> > I, in contrast to the Right, don't see anything wrong or pathetic in
>> speaking of being a victim of corporate crime, police brutality,
>> sexual harassment, etc., as long as we are not ideologically reduced
>> to being *nothing but* victims of oppressions.
>
>There are victims of crime, police brutality, etc. But to use
>impairment as a reason for eliminating these social ills is oppressive
>to us. To use impairment as a symbol of tragedy as a primary reason
>not to tolerate police brutality or war or any injustice is to devalue
>impaired persons.
>
>We do not deny that incurring a disability means facing certain kinds
>of losses, but we say our biggest losses are economic, political and
>social freedom. by the world believing that the problems impaired
>persons have are the result of the impairment and by using negative
>images and representations such as Ron Kovic, as a victim, to promote
>that belief, social justice movements often slap us in the face. They
>don't, however, usually know it. They often use the image of the
>"wheelchair bound" persons as a consequence of something they wish to
>rid the world of. MADD has done this, the Peace Movement used Ron
>Kovic this way.
If you see a problem in the rhetoric used by and about Ron Kovic, you must see an even bigger problem in Dalton Trumbo's _Johnny Got His Gun_. Here's an excerpt from the book: <http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/General/JohnnyGotHisGun.html>.
Yoshie