On these messages boards, why is there...

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A seeming preoccupation with, for lack of a better term, 'outing' other Aspie's? I see these threads all the time on this site whose purpose is to speculate on what singers, actors, artists, famous people, movie, TV or other fictional characters have AS. I suppose I find the ones about fictional characters particularly amusing, because there can never be any right or wrong conclusion unless the source material specifically states that they do or don't have it. But in general, what is the point of all this? I don't mean to offend anyone (and I hope I'm not), I just don't get it or why this matters to anyone.

who knows? i'm more annoyed at so many "christian" threads again no offence but i do think organised religion is a terribly dangerous thing & should, because of the ministering nature of many "christians" & the impressionable nature of some browsing these forums, be Banned.. make WP secular, atheist wtv Aspies don't need this threat.
ah sorry for the hijack..

I also have this preoccupation; I want to find more and more characters with AS to identify with. I feel that when I watch movies/read books, I never really identify with the characters. Now I've finally found out why. I guess identifying with celebrities/characters with AS can also make you feel more superior and give you a feeling that you're not alone, which is a good feeling.

I agree about religion. I'm very spiritual but I also believe most written religions are BS. I think it's time to ban Christianity, Judaism and Islam all together, those are the three worst religions. If I ruled a country, banning them completely would be my first course of action.

It's because we want to identify with celebrities for some reason. Maybe it gives us some courage? We think if someone can be cool and famous and have AS, so can we.

I identify with Hitler but I don't identify at all with Steven Spielberg or Bill Gates.

lol i'm so ashamed but, is Quentin Tarantino Aspergers? he is genuinely obsessed with movies, literally brilliant but lacking in some social skill perhaps & talks very obsessively about film.. i'd like to identify with him. :p

It gives a sense of community and a sense of hope. For example when I hear Dan Akroyd has AS (to drop an 'admitted' celeb's name), it makes me feel like "Okay, I CAN successfully emulate a sense of humor" and "Okay, I CAN make it in this world if I try" and "Wow, he's in such a small group of people it's almost like he's one of the gang... one of MY gang". That's why it is enjoyable to me.

And heck, if one of them gets evaluated and finds out they are on the spectrum and declares it publicly then it increases the awareness of the Syndrome (and the Autistic Spectrum in general) which is a GREAT thing.

Those are my reasons for guilty enjoyment anyhow.

when i first registerd here cockneyrebel said she thought i was a fake aspie. alot of people think im fake here, but ive posted my Dx many times before and i dont know what else to do. ive even posted my social security letter SAYING i was aspergers. so if you believe it, you do. if you dont, i dont give a duck

I'm guessing that because most people want to identify with someone, they try to guess who is like them. A lot of people try to do this with celebrities or other well known people regardless of what 'group' it is...having an anxiety disorder, self harm, being gay, having AS or any other minority group. Probably because identifying themselves with a celebrity makes them feel better than identifying themself with someone that no one else knows.
That's just my opinion.

so what you are saying is aspergers is being celebrity? am i missing something here

just ignore my comments. identify was the word i was looking for, i tend to read things fastly skipping words and thought you ment aspies were celebrities

There is definitely something to the encouragement from seeing someone who is successful...

I was so happy when Martina Navratalova came out as a lesbian... even though we all KNEW beforehand Huge public affirmation that lesbians were contributing members of society, not just slouching, drinking, smoking swearing bikers and baby fondlers.

then again, there was the hottie factor...
made my fantasies just that much more probable.

It's laughable is you ask me...you can't assume that some famous person has AS on the account of their genius or success or obsessions. I also look for poor social abilities and aspie-like stims that they may possess (pacing, handflapping, poor eye contact). At the very least, the person's IQ isn't important...it's their social levels and their outward look on things that I look for.

For myself, I enjoy the discussions for the simple reason that they help clarify what are or aren't aspie traits - in other words, it's more about working out what behaviors could be called autistic behaviors than it is about actually diagnosing fictional characters.

For this reason, I've always enjoyed the discussions of fictional characters more than discussions on celebrities - after all, with a few exceptions, it's difficult to know what a celebrity is like on a personal level, which means the celebrity discussions are often based on very tentative evidence...