Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Only Child Syndrome: The Epidemic Continues

Like I've said before, every day a lot of people come to this blog looking for relief from having to deal with Only Child Syndrome.

The various bloggings have gotten a lot of comments from victims of OCS. And from those who are OCS Deniers. I've previously likened OCS Deniers to Holocaust Deniers.

I've gotten a few comments from Only Children. Some admitting to suffering from the Syndrome, others denying its existence, others verbalizing in stereotypical Only Child Syndrome fashion.

Some of the commenters, like two of yesterday's Anonymouses seem very earnest, yet also sound as if they've not actually read the blogging to which they are commenting, or somehow missed the drift.

Below are the 2 Anonymouses comments, with links to the blogging they are commenting on...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Only Child Syndrome Strikes Again":

One only child is not like every other only child so do not get stuck in grouping them all together. You limit your ability to expand your horizons and accept others for who they are when you label and classify people. There are plenty of people out there that are insulting, disrespectful, troublemakers and are manipulators and has nothing to do with with their birth order or with being an only child - it is a choice!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Only Child Syndrome":

Yeah, only children are the bane of society. We should exterminate all of them, because they're all exactly how you described. All of them. At least you aren't stereotyping.

And thank God you were lucky enough to not be an only child and too bad for those poor bastards with parents who had only them because they couldn't afford more children, they couldn't have more children, they simply were smart enough to know they shouldn't have more children for whatever reason, they had other children who died, they died, whatever other scenario. You are SO lucky. The rest of us are just selfish, I guess.

There is an Urban Dictionary website. The Urban Dictionary entries for Only Child Syndrome are amusing, and seem rather on target....

ONLY CHILD SYNDROME

1. A terrible disease that typically effects only-children, but can occasionally strike people with siblings. It may also effect children whose parents divorce.

Symptoms include: playing mind games with members of the opposite sex, a crippling desire for instant gratification, the inability to compromise or share, and a total disregard for anyone's thoughts or feelings but their own.

2. The self-centered attitude and actions that a large percentage of people with no siblings make their calling card.

3. Only children sometimes exhibit characteristics resembling women who have their periods. This can occasionally lead to flashes of intense anger when they don't get their way or someone insults them even the slightest bit. Also, when there is dissent in the friendship ranks which they are a part of, they lash out and try to make the other friends seem more culpable and especially more gay than they are. They have an overwhelming feeling that the world is against them and they tend to ruminate a lot as well. When you factor girls into the picture with an only child, it is never a pretty sight.

2 comments:

  1. I think a few of your readers are missing something quite fundamental about your blogging on this particular subject...that when you're commenting...you're not posting about "AN ONLY CHILD", but you're commenting on the ONLY CHILD SYNDROME. So, if second anonymous commenter had actually taken the time to read carefully he/she would have realized that you have not stereotyped...that you're discussing the disease itself and your experience with people who exhibit traits of the syndrome.

    What I'm pondering is what was anonymous looking for when he/she came across your blog?

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  2. I've gotten several of the Only Children Syndrome comments where it seems to me the person has been told they have OCS. They have not heard of this before, so they info-search, they go to the first website on the Google list, which is my blog, if you Google "Only Child Syndrome." And then they make the comment without every actually reading what's written. Anyway, that's how I explain the nonsensical nature of some of those comments. That, and it's people with OCS making the comments.

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