Expert Commenters

You know what is annoying? Well, lots of things, but today I received a notification from my blog that somebody left a comment. I don't usually become annoyed with comments, unless they are as idiotic and uninformed as this one was. Is. I just don't get why stuttering seems to be one of the last conditions that it is okay to blame on the stutterer him or herself. This is what it said (says):

"I don't know where you get the idea that it's something we don't choose. It is, you know that we can speak fluently at times, we can sing fluently, and many people can talk to animals or to them self fluently. There is something in our mind that says, "i will stutter now." that's a choice." - Crims Blog: http://crimsmindos.blogspot.com/

What is annoying is when people come along with no expertise in this field, the field of Speech Pathology, medicine, psychology, therapy...anything even remotely related...and yet they state things categorically as if somehow they've been given some divine information from the Stuttering Fairy.

Just because we can speak fluently at times does not mean, in any logical sense that I can think of, that the times when we do stutter, must be a choice. That logic doesn't follow at all. That's what you would call a non sequitur. One thing doesn't follow the other. "You looked at me funny. Therefore, you must want me dead." His is even worse. "You looked at me funny. You must want to be an astronaut." That is about the level of logic in his statement.

The experts in the field do not understand all there is to know about stuttering, yet this chemistry student suddenly has it all figured out? Since I can talk fluently sometimes...it must be a choice! Listen, unless you have some credentials that lead the reasonable person to the conclusion that you know anything about the topic about which you are speaking, please keep your ridiculous opinions to yourself. It's an insult to stutterers everywhere to lay the blame of our stuttering on us, just as it would to blame Cerebral Palsy on the sufferer. Or any disease or condition.

The stupidity of such an assertion is that...why on earth would I choose to stutter? Do you somehow think I enjoy being humiliated in public or that I enjoy feeling inferior or enjoy not being able to express myself at certain times? Yes, I do not have to feel that way about stuttering, but that is the reality at times.

It is well known that most stutterers do not stutter when they sing because the process in the brain while singing is different than that when merely speaking. Same with when we speak in unison. Most stutterers do not stutter at such times. Again, most believe, based on RESEARCH (hello?) that it is because the process that occurs in the brain is DIFFERENT than when we speak alone. While there is likely a psychological aspect to stuttering, recent research indicates that there is just something DIFFERENT in the brains of people who stutter. So, they may never get to the bottom of why, precisely, people stutter. One thing that the experts, doctors, psychologist, speech pathologists, therapists, and other educated experts know...we don't *choose* to stutter. That doesn't even make good sense. If you would like to leave your own comment in response, the entry in question is here: http://stutteringstudent.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-used-to-stuttercured-not-so-fast.html

Please keep your uninformed and annoying opinions to yourself. Go back to your chemistry studies or something. Thank you.