Snowden (who really does, apparently, have epilepsy) helps an epileptic.

[MADem]

195. There are people on this website who are trying to twist this entire thread into something

more than it is. They are so determined to shut this thread down that they are spending their energies demanding that we talk about something other than the thread title, and they want to cast the worst possible light on this entire issue. I too have a family member with a seizure disorder and I don't claim that person is less human; the suggestion, made out of the blue by someone upthread, is repugnant. I also have had family members who have endured strokes, and I have seen the changes that insult can have on the brain. That didn't make THEM less human either. Further, I have an in-law who has a chemical imbalance that can be very problematic when not controlled, and I have seen what personal 'grit' and medical compliance can do to overcome that.

The point I am making is that the brain doesn't operate in a vacuum. It can be impacted by these many, and different, conditions, and that impact can result in changes to the individual.

The OP is an interesting one to me because this is the first time I have seen ES actively interacting with someone and talking about his medical condition. I think that is a salient issue. As I said to someone else, I had "heard" he had epilepsy, but I never knew if it was true or not. I looked askance because epilepsy is a permanently disqualifying condition for the US military, and he did spend a few weeks in the Army. I wondered if he used "Say, I have epilepsy and need some treatment" as an excuse to take leave from Booz Allen Hamilton, and he chose epilepsy because his mom had it and he knew the symptoms and issues (if one is going to tell a fib, it's best to go with what one knows). Now, we learn he was not fibbing and it was adult onset epilepsy that he had.

This also has nothing to do with "trust." I hope I am making this very clear but if I am not let me repeat myself--this isn't about ES's "trustworthiness" and furthermore, let me repeat it yet again, it has nothing to do with his HUMANITY, unless you want to argue that that, as well was enhanced by his condition. However, it is about the impact that epilepsy or ANY seizure disorder can (and sometimes doesn't) have on the human brain. The brain comprises a great deal of who/what we are, and changes to the brain (from epilepsy or ANY other brain condition, be it an insult, a chemical imbalance, a neurological issue, or any other impact) will sometimes change our personalities, our outlooks, our skillsets, our talents, our intelligence, our motivations, etc.

And that's not always--or even usually-- a "bad" thing.

Let me make that very clear as well. It can be good, it can be bad, and sometimes, it can just be DIFFERENT.

The argument can be made that epilepsy enhanced ES's moral core. Is that a negative? Shhhhh--don't TALK about that?? Only to people who want to make it so.

It could also be an argument for leniency in sentencing, should he decide to return home and take a plea bargain, or even take a chance with a jury, and not win his case, IMO.

Of course, because a select core of hyper-dedicated people were so eager to shut this thread down, to cast negative implications on the discussion, to get aggressive about it, too, it was impossible to have any conversation, or make any points, in an open and reasonable manner. There was a concentrated effort to divert, to change the subject, to play the LALALALA ICANTHEAR YOU card. It's obvious who was indulging in that behavior by reading the thread.

Not DU's finest hour.