User talk:Borednewb
Unified theory of Chris
Fistly, I must say I immensely enjoyed your analyses of Chris - thank you for posting them, they've given me a lot more to think about in my own analysis of him.
However, I'm a bit wary of your description of him as a "socially inept wanna-be-manipulative sociopath autistic".
I am admittedly no expert, but from what I understand:
- lack of empathy has been (not intrinsically) linked to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). (There is some debate about that, though - I just found an article written by a person with Asperger's about the "myth" of lack of empathy in autistics; wherein the author proposes there is not a general lack of empathy, but rather an inability to react appropriately, due to the inability to correctly interpret and react to social cues.)
- Manipulative behaviour has also been noted in ASD.
- Even by your own definition, autistic = socially inept
Now, I'm not saying Chris is allowed to use this as justification for his, admittedly, more self-serving behaviours, and I do realise that he's nearly thirty years old and should take more responsibility for his actions (and should have "memorised" more socially acceptable responses by now), but I think all these labels of him as "sociopathic" and "narcissistic" (as I've seen elsewhere on the site), are character flaws that are more in-tie with his autism than anything else and can be rather...harsh, taken out of context.
I also feel he is largely a victim of circumstance - from his parents refusing to "give him over" to the mental health care he needed (needs?) back in 4th grade, to his current lack of normal social interaction, he's never learnt how to respond appropriately by observing other people or by being taught and assisted by a professional (who would know how to work with someone with ASD). I believe his parents' actions and misconceptions (i.e. about mental health care) are largely the cause for Chris's current level of ineptitude. I also somehow doubt the actions of all the trolls are improving his construct for what "normal" social interaction is, but that's another matter.
All in all, I don't believe Chris is exempt from the expectation to behave more appropriately socially merely because he is autistic, but I think the impairments he has due to his autism should be given at least some further consideration.
Not making sense, as usual, I guess (sorry), Sussuro 08:35, 11 July 2010 (UTC)