Chris and his ego
| “ | Firstly, YOU WISH YOU WERE ME... | ” |
| Chris, Mailbag 10 (Rejected) | ||
| “ | For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. | ” |
| Luke 14:11 (English Revised Version), really hitting the nail on the head | ||
Egotism, out of all of Chris's flaws, is the most important and self-destructive. It is this egotism that may one day lead to someone playing Kick the Autistic for real.
Origins
Why is Chris such an egotist? In his sheltered childhood, his enabling parents taught him to shift blame for all of his troubles to other people. A sense of entitlement, again homegrown, skewed his perception of the proportionality between his problems and those of other people. Chris doesn't completely lack empathy; he isn't a sociopath, but the internal 'scale' by which he weighs the feelings of others is completely twisted. His autism compounded the problem by making it difficult for him to understand social cues and relate normally to his peers. He grew up in a different world.
But that explains why Chris was an egotist, struggled with egotism, or has tendencies towards egotism. While Chris's childhood was less than ideal, it shouldn't have been crippling. Time and experience should have helped temper his ego, but Chris's development appears to have completely stopped. Chris is still an egotist because he lives in a social time capsule that has allowed him to carry on for the better part of a decade without a single life lesson. And he still lives in that time capsule because it is easy, it is comfortable, and people let him.
The Enablers
| “ | He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. |
” |
| Proverbs 13:24 | ||
Chris's parents are enablers par excellence. There is no earthly reason why (barring unrelated catastrophes) an almost 30-year-old with autism should live at home with his parents, especially one as "high functioning" as Chris's activity and his documentation show him to be. Adults with far more crippling mental health problems (from emotional disorders to mental retardation) live more independently than Chris does, whether alone, alone with supervision, or in group homes.
For children like Chris, public school special education is generally geared toward helping the child understand how their disorder affects their lives, and what strategies they can use to minimize its impact. This is a well-documented and well-supported strategy, but it relies on "buy-in." Chris's parents clearly never bought into the strategies, because they never fostered any interest in independence in Chris, thus undermining the entire regimen of special education and ending up with a man-child with entitlement issues.
Monthly Tugboat
- Main article: Chris and Money
Regardless of whether Chris is abusing the welfare system, his parents are abusing it through him, or the system itself is flawed, the fact remains that the monthly tugboat is a major factor in making Chris's lifestyle—and thus his worldview—sustainable.
Blind Luck and the Cherry Picking Fallacy
A contest or two here; a two-second local TV blip there. The results are that outside events most people never experience have stroked Chris's already monstrous ego.
Consider that Chris has produced a huge volume of fanmail, letters-to-the-editor, internet commentary, and other drivel. Each letter to Nintendo is a message in a bottle: most of them never return, but the one that does—on an official letterhead, and addressed to Mr. C. W. Chandler—is confirmation of his celebrity.[1]
Yeah...it says here that, uh, yeah...they—th—it goes on to say that:
Now, uh, here's the interesting part...where they quote about how I can actually...go further about ch—about them changing their minds and actually accepting the idea and helping me, uh, makin' it—makin' it totally real...with the video games and the TV animations and the action figures, and...officially-released—my personally-approved...medals... [...] they say that, uh, the best way to let other fans know about my idea or to generate hype about the future game I'd like to see is to post the ideas to the forums on their sites. |
As if Chris didn't think his material was golden to begin with, he got a second nod from Nintendo Power for his epic Animal Crossing Documentary, and a page in PVCC's Forum as icing on the cake. Even before his e-fame, Chris had plenty of evidence to convince himself that he was creative, and not just a high-volume, whiny jerk that had pestered his way to acknowledgment. As he graduated from PVCC in 2006, his writing shows that Sonichu was, in his mind, already tested: there was just some small threshold of notoriety or connections that needed to be breached, in order to become a true media sensation.
On top of that, Chris has a huge amount of free time to inject himself into situations like the McIntire Park meetings, which allows him to cherry-pick more moments of recognition. A tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment by the local council seems cute to us, but is serious business to him. And since Chris cherry-picks only the reinforcement that he wants, his legions of trolls just add to the fire. Delusion has led him to believe that he has a legion of fans; a few hundred emails in his inbox confirm it.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
It's entirely possible however, that Chris suffers from Narcissistic personality disorder, whose diagnosis criteria detail many of the characteristics that Chris exhibits.
| “ | The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition, DSM IV-TR, a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, defines narcissistic personality disorder (in Axis II Cluster B) as:
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1.has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements) 2.is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love 3.believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions) 4.requires excessive admiration 5.has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations 6.is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends 7. lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others 8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her |
” |
| Wikipedia describing Chris in a nutshell | ||
As you can see, these criteria describe Chris's ego, right down to the sense of entitlement.
Manifestations
Chris's egotism manifests itself in many ways.
Unwarranted Self-Importance
- See also: True and Loyal Fanbase
| “ | I have had way over a million fans worldwide since I went online in before 2000. | ” |
| -Chris, Mailbag 48 | ||
As overwhelming as Chris's unwarranted self-importance is, it's easy for the novice observer to get lost in the sea of Sonichu shit and assume that he's just confident in his e-fame. "Of course," you say, "he's got a billion hits on YouTube and a thousand emails in his mailbox. He's going to think he's hot shit, like every other retard on the internet."
But nothing sums up Chris's deep and abiding USI like this missive to Mary Lee Walsh:[2]
Mary, I've slept on it, and I have realized that note-hanging is not the way to get attention. And I don't really want to meet with either you nor Susan, no offense. I'll tell you what, let's forget the meeting, and if you will allow my newsletter to stay in distribution, I will do all of the following:
Please reply via E-Mail. Christian C. |
E-fame just adds a whole new dimension. He was a misunderstood genius before; now he's a misunderstood genius with a personal army.
| “ | III'M. WOR-KIN'. ON IT! LET ME DO THAT STUPID VIDEO SO I CAN TELL E'RRYBODY, IN MY COMMAND, TO GET EVERYTHIN'- HELP ME GET EVERYTHIN' OFF THE INTERNET! | ” |
| Chris, THAT IS MY HOUSE | ||
It's so bad now that when Chris meets someone new who claims not to know who he is, he seems skeptical and surprised.[3]
| “ | Y'all should know me by now, but if you don't, I am Christian Weston Chandler, the original creator of Sonichu, the Electric Hedgehog Pokemon, back on March 17th, 2000. | ” |
| Chris, in his second YouTube video | ||
The instant-gratification, instant-acknowledgment, and instant-attention—good or bad—that has come with his minor e-fame of the last few years has thoroughly convinced Chris that people do read everything he writes, and that his YouTube messages invariably get to his target audience.
Persecution Complex
Chris has a lot of problems, and even the ones he 'takes responsibility for' are still out of his hands.
- His school was mean to him.
- He didn't deserve that F in English.
- Or the one in CADD.
And if that wasn't enough, he thinks every authority figure in the land is conspiring against his Love Quest:
| “ | Then in Mid-October, the Quote/Unquote "Dean of Student Services," Mary Lee Walsh, approached me and pulled my sign away from me and told me, "You're NOT ALLOWED TO FIND TRUE LOVE HERE." MY HEART WAS SHATTERED that very moment. | ” |
| Chris, on his Wikipedia Page | ||
It doesn't help that he's engaged in a quagmire of a war against the homo rumors that those DAMNED TROLLS keep spreading about him, with a second front versus the copyright violating thieves.
| “ | It's out of my control! I don't know where to go! I DUNNO KNOW WHERE TA GO! | ” |
| Chris, THAT IS MY HOUSE | ||
It has never—and likely will never—occurred to him that he needs to go outside, get a job, and get off the damned internet.
Naïveté
Chris's simple-mindedness and gullibility are legendary. The man is like the Sith: he only deals in absolutes. Either you're with him or you're a troll. This has been very obvious in his answers to the Mailbag, where he refuses to listen to any talk—even from professionals—about the similarities between Asperger Syndrome and autism, denies that there are any shortcomings in his work, and shrugs off any advice about how to improve his health or appearance, labelling anyone who suggests he has any kind of shortcoming a troll.
Chris equates honesty with divulging every last detail about his life. Nothing is too candid for Chris - getting haircuts, drinking his own navy, shitting his pants, or even giving away his phone number and home address! The only thing he hasn't done with wild abandon is give away his social security number and when that happens, it probably won't be a surprise to anybody.
His gullibility is astounding. No matter how many times it's happened before, Chris is easily led around by trolls promising china or threatening Sonichu. The earlier trolling schemes, such as Blanca, PandaHalo and Jimmy Hill, got Chris to jump through hoops and exposed so much information about Chris and his personality that they had to start a wiki to keep track of it all.
In 2009 and 2010, Chris has slowly begun to "learn" to distrust trolls or to keep more of his information secure. However, many of his trolls believe this is akin to putting a shock collar on an animal. Eventually, simply to stop being shocked (not because they actually understand or care) an animal will start doing as told.
Hubris: The Pride Before the Fall
| “ | I'd say... I'd say I'm all around. You see, the problem is that I have too many skills that I am good at. You might say that I am a jack of all trades and a master of none. | ” |
| Chris, right about that last part | ||
Numerous times, Chris has shown that he believes he has powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal autistics. In fact, this attitude has transcended self-confidence and erupted into full-blown hubris: Chris is convinced that his writing, musical talents, and art are not just competitive with his peers, but clearly superior.
And he doesn't just have the power to create: his is also the power to destroy. This line of thinking is exemplified by Chris's acceptance that Ryan Cash committed suicide just because he withheld Sonichu updates, and would worsen when he believed that his curse actually caused Liquid Chris to have some sort of horror befall him.
But those are just the most insane moments of cognitive dissonance. What about the time he went into hysterics when he didn't get a recognition for his art?
| “ | I should have been Highly Recognized for my ARTISTIC TALENTS I showed in my Many Art Classes for the Award Ceremonies before Graduation Day. I felt crestfallen greatly from not getting recognized for any of my Talents. I EXCELLED IN MATH TOO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! | ” |
| Chris, on his Wikipedia page | ||
Or his reaction to losing the Parappa Contest?
| “ | So that SWORN ON MY AUTISM, JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED TO THE SEVEN PEOPLE OF THOSE FOUR VIDEOS!!!! | ” |
| Chris, on the Sonichu Site | ||
All of the above is consistent with the behavior of small children, who, isolated from the real world by a lack of comprehension and limited mobility, believe themselves to be godlike beings. This belief is gradually destroyed as the child goes to school and encounters outside authority, leading to their acknowledgment of the fact that they are, in fact, ordinary people. Of course, since Chris is not only autistic but also extremely sheltered, he still manages to cling to this belief by focusing on specific aspects of his life and constructing elaborate fantasy worlds. This is also probably why he sees mundane chores as horrific trials of strength and will. In psychological terms, this can be referred to as 'psychological neoteny,' which is basically the retention of juvenile traits well into physical maturity.
Also consistent with his childlike mindset is his apparent belief that he has supernatural powers. In Freudian terms, this is referred to as 'omnipotence of thought'. Basically, Chris cherry-picks elements of his life in order to validate his fantasy of control, which is more systematically displayed in the Sonichu comics. Taking this into consideration, it's likely that Magi-chan is yet another Mary Sue for Chris (which adds more fuel to certain theories), serving as a kind of avatar for his desire for authority. Why he felt it necessary to make another character to fill this role is unclear, considering he's already established himself as the one true God of CWCville.
Another aspect of Chris' arrogance, and again caused by his childish way of viewing the world, is visible in a phone call with Alec. In the call it is obvious Chris does not follow a mature procedure for developing a stance on issues. Where normally an individual will learn information about the issue and from there decide how they feel about that issue, Chris does it the other way around and decides how he feels about something, then refuses to believe, understand, or even humor any evidence to the contrary. While most people have very strong beliefs in some issues, so much so that they automatically have a prejudice against people believing differently (E.G. Politics, religion, etc), Chris has this perspective on everything. He takes a position on matters, then finds ways to back it up and ignores all evidence for the opposing viewpoint. For example, Chris has decided homos are bad, so he selectively finds information that backs up his stance on the matter and ignores anything anyone will tell him about why his homophobia is bad and makes him a bad person. He will then go as far as to pretend he can cure homosexuality with his own blood. Unless disliking homosexuals means he may not get laid.
This is most obvious when he takes two contrary positions about a similar topic. The obvious example of this is Chris' understanding of the way parody functions. Chris will defend his right to make Sonichu to the hilt by claiming it is a parody, but he then states that Asperchu is a bad thing because it is a parody. As you can see, Chris has decided that he has every right to make Sonichu so he backs this up with statements about his right to parody existing trademarked characters, but conversely he has decided Asperchu is bad, so he supports this position by stating it is a parody of his legitimate work.
Materialism
| “ | I want Julie! Yeah, love is my first priority, but then- but then I want my stuff back! | ” |
| Chris, caring more about his precious PSN Account and Sonichu website, more than his sweetheart. | ||
It is clear that Chris is a materialist (a common symptom of Narcissism), buying large amounts of crap that make him feel good about himself, and by some twisted form of reality make him think that his unhealthy amount of children toys might attract a sweetheart, when in reality any human being would clearly see that this man is delusional.
Tender Misanthropy
A "tender misanthrope" is, by definition, "someone who despises humanity in general, but is ever ready to make an exception for the real people". In other words, an egotist who pretends to be benevolent. While it's obvious that Chris is an egotist, he truly believes that he's benevolent. He is the perfect example of a tender misanthrope, screaming death threats at what he knows of humanity (seeing as the only social contact he gets is from the Internet) while also believing that he is a kind, loving person who can give advice to and act as a role model for children.
Another part of the definition states that "a tender misanthrope feels certain of being able to love real people if only they could be found - or, failing that, to transform existing false people into idealized real people through social and political programs of the tender misanthrope's own making". The way that Chris treats homos, seeing as he hates them all (no matter what he says) and wants to turn them straight by placing them into co-ed prisons, reprogramming them into straights via concentration camps, or by creating a vaccine that "cures" homosexuality, certainly fits this description. The fact that he also generalizes trolls as homos also supports this.
War against the ego
One of the main forces opposing Chris's ego are the white knights. These misguided souls have attempted to get Chris to understand that what he's doing is ridiculous and that he needs to grow up. Instead, he brushed them all aside, assuring himself that he was TRUE and HONEST, and could do no wrong. One of the more popular white knights, Vivian Gee, became a troll when she couldn't get through to Chris.
When asked to get real, psychiatric help, Chris has said that his church counselor, Rocky Shoemaker, is enough for him, and that she could do so much more than someone with an actual degree in that field. He seems to believe that because her title includes the word "counselor," she is every bit as qualified as a real doctor (the fact that most pastoral counselors see people for free probably helps as well, since Chris would never spend part of his precious monthly tugboat on something useful when there are video games to buy).
Examples of Chris's Ego in the Real World and in the Comic
- Main article: Examples of Chris's Ego
References
| Chris and... |
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