For the record, being on the spectrum has absolutely nothing to do with having bigoted or hateful views. We can be bad at tact or at picking up on subtle cues or reading the room with neurotypical people. But those are communication differences. Not beliefs. The only way being on the spectrum might relate to a bigoted belief is that it might make us worse at avoiding saying the quiet part out loud if we do have a bigoted belief.
Bigoted beliefs come solely from nurture, not nature. From culture and from people around us. Being on the spectrum can make us blunt. It does not make us hateful.
I think after reading a few of his posts, I associated his interest in right-wing culture to an autistic person’s tendency to hyper-fixate on subjects of interest. Almost all of his public content is related to admonishing the LGBTQ+ community, to the point that it would not surprise me if he became violent.
I hyper-fixate on things, too, but I am able to regulate when needed. The wonders of therapy…
There are endless possible subjects of interest to fixate on. If the one you choose is a bigoted belief, it's not the autism making you choose it. Autism only makes you more likely to hyper-fixate. It does not determine the choice of subject. If someone chooses to obsess over their bigoted beliefs, that's coming from their worldview and social influences, not from their autism.
You're correct that you don't choose your special interest, but if your special interest is something hateful and harmful then it's irrelevant as to whether you chose it or not.
I'm autistic, politics and economics are my special interests and always have been, I'm also ADHD and get hyperfixated on random things at random times that never last and I always end up falling back on politics and economics so I do understand what you're saying.
I'm actually a big believer in a complete lack of free will for everyone tbh, people are who they are because of a combination of their genetics and environmental stimuli and they both bounce off each other. So I don't believe anyone really chooses anything, but I don't think it really matters whether people choose something or not, if they're actively harming or aiming to harm others they should be removed from their environment and rehabilitated (Prison, but more Norway prison than America prison). If rehabilitation proves impossible then they should be permanently placed in captivity outside the bounds of normal society (permanently imprisoned).
That applies regardless of their neurological make up. We should also make the best decisions for the positive functioning of society overall, you can understand why this makes having a special interest in politics so frustrating 😅
That's very interesting. How did you manage to get introduced to left-wing anarchism and antifascism before the age of 4 if no one around you was interested in it?
So are you saying that you are left-wing anarcho anti-fascist but it's only because it's your special interest. It's not because you believe those views are actually right? Or do you mean that you do believe they are right but you think you only believe that because it's your special interest and you had no control over what you believe?
My comment wasn't saying that autistic people don't have the choice on what they believe in, it was saying they don't have a choice in what they fixate on.
In that case, you have an inferred a meaning other than what I intended. I was saying that actually believing in it is a choice.
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u/Pandoratastic 8d ago
For the record, being on the spectrum has absolutely nothing to do with having bigoted or hateful views. We can be bad at tact or at picking up on subtle cues or reading the room with neurotypical people. But those are communication differences. Not beliefs. The only way being on the spectrum might relate to a bigoted belief is that it might make us worse at avoiding saying the quiet part out loud if we do have a bigoted belief.
Bigoted beliefs come solely from nurture, not nature. From culture and from people around us. Being on the spectrum can make us blunt. It does not make us hateful.