Aspergers and (dislike of) black culture?

Post Reply New Topic

Are many people with AS repulsed by black culture? I don't mean pure racism or dislike of black people, but does anyone get put off by things like rap music, the BET, and 'gangsta' culture?

I think in alot of ways, AS can be seen as the antithesis of the African-American stereotypical paradigm. I think its possible to characterize AS as extreme introversion and inhibition, and black culture seems to be extremely extroverted and uninhibited.

Are there any non-black people with AS who are especially fond of rap music or any aspect of contemporary black culture?

In my High School, many white kids liked things like Eminem and stuff like that. I used to feel like I was rebelling against alot of the preppy white kids who liked rap-music, backwards ball-caps, and urban slang. I felt like my rebellion was to embrace Euro-culture. I was wondering if other people with AS had some feelings on this?

We had lots of blacks bussed in to my HighSchool as well from the inner city and I was sort of put off by their hyper-social ways. There were a few black students who I was on good terms with on an individual basis, but it seemed like the black students as a group were sort of a massive negative presence and collective underacheivement. It would have been difficult for me to associate with them as they were often times loud, disrespectful, troublemongering, and that sort of thing in the hallways.

I went to a small rural elementary school, but I transferred to this bigger school district in the 7th grade where I was exposed to blacks and other minorites for the first time. I was bullied quite a bit and it wasn't long before I honestly wised up and stayed as far away from the black students as possible. I was bullied by white kids too and had all sorts of negative experiences with many groups of students. It was just an observational thing.

Things like rap music, loud music, and profanity were hard on my senses.

So I was just wondering how other AS people feel about black culture and all of this? This forum seems to be generally pretty liberal and I hope I don't get into a spat or anything but I've been thinking about this for a few days. I feel nervous about even posting this topic but I hope to generate a good honest conversation. I'm talking about critical feelings on black culture, not black people.

I find it rather annoying when people think black culture is little more than gangsta rap and BET.

No.

When I was in (a mostly white) high school, I hated: team sports and pep rallies; field trips and dances; student government and the yearbook committee; lunch; and almost everything else.

Aspies hate NT group activities and NT social structures, regardless of the supposed cultural source.

But the hatred of high school cliques is not felt only by Aspies. Duh. It's high school. Anyone with more than two functioning brain cells would hate it.

I quite like Rap music.

I particularly enjoy the lyrics which incorporate rhyme with very accurate descriptions of society.

I was also a big fan of black women during my bachelor days (once you go black you never go back )

I'm not a big fan of African/Jamaican etc food but hopefully I've scored enough points to qualify as at least neutral

Does punk music and metal music also offend you? I have a hard time with both of those genres due to the loudness thing, and I used to dislike rap, though in the last few years I've warmed to it a little bit. There is, for instance, a fantastic Eminem song called Stan which is unusually melodic for its genre.
I also had a problem with loud, disrespectful students in my high school, though most of them were white (the student population was mostly white).
I'm not sure what you mean by black culture. Most of the issues you raise are present in many different cultures. And there are many different black cultures as well.
The most stereotypically uninhibited culture I can think of offhand is the "redneck culture", which is predominantly white. So I don't think uninhibited and loud is a black thing. It's not even a neurotypical thing; I've known some very loud, obnoxious Aspies. Maybe it's a human thing. Would that be generalizing too much?

Although I fully agree with your sentiments, this may be a slight over generalization (even for an Aspie) but I love the passion with which you made your point

Just glorious

While i echo rmctagg09's comments about stereotyping black culture as BET and gansta rap, I don't really think that was your intent. I do think that black culture as a whole is a "step up" in it's socialness compared to typical white NT culture. As such much about it would be off-putting to Aspies. I'd be interested to hear stats on coping differences between black and white aspies. Mind you I think I read somewhere that Asperger's is not nearly as prevalent in the negro race.

Anyways, on the topic of rap, I can think of nothing that will grate on my nerves worse. I can say that of most black-music too. But as someone else mentioned above, Punk and Metal, also have that same effect on me.

Now, I don't think it's loudness, instead I think it's the abrasiveness. Hrm, consider a great (imo) 70's band, Rush. It's rather hard music. And there are bands that are not nearly as hard that grate on me incessantly, but I could listen to Rush for hours.

Here is where the difference is, I think. Rush was, regardless of how hard it was, melodic. Rap isn't. I'm not really someone who knows the vocab of music the best, so I'm not sure melodic is the word, but what I mean is that it flows, and it proceeds smoothly, it doesn't jump all around. If i had to draw it, it would be like a sine wave, instead of a zigzag. Maybe it's just more predictable.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B61XAN2Ujw[/youtube]


Where's this fit in your idea of black culture?


Or how about this...


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R17Pit0i-D0[/youtube]




You're really misguided and probably closed off because of some bad experiences that you might not have even fully understood.

People are people and most people suck but it isn't because of their race.

Thank you all for your responses. Many interesting points were made so I will try and address them.

I think the thing for me is that I would be dreadfully embarassed if people thought I actually had any sort of affinity for black culture, or that I would do things like publically interracially date. Its just who I am but I would rather die than be seen in an interracial relatonship, hanging out with black people, or wearing FUBU or stuff like that. Its sort of my rebellion to be White. I've always viewed acceptance and adoption of black culture as the social norm so obviously, having AS, I would distance myself from that. It is also that I just don't care for that stuff and I just prefer "white things" and plainness.

When I was in high-school, opposite the feeling of the 2nd poster, I felt like the affinity for black culture was the standard for all students(and teachers,) so it was actually my revolt to head back in a more conservative direction, if that makes any sense. Its kind of hard to explain what I mean.

I certainly don't think all black culture is "BET and Gangsta Rap. I'm sure there is quality stuff out there that black people are producing but for the purposes of this conversation, I am talking about the commericialized stuff like FUBU that kids of all races seem to eat up and conform to. I'm talking more about the Lowest Common Denominator type of thing like MTV rap videos and that. I know everyone has their pop-culture regardless of their background but its this kind of violent and abrasive thing that seems the youth seems to be conforming to en masse. I can't stress enough that there are quality black cultural exceptions, but they seem to be the exception, not the rule.

I don't listen to 'Punk or Metal' and I never have. About all I can stomach these days is Classical, and mabye Country or Oldies if I feel like regular music. I don't listen to hardly any contemporary music regardless of the racial background of the artist. I'm kind of turned off to new things so I honestly just don't even give stuff a chance. It was the rap music though that all of the kids liked to blare in their cars. It was either that or the buzz-ballad type stuff(that was OK, I guess.)

I listened and watched both of those video clips, and TBH, neither of those do anything for me at all. That music to me just sounds like noise, and it really has no value for me. It may stimulate and be meaningful for other people but for me its just kind of dreck. I found all of the black people jumping around to be kind of frightening, if I can be totally honest. Its come a long way down from Debussy to that.

I never saw "Redneck Culture" or White Trash culture in the negatively stereotypical light that I think it is portrayed in the contemporary media(like with figures like Larry the Cable Guy.) I'm not a big fan of Nascar or hunting or any of that.

I obviously find all rap to just be awful. Just my opinion and that won't change.

I also heard about AS and Autism being less prevalent in Blacks and other minorities. I had read that it was most common in North-European Anglos, Teutonics, Swedes, and all of that. It may explain why Euro societies produced individuals like Beethoven and Newton. By contrast, it always seemd to me that most African art was art produced for purely social purposes, like masks and drums for rhythmic dancing. Its way more complex and involved than I would want to get into with this post but I think a higher prevalance of AS would explain alot between the differences of evolution between European and African culture.

Last edited by Hanotaux on 16 Aug 2010, 2:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cqq5AS46Zo&feature=related[/youtube]



White rapper talking about how he grew up. Dunno if it'll help you understand any but the real thing is rich vs poor and that a lot of black people are poor is by design.

I have a fetish for black culture. I like hanging around african shops if they let me in and don't beat me up and I love the Wu Tang Clan.

My issue is this....

Much of "black culture" is elevated by the media to be "superior" to that of other ethic groups...which is insulting. Much of what is praised is glorifying the worst of the black community. This, in turn, is creating a negative "Luddite" movement where young blacks embrace poor language skills, poor work ethic, poor family ethic because it's "hip."

I personally think this is by design to hold black people back from achieving individual greatness, but that's my personal theory.

Even Bill Cosby was harsh on the black community for tolerating this trend.

I never viewed it as being purely white vs. black(racial,) or rich vs. poor.......

For me, it always seemed to be 'ghetto' culture vs. 'suburban' culture vs. 'rural' culture, without regards to skin color. It seems to me the biggest divide is between 'clean' suburban culture against the inner city.

I guess the saying 'How the other half lives' fits here. I don't want anything to do with "the other half."

I agree being black is a disadvantage in America, but most everyone has various impediments like AS or other handicaps that would hurt their ability to find a good job or get a decent education. I don't favor making all sorts of 'adjustments.' I think people should play the hand that they are dealt.

Also, blacks have had Affirmative Action, preferences, quotas, busing, Sec-8 housing, and all sorts of other government-mandated 'leg-up' programs for the last 50 years, so I disagree that they are 'poor by design.' I would have agreed with you in 1955, but it seems to me that loads of opportunities have been artificially created for minorities and they should take advantage of them.

I actually heard aspergers was more prevalent in the afro caribean communities in london(UK), something to do with society's stunted acceptance of different communities

The entire 'gangsta' culture is stupid, but since many who partake in it have unfortunately had issues like poverty to deal with, and various family issues, since this is the stuff they're exposed to, it's often the only thing they gravitate towards.

Oh, deterioration of society.

All in all though, I don't think highly of the stuff that comes out of it, such as gangsta rap that constantly promotes sex, drugs, and money. All this does is continue the cycle that needs to be broken, desperately.

Same. I usually can't even understand what they're saying in these "songs." I also prefer my music to have a melody that I can whistle/hum to and for someone else to be able to tell what it is. A lot of rap songs sound the same.

"Yo I'm a rapper and
my lyrics are the crapper and
if my b***h gets out of hand,
yo I'll slap her!"

Lol Foamy. ^_^