Autistic overload dismissed as "white tears"

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The point is that looking at people through the lens of statistical averages about the groups to which they can be assigned is reductionist and damaging to the humanity of both the person being looked at and the person who is looking.


It does not help autistic people to belittle the problem of racism. This is a dead end that serves only the interests of people who would discriminate against both autistic people and black people.

The thing that bothers me about this is the blatant fact that one person claiming "Racial Bias" was actually the perpetrator of a "Racial Bias".

I have been the victim of this type of thought process all my life. I can do things that the average person can't. But, the things I cannot do are the things that people take for granted everyday. It causes a lot of confusion on other people's parts because they can't reconcile the idea that hard things are easy, but easy things are hard. It is a valid thought process on the surface.

But, I worry very much that people are becoming the things they hate.

I cannot fathom any individual that is trying to end prejudice would then inflict prejudice. The idea that seems to be prevalent these days is that:

1) The baby boomers are the cause of all problems today, when in fact, historically, they have done the most to overhaul the ways of the past. Yeah, there are always mistakes. And, no generation has the monopoly of "Robber Barons" including the millennials. Does the name "Martin Shkreli" ring a bell? He's the 27 year old idiot that raised the price of a drug that was $13 a pill for HIV sufferers to $750 a pill.

2) If you are white and male, it's easy street.

This does not discount any of the real problems do exist. But, it seems that they limit the problems to only what they want to limit it to and reject anything that does not fit their narrative. And, they become what they hate. Oppressive, lack of checking things and only going by anecdotal stories or, just plain old fashioned pigheadedness. This goes for any group and does not single out this incident. I find it happening everywhere, in any spectrum of discussion. And it is getting to where the people supposedly for "Free Speech" are the ones trying to clamp it down the most.

Even Alan Dershowitz had the following to say:

"“It is free speech for me, but not for thee. Universities should not tolerate this kind of double standard… If you’re going to be a college administrator or a professor, if you have tenure, you have to speak back to the students, you have to call these things what they are: double standards, hypocrisy, bigotry, McCarthyism, and the fog of fascism is descending quickly over many American universities.”"
And:
"When I spoke at Johns Hopkins University, the same students who were talking about a 'safe space,' painted a Hitler mustache on my posters, it is an absolute double standard."

So, the people who are for "Civil Rights" are painting Hitler mustaches on posters of one of the most blatant, liberal, civil rights attorneys in America.

So, yeah, it's a problem. But all involved need to be aware that they do run the risk of becoming what they hate most.

This discussion probably needs to be moved to the politics and religion section.

Ignoring them is a correct response in some sitiuations. Not this one. Whether you call them SJW or politically correct or more correctly bullies for thier cause because they are setting the agenda in many places. Thing is the real bigots have not been muzzled, see some talk radio, or some candidates for President for that matter. It is non bigots that feel they need constantly walk a verbal tightrope (something we are quite familiar with), doing that can make you seem like a bigot when you are not. An example is the term "priviliage" . The meaning has been successfully altered to suit ther agenda. Priviliage used to be about circumstantes of an individual, they had family who can make connections for them get them jobs, make sure they did not have to work at all, make sure their crimes were not punished etc. What skin color or sex you happen to be born with was not the definition of priviliage and racism as it is now. The problem with the current definition that it incorrectly defines the problems. The problem is discrimination both overt, covert, and subconsciously by individudals. Societal discrimination is policies created by powerful individuals who are often privileged the old fashioned way.

Well yes and no.
The stats to give us an indication of problems in our society but they do not actually give us any clues as to any one individuals particular situation and there in lies the danger. This case demonstrates this quite clearly. Mark's autism and the problems it cause was lost because all that could be seen by the audience member was a privileged white man. The stats had probably told this woman that as a white man Mark had an easier life with better outcomes than say black people. One the face of it this is all true but of course when one takes into account the fact that Mark was also autistic it becomes utterly foolish to talk about him being privileged because now the stats tell a different story.

So we are in a bit of bind when it comes to stats. On the one hand they are useful for demonstrating some ovbjective issues faced by various minorities but on the other hand I agree it is dangerous and dehumanising to just see people as as stat. This is clearly what this woman did with Mark.


I agree and I do not want to belittle the problem of racism.
But equally when an autistic persons legitimate issues are dismissed because of racism we should not ignore it.
It is painfully obvious that his issues were ignored because he was white. His story was dismissed out of hand as "white mans tears". This is racism as his autism was dismissed because he was white........ and yes before anyone chimes in I know autistic black people probably have it worse than Mark. I am sure many black people have their autism dismissed because they are black but racism in one area does not mitigate racism in another at the end of the day dismissing anyones autism is a sh***y thing to do.


I agree which is why I would not belittle the issues of racism faced by anyone. But highlighting the issues faced by autistic people does not lessen the issues faced by black people. This is not a zero sum game

This is true. I am not a huge Nietzsche fan, but the famous quote seems appropriate:



Of course, this is principle is recursive and has no natural exit condition. You can go down the path of "taking care" or "becoming a monster" at any level of the process: the initial objection to an ism, or the counter to the excesses of the anti-ism movement, or in the critique of that counter, and so on and on and on.

In the end, a good set of principles is: don't be a jerk and don't treat people badly. If only people would live by those ideas.