Seriously people, whats with the attitude?

Post Reply New Topic

Maybe Enties need to get over their fear of the different. Perhaps Aspies need to as well. To be honest, I'd say we all do.

Hmmm. Maybe there's room for an event with a much higher ratio of 'Aspies' to Enties, so that everyone can get over their fear and not Ghettoize. Ghettoizing and cliquing is bad, IF it leads to you refusing to interact with anyone else. By all means, hang around with people who share your interests... but don't refuse to interact with people who don't.

I am neither surprised, nor put out by the expression of views that I see here--but it has been a long journey for me to arrive at this place.

I think we all start from a place that our psychology is natural. My Asperger's, my sexuality, my intelligence, my lack of emotional intelligence, my touching compulsions, my Tourette's--these are all part of the natural person that I am. Many of us go on to recognize differences between ourselves and other people. I suspect (though I do not, of course, know) that most of us look to our individuality to find those things that make us good, special or important--to find our inherent worth.

As a young man, I was actively engaged in advocacy in the GLBT area. I took an idealistic approach to an important political debate. I embraced diversity as a tool for the advancement of my own political agenda.

In the last twenty years, however, I have moved to a more nuanced position--not diversity as a tool to achieve my own liberation, but rather diversity for its own sake. My call is no longer about making the world better for GLBT people, nor AS people, nor any other particular group. Rather, my call is for diversity for its own sake--for the advantages that diversity brings to every aspect of society, from business to the arts, from government to sport.

But embracing diversity is not just about making room for the marginalized. Diversity is about maintaining space for all--NTs, heterosexuals, caucasians, men and monotheists, just as much as gays, aspies, women and atheists.

I have no doubt that the person espousing the Aspie-superiority rhetoric today will be tomorrow's open, accepting individual.

... and..... accusing thousands of people you never met, OP? Where does that put you exactly

I hope I don't come across as something I'm not (mainly a nice person who doesn't think he is the most awesome thing in the world).

Clearly I am far better than everyone else here. I mean, just look at my avatar on the left! Yeah, I really do have such a sharp, talented and competent look. Also, I am way cooler than all of your friends too!

Seriously though... Some things to keep in mind is that this is all in text and that perhaps many people ill express themselves. There really are a lot of ways to lose the writers intention. Be it through their own interpretation, the vocabularly or general language they use, or just your own interperation!

I like to think of myself as a generally nice guy. I have my own opinions and can surely express them but my overall goal would be to try and remain neutral and understanding. I am certainly no definer of facts!

The problem though is others may not see it that way, for any of the above reasons. I know this does not apply to every person who may act all superior, but it might apply to some!

When I was little, my neighbors had a mean poodle, it barked at everyone and one day it bit my baby brother. I was afraid of dogs for a while.

Very nice post, I agree completely.

Also: note the age. 18. Stereotyping teenagers is obviously as stupid as stereotyping NT's/Aspies.

Fair enough. I misread your first post I think.

There is a difference between generalizing concepts to an entire group of people as opposed to knowing the majority of a group of people will behave a certain way (like weighing in the odds). If everybody you knew won $100 off a certain lottery scratch off, you'd almost run out and buy one at that point. If every NT you know behaves a certain way, then it would make natural sense for you to believe that most (not all) NT's are going to behave that way, at least to you. I mean not too many people figure out actual statistics for their personal experiences, but they tend to get the general feel of things in a similar manner as how empirical evidence is determined. I think a lot of times, when people are upset talking about "most" of a group of people, it comes out "they are just a bunch of..." Given, a lot of posts I see that start off with "NT's are...." tend to be more of "People are..." in which case, I replace "NT" with "People" when I read it.

As far as the superiority complex, I understand that not all Aspies come with high intelligence, but many do. When half the tests you take result in the top 90th percentile, you start to get a superiority complex. If you attribute your intelligence to Aspergers, then that makes logical sense that someone will then say, "Aspies are superior." You almost have to wait for them to mature enough to realize that their intelligence is unique to them, and their superiority complex isn't about Aspies vs NTs but that they are just better than everyone else. Then, as they mature more, they start to realize that everything in life has its Pro's and Con's, including ignorance and intelligence, so therefore, nothing is superior to the other as much as prefered.

It's kinda hypocritical to judge people about judging people. I do it too, so don't take it wrong. Either way, some people are just on a different level than you, and you have to let them be there because they will never move on to the next level until they have fully experienced the level they are on. This is exactly why Socratic Questioning is one of the most effective ways to communicate a point because pointing something out (like I"m doing here) will only be half understood, but helping someone come to the same conclusion you have come to on their own, now that's something they will remember because they went through the process too.