink of an eye, without any illness or weakness in us. I venture to guess Texasfeller is in his early to mid twenties, knows everything, and will live forever in his current form. Must be nice.
I normally don't respond to this kind of thing, but I wanted to get this off my chest so I don't walk around all day thinking about it. I don't want these kinds of reactions to cloud my thinking - it's not worth it to me.
[This message has been edited by Lam (edited July 14, 2001).]