The Curious Case of the Unattacked Blog Post

Posted by Jeff on September 30, 2009 · View Comments

confused I want to thank all of you that have commented on my recent blog post, Adult A.D.D. as a Form of Madness. Thank you for letting me know that I have articulated something that others did not or preferred not to articulate. Thank you for sharing your own “anecdotes of madness.” Thank you for letting me know, and everyone else who reads this blog, that we are all in this mad house together.¹

Admittedly I was surprised by the positive reaction to the blog post. I was sure that I would be pilloried, relegated to live out the remainder of my existence in blogger’s purgatory. You have shown me, through your comments, that not to acknowledge the hint of madness that results from A.D.D. is, itself, a form of madness. I wonder if the complete absence of attacks aimed at this post is itself another indicator of the madness of A.D.D. (Perhaps it is part of the delusional dimension that I’ve alluded to in other posts.) There has not been a single negative comment (as of this writing). Not a single negative private email. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Other posts, such as You Have A.D.D. and You Will Not Be Rich, elicited critical comments and a number of private negative emails. Yet this post did not. But why didn’t it? It should have. I publicly stated that A.D.D.ers are mad as a hatter.

The dearth of reaction was, I believe, the result of doing what others would not do. The blog post revealed a truth that no one wanted to make public. It exposed the ugliness of A.D.D.-as-it-is-lived. It is the inverse of all the blather put forth by the happy talk crowd. It is not a happy truth. It is a sad truth. It will not help to sell books. It will not draw people to seminars. But it IS the truth and the truth must be spoken. We cannot live a lie because, if we do, we do not know what we are truly up against. If we live a lie then we do not know how to fix what is broken. If we live a lie then we are no better than snake oil salesmen who have the “cure” for every known disease.

I have now thrown down the gauntlet. I have again stated what is obvious to all. There is nothing positive to say about A.D.D. except that many A.D.D.ers would positively love to eradicate it from their lives. So here is the challenge. I want to hear from the A.D.D.-is-a-gift crowd.² I want scientific data – NOT anecdotes about one or two successful CEOs. I want someone to prove using known scientific methods that A.D.D. is a gift. I want to know who among you is mad enough to claim that the madness of A.D.D. is a gift waiting to be unwrapped.

Contrary to one blogger’s belief about how blogger’s should behave, I believe the blogger’s responsibility is to tell the truth and not sugar coat it. Admittedly the sweetness of sugar attracts more people than does the acidity of truth. However, something inside me stops me from engaging in any form of public dissembling.↩
If A.D.D. is their definition of a “gift” then I don’t want to be at their house on Christmas time.↩

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http://18channels.blogspot.com Katy B.

“If we live a lie then we do not know how to fix what is broken.” YES. YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing for me right there. That’s why I went to the mental health center in the first place. I was living a lie, and I knew it, and didn’t know how to “fix” it. And getting the label…only brought me joy because finally, FINALLY I was living in reality.

And I am grateful, if momentarily overwhelmed, to be living in reality at last.
http://adhdpartner.org Gina Pera

Well, yes, Jeff, you should be grateful that no one is responding that you’d probably like to inject fetuses with medication or that you’re a pharma shill. It’s always good to count one’s blessings.

Your well-reasoned rationale for why no attacks followed might fit the bill. But there could be another explanation: That blog post required quite a bit of reading comprehension on any attacker’s part.

You didn’t summarize it easily in a sensationalistic headline, allowing someone to easily skip the reading and blast you on the headline alone. It would also be tough to write an attack that would match the intellectual level of your post.

Am I making sense? My husband and I just had some beer and great Indian food, and it’s been a long day…..

Gina
http://adhdpartner.org Gina Pera

Well, I know one part didn’t make sense. You DID write a pretty sensational headline. lol!
Scott Hutson

Jeff,

I thought it was a great post! I wonder though, what if you had not mentioned that you expected attacks?
That question I just asked is one of my own forms of maddness.> Questioning what cannot be answered. I will never know the answer.
Jeff

Again, I can’t thank all of you enough for validating the truth of my assertions as opposed to the “truthiness” of the assertions made by the A.D.D.-is-a-Gift crowd. While I certainly understand, and even applaud (though very softly and quietly) what they are trying to accomplish by shifting the dialogue to something that has a more positive, uplifting tone, however, they are confusing their rhetoric for reality. (I examined this particular issue in this other post: http://jeffsaddmind.com/is-and-like-452.htm)
http://18channels.blogspot.com Katy B.

“I want scientific data – NOT anecdotes about one or two successful CEOs.” Actually, I would be delighted to hear success stories of CEO’s provided there are no omissions. Because every ADHD success story has its challenging moments, its perplexing moments, its painful moments, and its downright dark moments. THOSE are the bits I want to hear, and that I feel I learn the most from. So that I know I’m not alone…so that I can see how other people pull their asses out of those predicaments…so that I can store some of them away as cautionary tales.

Those stories of success include moments of great triumph, and truly earned victory as well as the behind the scenes tales of partners and secretaries and even children who act at times as caretakers…those who tolerate unpredicable behavior, who hold routine together and gather the crew and keep the ship running despite the fact that the Captain may be…wait, where is the Captain exactly?

Those are the parts I need to see…the admissions of reliance on support systems, descriptions of the moment to moment victories AND failures, in the search for success. Failures along the way do not invalidate the success…in fact, they make it richer.

Right now, in the transitions I am facing as I relearn how to live my life…I need the whole picture. I need it like air.

I am already recovering from a lifetime of battling ADHD with perfectionism, and I have lost that battle. I have finally given myself permission to evolve, the last thing I need is more sunshine being blown up my bum by the “well-intentioned”. It’s a sick way of thinking.
Scott Hutson

Sugar-coated A.D.D.> Take a purple Chinese hot pepper(ghost pepper), dip it in melted chocolate, let dry, and sell it. That first bite is so good…..
betsy davenport, phd

Rightly, Gina points out that it takes a literate person to read and digest your post, so that might explain things. Not being literate hasn’t always stopped people from the knee jerk (emphasis on JERK) response.

I’ve just made a contribution to the conversation at large. See:
http://adderworld.com/blog1/2009/09/19/what-is-adhd-2/comment-page-1#comment-26836
Jeff

Scott, that’s a great description of sugar-coated A.D.D.

Katy, I agree with you that it would be helpful, oh so helpful, to hear the real nitty-gritty of these “successful” A.D.D.ers. with all the blemishes intact.

Betsy, thank you (and Gina, again) for pointing out that it takes a literate person to understand what I’ve written. I’m not patting myself on the back here (ok…maybe a little) but I hate the way we reduce the world to simplicities when it is really very complex. We’ve become – courtesy of Murdoch – a country of Sean Hannity-type idiots.
Scott Hutson

The first thing someone should read on this blog is the Title..”JEFF’S A.D.D. MIND”…..Before attacking! Maybe we(the commenters), on the post did that. I’ll admit I did’nt, when I first found this blog. I did’nt attack, but I was a little bit confused, about the first post I read, because my search directed me straight to http://jeffsaddmind.com/brain-tumors-do-not-exist-141.htm
http://18channels.blogspot.com Katy B.

Scott…the purple chinese pepper…bwahahaha!