QA Syndrome treated at ATS! or - found the end of the rabbit hole.

I am here because I was infected with QA syndrome at an early age, and this is one place I have found fellow sufferers. It's good to be home. What is QA Syndrome? It is Question Authority Syndrome.

QA Syndrome is not well known. Unfortunately. This syndrome is characterized by repetitive thoughts of:
Being lied to,
Manipulated,
Forced into disastrous decisions without any input or effective resistance
Feelings of helplessness and inability to gain any control of the situation

QA Syndrome can strike at any age. The effects can be seen as early as the terrible two's, or as late as a deathbed confession. The only possible immunization against QA Syndrome is stupidity. Refusal to put aside the delusions that peace and prosperity are just around the corner. Adamant adherence to rules because rules exist. That lucky woman in the Metro a little while ago who was NOT a QA Syndrome sufferer. How do I know? She DIED rather than break a rule. As I said, stupidity. Not her fault she was never exposed to QA Syndrome, by the way. She is an innocent victim of her own stupidity. Nothing in her experience had taught her that following the rules was lethal. By allowing the Metro to have authority over her without questioning it - she died.

Questioning Authority does NOT mean automatically disobeying, however. It means exactly what it says - QUESTION that force that is attempting to assert its authority over you. If it makes sense to grant that authority - do so and get on with things. I never question the social authority that we all drive on the right hand side of the road. Sure - rebels can go ahead, defy authority and drive down the left hand side. They may well kill themselves and others in the process of their rejection of authority - and that is a critical distinction.

Questioning authority does not mean we won't do what 'they' want in the end - we just want to know what is being done, why, and what will happen to US as individuals if we do - or do not - comply. Tricky stuff. If a cop tells me to drive on the right hand side because that is how we keep from killing each other...that makes sense and I am happy to do it. If he tells me I cannot drive on the left hand side because that is how they do it in England, and by God and the Great Lord Harry, we tossed those bastids out years ago...now I have a problem. That is when QA Syndrome rears its ugly head and asks "Huh?" If you want me to behave as a reasonable person - work a little harder and give me a reasonable, and real explanation for your rules. Otherwise, they don't apply.

So, so much of what we do these days we do only because we have never stopped doing them...and why that is can be an open-ended question that will take years to process. Are we preprogrammed replicated mutated alien DNA meatbots with delusions of life? THOSE questions are something else entirely. What I am concerned with is lowering the stupidity level to below critical mass and encouraging people to just ask questions. It's scary - questioning authority can lead to bad things. But so can blind obedience. If something nasty is meant for me - at least I will go knowing what (or who) took me out. And it won't be the rules committee.

Welcome.


Medication is usually around 10pm...


Make sure when you swallow the meds, that it only reaches the trachea...

Once the orderlies leave you, the meds can be regurgitated easily, and spat into the bin.







Who is the woman in the Metro?



The inmates run the asylum here...

But if we go to far...
The Mods will arrive with the straight jackets and sedative injection.

originally posted by: cronemel

That lucky woman in the Metro a little while ago who was NOT a QA Syndrome sufferer.

What woman? Who is lucky?

How do I know? She DIED rather than break a rule. As I said, stupidity.

Who died? Who killed her? Who is stupid?

She is an innocent victim of her own stupidity.

Please explain? I am so "stupid" I don't understand.


Who Died
WIS

a reply to: cronemel

Questioning Authority does NOT mean automatically disobeying, however. It means exactly what it says - QUESTION that force that is attempting to assert its authority over you. If it makes sense to grant that authority - do so and get on with things

I had a boss once (we called him the bully boss) who chastised me by telling me that my problem was that I had a problem with authority. My reply was basiclly what you point out above. He did not understand because he was the boss and I was a minion.

Well ok then crone. Welcome to a house where ever so many consider themselves to be an authority on something.

a reply to: WalkInSilence

Not stupid at all - just not on this particular radar. This article was in the Washington Post on Jan 12. My bad - it had been longer than I thought since the incident.
www.washingtonpost.com...

Taken from the article, in case the link doesn't work...

"Passengers watched out for each other, sharing inhalers with those who were having trouble breathing, he said. After a few more minutes, another woman standing near him said she couldn’t breathe and then passed out. Rogers and other passengers took turns giving her CPR.

“We just kept doing (CPR), maybe 25 minutes . . . we just kept going. Somebody helped carry her toward the back of the train – that was before the fire fighters arrived.”

Rogers said it took about 40 minutes before firefighters arrived and began evacuating the train. Passengers walked through the tunnel back to L’Enfant station. He said the air in the tunnel was easier to breathe than the air on the train. On the train, he said the smoked had a chemical smell, but in the tunnel it had the distinct smell of burning wood."

Plain and simple - the only way out of there was down through the tunnel. Why it took 40 minutes for someone to come down and lead all those people out is a question for anyone not suffering from QA Syndrome. If I am sitting on a train, filling with smoke, and people are beginning to pass out - I will find a door, open it and leave. I will walk down the same tunnel that the authorities would be walking me down MUCH later, I will reach the next station, climb out of the tracks and go on with my life. I will also encourage as many others as are willing to infect themselves with QA syndrome to come with me. But passively sitting on a death trap because the rule told me to? Nope.

Who Died?
And WHO killed her?

I am very uncomfortable now.

OP give us an answer.

Ok, I read your post, must have been on top of mine, but I am still not calm.
WIS

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Thanks for the welcome. What's the pill for? (QA Syndrome-early and often.)

a reply to: WalkInSilence

I am no authority. But not feeling calm is usually one of the first symptoms of QA Syndrome. It means that you are not happy simply swallowing what has been handed to you. I am truly sorry if my unfamiliarity with posting styles led me to be perceived as mysterious or melodramatic - I made the mistake of assuming that everyone reading my post was familiar with the news item. So noted, and more explanation in future OPs. To say I didn't mean to upset you would be a lie...but I mean only to upset old perceptions of things. Feel free to mentally tag me as drama queen and avoid me if reading me makes you feel badly. There is enough nasty out there. I do not want to be a contributor to people's internal pain, except for the unavoidable discomfort of recommending that you actually ask someone to explain why they think that they have authority over what you do. Trust me. MOST people you ask that of are far more uncomfortable trying to answer that question, than you were asking it. True - in some places, asking them to demonstrate their authority means that they will do just that - meaning you wind up in cuffs,with front and side view on your permanent record - but, given circumstances like that Metro - I would rather be alive in a cell than smoked on a slab.

Thank You for your reply,

I do relate to your thread it does stir something.
I do NOT swallow any thing raw.

Could you paragraph your writeing?
It makes it so much easier to read and I would like to hear more.

My previous post was swallowed by my computer, but I am a scared little bunny in wolves clothes, people scare me.
WIS

Oh, I forgot to say Welcome Aboard,
Have a lovely stay and please be YOU.


Never mind my timid nature nor me, I am nobody, it balances my fighting side.

WIS

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Thanks for the welcome. Bosses are exactly what I mean by allowing someone authority over you. In those cases, I picked battles very carefully. Having been both a public school teacher, and a 9-1-1 dispatch supervisor, I swam in authority soup for decades...absorbing those good rules - like everyone driving on the proper side of the road - rejecting the bad ones as far as possible, and fighting like a demon for that grey stuff in the middle where I could actually make a difference.

a reply to: WalkInSilence

And thanks for the welcome. Promise, nothing to fear here. Just words. They go away as soon as the computer shuts off. Of course, the ideas may linger for a while...hopefully...but nothing that will hurt for long. Thanks for answering and asking!

Greetings cronemel and welcome to the Pla...., er I mean ATS. *speaks to self*....welcome to you also, BOB haha

Welcome to ATS!

I've lost pretty much all my jobs because I was asking questions. When, because of my questions, the bosses see that their ideas don't make sense, are unoptimal and my questions make them uneasy that's when I get kicked out.
I also never managed to land a high degree diploma for the same reason.

Authorities hate it when they are wrong and instead of rethinking their stance, they rather see me gone.
No one is ALWAYS right but their ego can't take it.

a reply to: Baronofbrains

Thank you. It's amusing and amazing just how many people seem to have similar thoughts on this issue. And welcome to you as well!

a reply to: Darkblade71

Thank you - absolutely one of those fundamental concepts that OUGHT to be a no-brainer...*sigh*

a reply to: theMediator

Authority figures are created when other people dress them in that style. Once someone has been dressed that way for a while, it becomes expected, sometimes even demanded. But woe to the individual who doesn't get in on the game. Authority figures are simply not prepared to deal with someone who calmly and persistently asks for REAL proof of the ASSUMED authority. It's not in their programming. And as we all know, parts of the program that don't function exactly to specs are dumped. You were not wrong in what you did. You were quite courageous - having been a teacher, and been challenged by students like you, I know how much courage it took to speak up. Bravo.

originally posted by: WalkInSilence

Hay Crome

Could you paragraph your writeing?

That was so rude of me, I have not right to suggest such things.
Sorry

I do find this topic intriguing, those in "power", the little self inflated kings usually use passive agressive tactics and become infuriated when we call them on it.
Sorry again.
WIS

originally posted by: cronemel

a reply to: WalkInSilence

I am no authority.

This is your thread and Intro so you are the Author/ Authority.
I hope you will elaborate and partake in a debate, albiet it may have been more appropriate in another Forum since Intro's aren't viewed as frequently or gain general applause. But.

It means that you are not happy simply swallowing what has been handed to you.

I think it contradicts learning any thing and thus very unhealthy to surpress natural curiousity.
It has come to the point where questioning is equal to opposition or aggression. So sad.

I made the mistake of assuming that everyone reading my post was familiar with the news item.

Don't apologize, I don't get main stream news or have a "connected" television, I refuse to pay for Adds that assume to "infect" me with their subliminal orders. Twenty years now.
So when I read your post I went in to profile mode.
To me it sounded like a confession.
It scared the s... out of me.
Sorry.

So noted, and more explanation in future OPs.

Good I almost reported a murder confession, BIG SMILE.

Feel free to mentally tag me as drama queen

Heck no, you have a valid point, and we need to be challenged.

ask someone to explain why they think that they have authority over what you do.

Some people have the authority, but they abuse it, never giveing an explaination.
WIS