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<p>You couldn’t be more wrong. I’m an expert in the sense that I have Aspergers. You bet as a kid I was sitting around wondering what was wrong with me, and how I could be more popular. </p>
<p>No CF, not as a child. These were students who saw him around the school. One said he tried to comfort him after a fight but was blown off. Another said he always seemed angry. They’ve been on the news today.</p>
<p>Our culture absolutely supports the idea that men can take what is “rightfully” theirs–i.e., a woman flirting with a guy or wearing suggestive clothing is asking to be raped; an unmarried woman who uses birth control pills deserves to be called a “sl*t.” </p>
<p>CF, not to diminish your condition, but there are many of us who spent the better part (or all) of our childhoods wishing we could be popular, go on a date, be less socially awkward, or whatever. I was certainly one of them, and I don’t have Asperger’s. </p>
<p>Don’t most kids wonder what’s wrong with them and how can they be more popular at some point? I’m not convinced any of this is relevant. Most kids today are diagnosed with something.
Another issue, but true. </p>
<p>The thing that made this kid a cold-blooded killer was not his autism. His rage and hatred didn’t come from his autism. Social awkwardness, sure, could be autism. But I agree with fluffy – the people (mostly kids, but including a couple of adults) who I know who are on the spectrum are more just socially oblivious than anything else. They don’t have a lot of friends, but they also don’t really perceive themselves as missing out on anything – they don’t really feel comfortable in social situations and would prefer to be doing their own thing. </p>
<p>I also thought about what sally305 noted earlier – if all he wanted was sex, why not go to prostitutes? The fact that he didn’t tells me that this was never really about sex – it was about power. The women he railed at for not wanting to have sex with him were just symbols of the “alpha male” status he aspired to. They were just the prizes; the real enemies were the men who were successful with women where he was not, or the society that created a situation where he couldn’t acquire one of these women. I didn’t read his manifesto, but did he say anything in there about being lonely, wanting friends, wanting companionship, being depressed? It sounds like it was just pure rage at not having the things he wanted to have.</p>
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<p>That is silly as is this whole discussion about blaming our culture.</p>
<p>As a country of over 300M people you can find support for almost any stupid idea. You only need a website and some people posting and then a horrible incident like this to draw attention to your cause.</p>
<p>Stupid ideas don’t get overturned, they just have fewer and fewer adherents and are either laughed at or ignored over time.</p>
<p>Remember, there are parts of our culture that still refer to the “war of Northern aggression”.</p>
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<p>How often has that defense worked in front of a jury?</p>
<p>What do you mean “our culture”?<br>
Do you support that idea?<br>
Do women support that idea?<br>
Do you think that Hollywood (Law and Order, SVU and other shows about rape) support that idea?
The Senate supports that idea?
The House?
President Obama?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Are their idiots who support that view? Sure. There will always be idiots who support idiotic ideas. That is why they are idiots.</p>
<p>But it is insulting to claim that our culture supports it.</p>
<p>fluffy, do you not remember Rush Limbaugh’s attack on Sandra Fluke, or the all the “legitimate rape” stuff with extremist politicians, or the “no means yes, yes means a**l” fraternity chat at Yale? That is what I mean by “our culture.” Of course most women don’t support these ideas.</p>
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<p>I think this is exactly right. It was other boys who bullied him–kids he thought were less-intelligent brutes or jarheads who didn’t deserve the trophy girls and yet got them anyway.</p>
<p>In middle school my son was bullied and harassed by a fellow student with Aspergers to the point where we had to shift class periods and after school activities and involve the school counselors. Yes, kids on the spectrum are often bullied but can also carry obsessive, fixated behavior over into harassing others.</p>
<p>@dustypig - I suggest you read his manifesto before jumping to conclusions. He said over and over that he was lonely and had no friends. He spoke often of lacking friends and personal connections long before the sex thing came up. He may not have understood the deep human connection and sympathy that can go along with real friends and loving relationships but he certainly was aware that he was on the outside in many social situations.</p>
<p>Well, I’m wrong about that, then. But I worry that people will start thinking “autism = sociopathic murderer.” The spectrum kids I know are the least likely to ever resort to violence. They spend most of their time being afraid of the world, not plotting how to attack it.</p>
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<p>Yes, I remember that. There are idiots who have idiotic views.</p>
<p>But as you pointed out those were “extremist politicians”.
And since when is Limbaugh “our culture”? </p>
<p>Did “our culture” support that stupid statement or was there a huge backlash including sponsors cancelling and the President calling Ms. Fluke to see if she was okay? Did he apologize or did he dig in?
And didn’t she wind up in testifying in front of Congress on some issues related to women’s rights? Hmmm…looks like “our culture” supported her.</p>
<p>I find it offensive and harmful that people take some extremist views and claim that is what “our culture” is about.</p>
<p>But now instead of spectrum + depression + culture + video games + entitlement + guns + who the H-E-double toothpicks knows what caused him to snap we get Fox News telling us he was a latent homosexual and that’s why. Why is it not allowed to be a contributing factor? Nobody is saying that every person on the spectrum and every person who is mentally ill is a potential killer but are we not allowed to have the discussion of what approaches might help? How can authorities intervene when parents and therapist feel it’s warranted? Because there is no one single cause for anything we aren’t allowed to look at the little bits and pieces that might contribute aside from blame the media and the licentious Hollywood culture. We had a whole Roe v Wade diversion there as if that is to blame for the perp’s obsessions. Everyone has an agenda and cultural ax to grind and point to prove. This case seems to be just the perfect foil for that.</p>
<p>“Of course most women don’t support these ideas.”</p>
<p>So are you saying most men are misogynists or support rape?</p>
<p>Be careful or you may be accused of misandry.</p>
<p>To clarify - Fox News did not question the shooter’s sexuality. A psychotherapist guest threw out an opinion. It’s a Sunday night talk show. Therapists are allowed to have opinions aren’t they? Everybody seems to think therapists are the solution. I disagree. But, he was a tragic mess and I don’t see why any angle should be off limits. This case does seem to have something for everyone.</p>
<p>The articles are now saying that he was never formally diagnosed as Aspergers, despite all of the therapy. They are saying the family assumed he was on the spectrum because he seemed quiet, awkward, shy, and his speech wasn’t fluent. Per the article, the videos showed a different side of him that the family had not seen. </p>
<p>The family’s lawyer is the one who put that out in the first place. Assumed? All the therapy and they are assuming stuff. That makes no sense.</p>
<p><em>smacks forehead</em> </p>
<p>No, I didn’t say that, Goldenpooch. Don’t be ridiculous.</p>
<p>fluffy, last time I checked Limbaugh was still on the air. Although admittedly he is losing sponsors and stations right and left, which is great. But he still has a huge audience–millions of people who would probably don’t think of themselves as “extremists.”</p>
<p>As for the politicians with warped views of women and their rights, sorry to say that “our culture” keeps electing them.</p>
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<p>I have noticed that most of these mass murderers are right handed.
And they say us lefties are “sinister”.<br>
Maybe we need to keep closer tabs on right handed people.</p>
<p>That’s interesting, calla1. I wonder what problems impelled his parents to bring him to therapists in the first place, and what persuaded him to continue the therapy. And I wonder what he was diagnosed with that made a doctor (presumably a psychiatrist) prescribe Risperdal. Risperdal is a medication with side effects; I don’t think it’s prescribed lightly. In the cases I know of where someone on the autism spectrum was prescribed Risperdal, it wasn’t the first drug tried.</p>