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Your statement is analogous to saying “all autistic people are the same” which is itself very offensive.

asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
To me, the only thing implied by the above comment is that "all autistic people are capable of being decent to other people." That doesn't seem offensive, although it may be incorrect (I simply do not know).
- hedora 6y ago
  It is incorrect. Autism is a spectrum.
  - astrange 6y ago
    Note that RMS says he doesn't have autism. High functioning autism doesn't look like being rude anyway; it's just some combination of talking for too long and being very sensitive to environmental disturbances.
- henriquez 6y ago
  Clearly not all neurotypical people are capable of being decent to others, so how would it make sense that all autistic people are? No, to assume that forgiveness or empathy to one autistic individual denigrates an entire spectrum of autistic individuals is the same as assuming that from the actions of one we can confer some sort of collective responsibility. This assumption is the root of all prejudice.
  - jolux 6y ago
    >Clearly not all neurotypical people are capable of being decent to others, so how would it make sense that all autistic people are? If you believe that some autistic people can be decent, though, it's no longer an excuse for Stallman that he's autistic. I'm on the spectrum myself, it's not a free pass for being offensive.
  - paulcole 6y ago
    > Clearly not all neurotypical people are capable of being decent to others This is not clear to me. Many people are assholes but that’s by choice, not because they’re incapable of not being assholes.
ruined 6y ago
show me where i said that. autistic people are not uniquely malevolent, and it is not offensive to suggest autistic people are not uniquely malevolent. the premise at the root of the thread was that autistic people can't tell bad ideas from good ideas, and should thus go forever uncriticized. both in that it's wrong, and in that it casts autistic people as corruptible and dangerous, when we know very well most "normal" allistic people are perfectly capable of great evils. advocating that it should be acceptable for autistic people to cause harm is not helpful. it promotes the stereotype that autistic people are harmful, resulting in further social rejection and discrimination, and allows abusive people to hide behind the label.
- henriquez 6y ago
  > advocating that it should be acceptable for autistic people to cause harm is not helpful. It should be acceptable to empathize and forgive. People who exhibit “atypical” personality traits need this the most of all. Judging all people through the lens of a neurotypical morality construct is inherently harmful.
- seba_dos1 6y ago
  > was that autistic people can't tell bad ideas from good ideas They can tell that. Sometimes maybe even better than others. What they can't do well is navigate across social clues that others pick up instinctively. That aren't explicitly spoken. It's not about considering them harmful or not, it's not whether they should be forgiven or not. It's about understanding. An autistic person behaves in a way that you interpret as "being an asshole" not because they can't tell whether they're being an asshole - it's because they think in a different way and their reasoning makes perfect sense for them and doesn't make them seem like an asshole. You lack that reasoning, so you misinterpret their intentions. The point is to understand why someone may act in the way they do, instead of assuming that they would act in the same way you would. For instance, something that you would say just out of politeness can be interpreted by an autistic person very literally. When you ask "would you like to make me a tea?", expect "no" to be a totally polite and honest answer. That's literally what you asked about.
  - 6y ago
RHSeeger 6y ago
Actually, I took it more as saying that having an offensive personality and being autistic are orthogonal. While it is possible for a person to be both autistic and offensive, using their autism as an excuse for their being offensive does not make sense.

To me, the only thing implied by the above comment is that "all autistic people are capable of being decent to other people." That doesn't seem offensive, although it may be incorrect (I simply do not know).

hedora 6y ago
It is incorrect. Autism is a spectrum.
- astrange 6y ago
  Note that RMS says he doesn't have autism. High functioning autism doesn't look like being rude anyway; it's just some combination of talking for too long and being very sensitive to environmental disturbances.
henriquez 6y ago
Clearly not all neurotypical people are capable of being decent to others, so how would it make sense that all autistic people are? No, to assume that forgiveness or empathy to one autistic individual denigrates an entire spectrum of autistic individuals is the same as assuming that from the actions of one we can confer some sort of collective responsibility. This assumption is the root of all prejudice.
- jolux 6y ago
  >Clearly not all neurotypical people are capable of being decent to others, so how would it make sense that all autistic people are? If you believe that some autistic people can be decent, though, it's no longer an excuse for Stallman that he's autistic. I'm on the spectrum myself, it's not a free pass for being offensive.
- paulcole 6y ago
  > Clearly not all neurotypical people are capable of being decent to others This is not clear to me. Many people are assholes but that’s by choice, not because they’re incapable of not being assholes.

ruined 6y ago

show me where i said that. autistic people are not uniquely malevolent, and it is not offensive to suggest autistic people are not uniquely malevolent. the premise at the root of the thread was that autistic people can't tell bad ideas from good ideas, and should thus go forever uncriticized. both in that it's wrong, and in that it casts autistic people as corruptible and dangerous, when we know very well most "normal" allistic people are perfectly capable of great evils. advocating that it should be acceptable for autistic people to cause harm is not helpful. it promotes the stereotype that autistic people are harmful, resulting in further social rejection and discrimination, and allows abusive people to hide behind the label.

henriquez 6y ago
> advocating that it should be acceptable for autistic people to cause harm is not helpful. It should be acceptable to empathize and forgive. People who exhibit “atypical” personality traits need this the most of all. Judging all people through the lens of a neurotypical morality construct is inherently harmful.
seba_dos1 6y ago
> was that autistic people can't tell bad ideas from good ideas They can tell that. Sometimes maybe even better than others. What they can't do well is navigate across social clues that others pick up instinctively. That aren't explicitly spoken. It's not about considering them harmful or not, it's not whether they should be forgiven or not. It's about understanding. An autistic person behaves in a way that you interpret as "being an asshole" not because they can't tell whether they're being an asshole - it's because they think in a different way and their reasoning makes perfect sense for them and doesn't make them seem like an asshole. You lack that reasoning, so you misinterpret their intentions. The point is to understand why someone may act in the way they do, instead of assuming that they would act in the same way you would. For instance, something that you would say just out of politeness can be interpreted by an autistic person very literally. When you ask "would you like to make me a tea?", expect "no" to be a totally polite and honest answer. That's literally what you asked about.
- 6y ago

RHSeeger 6y ago

Actually, I took it more as saying that having an offensive personality and being autistic are orthogonal. While it is possible for a person to be both autistic and offensive, using their autism as an excuse for their being offensive does not make sense.