binaryodes wrote:
That sort of thing typifies the NT mindset.
I'm not sure emotional apathy typifies the mindset of any group, except perhaps sociopaths.
People are equipped to care emotionally about a maximum of 50 other people, and typically care about those like themselves. Thus, it's not exactly surprising that the commuters polled tended to care about other commuters, because, hey, they're all just trying to get somewhere, right? And the person killing themselves? They're just getting in the way of the commute.
That's not to say that people
can't care about those different from themselves, it's just that it takes a conscious effort that not many people care enough to make. It's easy to understand those that think like you - understanding others that are different is both unnatural and hard, and requires exceeding a bit of our own basic programming as human beings.
If people took the time to try and understand why it was that the suicidal individual killed him or herself, they may find real or even imagined similarities with themselves, which would increase how easy they would find it to care about this suicidal person. It has nothing to do with being neurotypical or autistic, and everything to do with simply being human.
As for low-functioning NT's - em_tsuj was right on the money. It'd be hard to find anything but low-functioning NT's on an episode of COPS.
Here's the thread. I wouldnt describe the attitufdes in that thread as apathetic at all. Quite the opposite in fact. We can attempt to condone the callousness but ultimately the thread is a perfect example of the herd instinct as well as the capacity of NT's (in particular) to conveniently ignore suffering when certain social conditions are fulfilled. For more of the same see the various experiments hweich have been conducted at universities testing the limits of human cruelty. The wave is a good example
13 Jan 2014, 6:14 pm
