Pathologizing different children breeds outsized pride in conforming ones

Evidence

This, I think, is a corollary of all the shame and pathologizing of kids who are different in our culture—an outsize pride taken in kids who seem to check all the boxes, meet all the social standards, are perfect little children. Children in need of protecting, keeping pure from all transgressors. — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 647

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the anti-vax/autism framing earlier in the chapter — the shame of difference fuels both the need to keep children ‘pure’ and the elevation of normalcy.