Could aspies ever be bullies

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I think it's rather pathetic for you to say people should fear Aspies just because you might be a sociopath with Aspergers.

Most DO have a conscience. Most are extremely empathetic, as well.

If the medical profession really thought there was something to fear from Aspies, why would they lie to themselves or anyone else for that matter? That part makes no sense to me.

AS and sociopathy (known now as antisocial personality disorder) are not one in the same.

AS always presents with social difficulties. Not so for sociopathy. Any sociopath who also happens to have AS would likely have to rely on unusual or highly imaginative methods (i.e., "behind the scenes") to "express" their sociopathic side.

Your typical sociopath is known for being a smooth talker, with excellent communication (and manipulation) skills, something an AS sociopath is less likely to have much luck with. With NT sociopaths, they can often manipulate you right to your face and you won't know it's happening, and by the time you figure out what's happened, the damage is done, the sociopath gets away with it, and is already working on his/her next victim. They are known to be highly successful - and numerous - in business.

The extreme violent cases where a person has AS (mostly I hear them being suspected of having AS, but not actually confirmed, such as with Jeffrey Dahmer) certainly catch everyone's attention though, no?

I thought Dahmer was a classic case of a sociopath?

If AS people can mimic NT traits, which they can do very well, then they are also capable if hiding their sociopathic style behaviour behind the autistic guise that people know they have. Remember, if people think that AS people can't have sociopathic tendencies, then the AS person can have carte blanche to do as he or she pleases.

Um... no. You are still putting us all into the sociopath category. Sociopathy is not the same thing as AS.

Like I said a few posts up, there are different levels within AS. Some Aspies are more cleverer then others, some not so and have many problems.

I know that, but it also has nothing to do with being a sociopath. They are two separate conditions, and you are attributing your sociopathic tendencies to Aspergers.

I believe that, but I had read where people were diagnosing him post-mortem with AS...that's why I said:

"I hear them (known sociopaths) being suspected of having AS, but not actually confirmed, such as with Jeffrey Dahmer".

Some trouble-maker wrote a book trying to connect AS to sociopathy and it wasn't just Dahmer he talked about. I can't recall his name or the book. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of this BS about AS and sociopathy started with that book.

I've never heard of this book or people diagnosing Dahmer as having AS. Kind of weird... Dahmer was a special interest of mine for a while. Hmmm

I guess Craig wasn't kidding.


I once saw an article about what serial killers may have had AS and there was Dahmer and Bundy. I remember it being posted here once.

This is a silly debate. It seems some people want their AS to be associated with socipathy, perhaps so they can avoid feeling rejected/victimized by the world. Who wouldn't rather be a villian than a victim/reject? Then there's another group who wants to claim that nobody with AS is capable of hurting a fly, due to overblown fears of negative stigma.

Arturo J. Silva makes some media mileage out of the absurd post-mortem claim of "some autistic traits" in Dahmer and others, but he is in a minority of one scientifically - e.g. Silva, J. A. Asperger's Disorder: A possible explanation for behavior of subgroup of serial killers? Crime Times Vol. 11, No. 3, 2005 and Silva, J. A. Ferrari, M. M. Leong, G. B. The case of Jeffrey Dahmer: sexual serial homicide from a neuropsychiatric developmental perspective. J Forensic Sci. 2002 Nov;47(6):1347-59.

As for the original question, I doubt autistic people "bully others for their own entertainment", but I think there are plenty of recorded observations of bullying out of curiosity (the difference being that curiosity is easily satisfied, entertainment leads to persistent bullying). Not perceiving the feelings of others will surely result in hurt, and unintentional bullying - and I would side with the argument that bullying does not require intent (because being bullied is the perception of hurt or an affront to dignity).

I also think that autistic traits readily cause stress in others. An autistic manager could easily create unreasonable and stressful conditions for workers, and these are easily identified as bullying (for instance if bullying is defined as "a persistent and unreasonable affront to dignity"). In the recent recession I have seen many perfectly reasonable and kind people become bullies when forced into management, crisis management and selecting workers for redundancy without sufficient support for the new manager. Being autistic and forced into unsupported management would be worse.

I learned from experience that if you try and kick someone because they won't stop harassing you and giving you the finger, they will kick you right back much harder, faster, and in a spot you normally don't show in public. Right in front of adults at school. And then you get taken to the principal and are forced to explain the awful and humiliating experience to them. Did the other girl get punished? I have no idea.


Aspies can be bullies because there is good and bad in everyone. More bad than good, mostly. Anyone can become a murderer, even. Human beings are scum.

Yep. I was something of a bully in junior high. Never physically abusive; I never needed to be, but I'd viciously demean, harass and belittle others who I found unpleasant to be around. I think it was a coping mechanism. I grew out of it later.

Hear, hear!