December 16, 2004

VIOLENCE.
Lots of violence. -->not entirely safe for work<-- (Apologies if this is a bit Farkian; just blowing off some steam. All links via the fascinatin' pickin' boogers.)
  • i can't belive the barkley/lambier fight isn't in there.
  • i can't believe i did that.
  • From the pickin' boogers site, the most disgusting birth defect I've ever seen. (Video is Windows media.) Words fail me.
  • I'm actually fpping that link shortly.
  • um, quick text description of waraw's link please? For someone at work, torn between morbid curiosity and a complete lack of privacy.... hopefully words will not fail everyone.
  • Its a local news broadcast, so SFW.
  • The baby was born missing the vast majority of bones in its face, including eye sockets.
  • That is the ugliest. baby. ever.
  • E.T. go home
  • Yeah, it's hard to look at. But. She doesn't know that she's different, or "disgusting" or "ugly". All she knows is herself, as she is. But she'll figure it out when she's older and runs into people like some of you. "Ugly" is hurting a child.
  • Just watched that baby story clip. Mom says the most hurtful thing she recently heard about her daughter was "disgusting" from a girl. Coincidentally, I recently saw part of a tv program featuring a man with a very "agressive" Port Wine Stain (PWS) birthmark that covers about half his face. His appearance startled me at first (having never seen a similar-sized birthmark before), but that initial impression faded and became replaced by awe at how mentally strong he seems to be, considering his lifetime of startled (and worse) reactions from others. His pages addressed to parents of kids with PWS and on the subject of relating/employment are interesting.
  • At first, I thought the baby video was a shock video, or a joke (like a video of a politician with a bad hat stuck to his head). But seeing it was a news story, I just felt sad. She was not hard to look at at all - she was strange-looking, but obviously just a happy little girl. But the whole time watching, I couldn't stop thinking about how soon she will not be happy, when she begins to face teasing. And worst, that she may never date or find someone who will love her, because we are all so shallow.
  • Now that this thread has been totally hijacked... I can't get this kid out of my mind. Sure, jb, maybe I am shallow. Maybe the majority of humans are as shallow. But, like it or no, the reality is that this child faces a lifetime of painful, expensive surgeries, and the majority of her interactions with fellow human beings will be painful ones. Her disfigurements are FAR more off-putting than a birthmark, no matter how aggressive. I can't help but think that modern medicine keeps people alive to extend its earning potential. Five hundred years ago -- hell, ONE hundred years ago, perhaps fifty -- they would have simply bashed her head in with a rock and called that the most humane solution. I can't say I disagree with that solution. Whether that makes me an awful person or not, I guess is up to you.
  • This is going to sound glib, but I swear it's not... A few people like the girl's mother will look past her appearance and care for her. Not many, probably, but some. If the child needs more human interaction, the Internet will be there for her. Everyone can find her niche online (assuming of course that she will be literate... homeschooling?) .
  • It doesn't sound glib to me. It sounds promising, and like something that people with various immobilizing health conditions are already taking advantage of (sometimes they share information about their conditions, sometimes they prefer to keep that private, I think).