Video Scavenger Hunt has dozens of people acting like Babies

If I understand it correctly, Gishwhes is a sort of video scavenger hunt where you are given a number of scenarios and in order to claim each item you have to act out the scenario and post it to youtube. Item #97 of the 2013 Gishwhes is to go through a drive thru with one of your teammates dressed up and acting like a baby in the back seat. Because of this there are now a ton of videos of people doing this on youtube. Some people do it better than others but some of them really get into it.

Roleplaying as a part time activity VS. the Bifurcation Fallacy

A common mistake I see among those who criticize ABDLs is they seem to think that ABDLs spend all of their free time, or even all of their time, in baby mode. To someone that has any experience with ABDLs this is a ridiculous concept. I think that they are basing this assumption on bifurcation or a false dilemma where a person can act like a baby, or they can act like an adult, but they can't do both and they can't switch between the two at will. It reminds me of another concept I see expressed from time to time that ABDLs supposed think that we really are babies. Adult babies understand that they are adults roleplaying as children. We are not deluded to thinking that we are actual physical children. It is just something we enjoy doing, just one thing out of many that we might enjoy in life. Most of us are not willing to sacrifice everything else we enjoy in life to do this one thing even if it is our favorite thing in the world to do.

Back to my first point. Why do people assume that if someone is an adult baby that they must be in baby mode 24/7/365? The logistics alone of doing this is absurd. Let's say that there are 500k ABs in the United States. I have no data to back that number up but I think that it is a good guess. Of those how many could even afford to not have a job? 1%? So that leaves you with 5000 people who could afford to go without working at a job. Most of those are not entirely without other responsibilities. You might be financially independent but you still have to manage your investments, pay your bills, do the grocery shopping, clean your home. etc. etc. (Some ABs want to be a french maid who is "forced" to wear diapers and clean the house daily but they are a small minority, and most of those making these absurd assumptions don't even know that baby-maids exist.)

OK, so how many adult babies out there are so rich that they can pay people to take care of absolutely all of their needs such that they literally don't have a care in the world, as well as pay someone to play mommy or daddy for them? (There are many people out there that Good, Giving, and Game for playing the caretaker role to an adult baby or adult little, but doing that non-stop 24/7, even someone that was into playing the caretaker role would get tired of it after a while.) I would guess that there are 25 people in the USA who are both adult babies and could financially afford to live the fantasy of acting and being treated like a baby 24/7. Now of those 25 people how likely is it that, like someone playing their caretaker, they themselves would get bored of roleplaying after a while? Most likely all of them would get bored.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You can't be an adult baby without first being an adult. Outside of their ABDL interests ABDLs are pretty normal. Even of those who take pride in being weirdos they are still complicated human beings with multiple interests in life.

I invest my money with the goal of being financially independent but this should be the goal of everyone, not just adult babies. I'm looking forward to an early retirement but when that happens I want more from life than to just sit around in diapers watching cartoons and playing with my mommy. I want to travel and see not only the country but the world. I love going out dancing and having fun with other adults in an adult setting. I would like to learn to play a musical instrument, and learn to paint, and to write poetry, and I don't care if I suck at all of them the fun is in the doing. I want to grasp at life with both hands and experience all it has to offer. Life is too short and too precious to spend it doing just one thing even if it is my favorite thing in the world.

I enjoy playing video games too. Granted some people spend way too much of their time playing video games, but they are a minority. Most people who play video games do not let it consume all of their free time let alone quit their jobs so they can play video games more. It would be a false dilemma to say you can either do nothing but play video games all the time or not play them at all. Adult Babies are the same way. It is just one out of many things we do with our lives.

If you actually think you are a baby, or you have absolutely no interests in life outside of adult baby roleplaying then I would say something is wrong. If that is the case you probably should seek psychological help. Maybe if you actually had the chance to be in baby mode for a couple of months you would get bored and realize that there is more to life than roleplaying. The fact remains that most adult babies don't even desire this and it is absurd for people to suggest it.

How to Survive 4 Types of Troll Attacks

http://nerdsnfurs.wordpress.com/a-hyperlinkers-guide-to-the-internet/how-to-survive-4-types-of-troll-attacks/

Most of these don't really apply to ABDL issues, but it is good for people in general to understand what is going on with trolling. Simply put they are trying to fool you. They find it entertaining to upset people. If you don't get upset then they have failed to troll you. This is why if you have good reason to believe someone is a troll the best thing to do is ignore them. It is also why getting politically correct is the worst possible thing you can do.

I don't always follow my own advice. Why is this OK? Well, it isn't. If I have an advantage it is that I understand that I am an idiot. Everyone who posts comments to youtube is an idiot. That includes me, and if you post comments to youtube it includes you. There are no exceptions. The sooner you understand this the better off you will be.

Maybe you think it is fun to play with the trolls. I just want them to leave us alone. If you play with the trolls or express in comments that you are upset then you are feeding them. Just leave them alone and they will find another target.

If you aren't sure that someone is a troll and you want to address what they have written in comments remember who your audience is. Your audience is not the person you are responding to. Your audience is other people on youtube reading the comments. You don't care about changing the mind of the person you are responding to. You are apathetic to their opinion. You are simply and unemotionally correcting their misinformation. If you have any doubts about the comment you are about to post always remember that you are an idiot, but it is OK because everyone is an idiot.

Correlation, Causation, and assuming childhoood abuse in ABDLs

I don't think I blogged about this before but I might have reposted some youtube comments. Anyway, this is a subject that comes up frequently in youtube discussions of ABDLs. Someone will assume that a specific ABDL or even ABDLs in general developed our fetish because of childhood abuse. Many will also conclude from their assumption that this means that ABDL is a form of mental illness. There are several things wrong with this.

While there are many ABDLs that were abused as children there are also many ABDLs who were not abused and had relatively normal childhoods. There is no evidence that the population of ABDLs experienced abuse at a greater frequency than the general population. That which is claimed without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Also, if being ABDL is caused by abuse then why are there ABDLs who did not experience abuse?

When you are talking about a specific ABDL who did experience abuse they will often attribute the abuse to their becoming an ABDL. Maybe it is true but the fact is that we don't really know. It is an assumption. There is know way to know how things would have turned out if they had not been abused. It is possible that they would be an ABDL even if they were not abused.

Some ABDLs have problems with mental illness but again there is no evidence that the frequency of mental illness is greater among ABDLs than the general population. When you are talking about a specific ABDL with mental illness this is a medical issue. They should consult with a medical professional. Medical professionals are human and capable of making mistakes so you have to find a doctor or a therapist who is good for you. It is important that people with issues get help from medical professionals with whom they meet in person rather than random unqualified idiots on youtube who diagnose people with mental illness based on nothing more than their own assumptions.

The fact is that when an ABDL with mental health issues gets help from medical professionals resolves their issues they nearly always retain their ABDL desires. The do gooders of youtube think that mental health means being normal, but normal is relative and subjective. I think it is important to look at mental health objectively. The first threshold for this is answering the question "Are you a threat to others or yourself." The second threshold is are you functional. That is to say are you functional in everyday life? This breaks down to: Are you able to maintain a job or income? Are you taking care of your physical health with a good diet and exercise? Do you have a secure, clean and well maintained home? Do you pay your bills on time? Are you social and able to relate to other people?



Youtube comment I wrote that inspired this blog post:

Some adult babies experienced abuse when they were children. Some did not. There is no evidence to suggest that adult babies experienced childhood abuse at a greater frequency than the general population.
Also, even if she was abused as a child you would be making the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. (correlation does not imply causation)

More on ABDL origins

Here is a comment I just posted. I'm a bit tired right now but I might want to expand on it later.

Fetishes are a complicated subject. While there is no conclusive evidence, circumstantial evidence suggests that fetishes develop in early childhood long before puberty. Therefore, like the majority of adult babies, Riley probably had an interest in diapers long before she tried wearing them at 13. It is more a matter of that was the first time she both had the opportunity and the courage to act on her desires. Some ABs experimented with diapers at a younger age, and some waited until adulthood.

STOP LIKING THINGS I DON'T LIKE!!!!!

One of the biggest problems that people who criticize ABDLs have with us is that this is something that does not appeal to them, and they figure if they don't like it then other people shouldn't like it either. If you are responding to critics, try to recognize when this is the case and point it out.


Amusing video explaining this. And then I notice another video that is also amusing in this same theme.

Here is a comment I wrote in response to a video like this:

There are many men and women who do adult baby roleplaying. They don't need to grow up. They are grown up. Most Adult Babies have jobs and responsibilities just like all other adults. This is just something that we do in our spare time for fun.
If you don't like the idea of people doing this that is fine, you don't have to like it. But if you expect people to not do something they enjoy simply because you would not enjoy doing it yourself then you are incredibly immature.

Don't put down other people when defending ABDLs

Someone wrote a comment saying that our fetish is "100% harmless" and then implies that BDSM is harmful. Here is how I replied:

Nothing in life is 100% harmless. That's why some people prefer the motto of Risk Aware Consensual Kink over Safe Sane and Consensual, although I often prefer to use SSC because RACK can be too complicated to explain to vanillas.

It is both unnecessary and a fallacy to put other people down when explaining that this is just a harmless fetish. The BDSM scene has become accepting of ABDLs in recent years, and there is crossover as well.

I wanted to write more but didn't have much room because of the limits of youtube comments. I'm pretty sure I've written about the fallacy of moral relativism in the past in this blog. I've certainly done a lot of it in youtube comments. It is a fallacy because just about anything a person might do you could think of something that is worse and say "at least I'm not doing this." Not only is it a bad argument logically, but emotionally it puts you on the defensive and it implies that there actually is something wrong with ABDL activities.

But this comment kind of pisses me off. It seems like backstabbing to me. Yes there is some risk in BDSM, but as I said there is risk in everything you do in life. If you wanted a life without risk you couldn't cross the street. Bathtubs kill 340 people each year, are you going to stop taking baths?

I've seen ABDLs do this before, both in public forums and ABDL forums. How do they not see the irony of putting down other kinks and fetishes when advocating for tolerance of their own? At the very least I think it is very rude.

edit 2

(Then I reread the comment I posted to youtube and realize I should have said "this is just a *mostly* harmless fetish.")

edit 3

On the exact same video a different person wrote a comment defaming people into BDSM, with my comment at the top. Here is how I responded:

I just addressed this less than a week ago. You don't have to put down other people or activities to show that ABDL stuff is mostly harmless. That is an appeal to moral relativism and a fallacy. The benign nature of ABDLs stand on their own regardless of what one might otherwise do.

Also, there are some ABDLs that are also into BDSM so in your failed attempt to defend ABDLs you are actually insulting many of them. Both ABDL and BDSM are mostly harmless activities.