There have been quite a few celebrity diabetics in the news lately. The stories usually mention that they have diabetes and my usual response to that portion of the story is “so what?”. I wouldn’t vote for a someone simply because of their race, party affiliation, hometown or military record, so why should I vote for a person simply because they are diabetic?
Read more at Strangely Diabetic and let me know what you think
Agree with you, Scott.
I don’t any feel particular affinity with a celeb because we have the same disease & find worship & obsession with celebrities quite disturbing. Great when the rich & famous lend their name to a cause, any cause. Since the spotlight is on them anyway, nice when they’re advocating for the greater good from their priveleged positions. But I don’t expect this of anyone.
I am gulity of posting things about Bret Micheals and go to Crystals page alot. I think that the fact that a big star (like them) biring out the talking about diabetes and showing what they have to do t and such are great though. Back when I took Type 1 I was told not to tell anyone then my parents treated it like the world needed to know about me and my “problem” I would NEVER do this or that I was “sick with diabetes” and they HAD to treat me like I was going to die. I’m glad that these folks are more open with diabetes than they were to me in the 70’s and are now allowed to do what they want. BEfore in my small town and in my small family it was a big problem but these folks made it not such a big problem for them and went out and showed my family and friends that they COULD do it and now I look at the loved ones in my life and say it dosen’t stop us it just makes us stronger!
it’s tribalism, plain and simple.
is it all that surprising that with diabetics (well, at least type 1) being so few and far in between that we would want to elicit some sort of connection with any other person we hear of with the same condition?
I too, would not vote for someone because they are diabetic OR because of their race OR party affiliation OR hometown OR military record, but i would vote for someone because they are diabetic AND because of party affiliation AND hometown AND their favorite flavor ice cream AND their taste in art. AND. I’d support someone for the sum of who they are, and i’ll admit, the fact that they were diabetic would add to that grand total.
it would be nice to think that we could make a decision based entirely on the particular skill/talent in question, but it’s just not a reality. We don’t live in a vacuum, and our opinion of the person in question as a whole is always going to play into who we support.
yes, the skill or their suitability for the role will always carry the most weight, but all the same we are always going to support the person we ‘like’ the most, and that person is always going to be the one who’s beliefs/opinions/choices/lifestyle/tastes align most seamlessly with our own.
diabetes is a part of who i am, so inevitably it plays a part in who i choose to affiliate myself with.
all that being said, i don’t actually vote in capacity but that as a citizen of my country, but i think the point still stands true.