Should I give up WP?

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I thought WP was a great site where I could comfortably talk about my being aspie and anything else in general I was interested in. But lately I have been reading more and more stuff here that has made me depressed, upset, and even frightened. Just the other evening someone posted a link to what was supposedly a site for hateful Christian extremists saying all kinds of horrible things about people with Aspergers, that we're evil, cheerless, unemotional, mentally ret*d demons who kill small animals and are the who keep human body parts in the freezer, and that Jeffery Dahmer had Asperger's and other garbage like that. It was horrifying until someone showed that somewhere on the site, in tiny print, it said that the site is a joke or a parody that trolls Bible-Thumpers. Oh, so that makes the cruel, ignorant, inaccurate garbage they posted okay, then.

I'm tired of hearing all the time how NT think we're some kind of national crisis and need to be "cured", I'm frightened at the thought that some new Hitler show up and will force us to die in gas chambers, and I'm tired of life. Maybe I should just give up WP since it just seems to remind me more brutally than ever how wrong a planet this is. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go interact with some simulated humans because the real ones are impossible and they think my head should be put on a stake before I murder and eat their children or microwave their pet hamster or whatever.

It's up to you, and I don't know you, but I would hate for you to lose the positive things just because of a few bad words. I have sometimes read things on this site that made me unhappy, and sometimes just dropped out, but here I am again. That's one of the good things about computers - you can turn them off.
Don't give up on it altogether. Just take a break and come back when you want to.
I have noticed when I check out a forum that I have never seen before, I see names I have never seen before. Some people seem to stick to selected topics. Maybe you could edit your choices to avoid the ones you like the least?
If you want just a casual, no commitment pen pal, feel free to pm me. I don't have any friends so am happy to chat. You can dump me any time, I won't be offended.
I do not make this offer often (more like, never before!!)

Last edited by BlackSabre7 on 25 Apr 2014, 11:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hateful Christian extremists, I'm pretty sure most people find them obnoxious at best.

Actually I am a little afraid of you, but I cannot put my finger on exactly why. I do not consider you to be a hamster killer, but in general I am a person who experiences a lot of terror. I have no fear of people like Hitler killing autistics in some future world, however, though I suppose that could happen, and if you do not want it to happen then fight to preserve freedom of speech.


Here is a link to that thread which I would never have seen if you had not posted this, so thanks, as it is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long while. The high quality of the satire makes me convinced that many of those writing are aspies. I already knew it was a satire because I read this first, but I am thinking I would have caught it, as it is quite obvious, but I sometimes miss stuff, so who knows?:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt240794.html


I will discuss this on that thread, as I think this is important in that it relates to autistic brain function re how parody is perceived.

I am sorry you are disconcerted by various posts. I have been trying since I was born to shape the world to conform to my own level of comfort. That has been a difficult endeavor as different people whose environments intersect with mine have different ideas than myself about how the world should be.

Last edited by littlebee on 26 Apr 2014, 2:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

I hope you'll stay on for the encouragement and support you can give/receive and steer clear of the posts that bother you. Remember people that think like that, to such extremes, represent a very small part of the population.

Also I don't think Jeffrey Dahmer was an aspie. I think his diagnosis was BPD.

I know how you feel. I've read some things on here that have terrified me, and it is depressing. I hate it when I read things about the most recent mass shootings was by a person with Asperger's, I just think ''that sure gives Autistic people a good reputation !'' It makes me become afraid of my own self, even though I know full well that I would never do such a thing because it's just not in me. But I do kind of let myself get brainwashed by the stuff I hear on the media and it starts off all the anxious thoughts. I would quit WP too if it wasn't for being so nostalgic. I've been here too long and made so many posts and got used to the site, that I don't feel like starting over on another site. Even then there might just be the same s**t and lies on another site too, scaring people to death by people who seem to be oblivious to the seriousness of being tortured in concentration camps, and just bring it up like it's a casual thing.

This almost makes me s**t myself too. I don't want to be punished for having a mild case of Asperger's. It makes me angry that there is talk of people with just ASDs are going to be singled out and tortured, when there are actual dangerous types of people out there. I mean I know society seem to have very low tolerance of Autistics, but I always thought that was just socially, not politically. I know people like me are classified as ''normal'' and have to work and just be part of normal society. I don't know about you, but if I have to be part of normal society then I don't see why I would have to be tortured then. Well, I don't think anyone on the Autism spectrum should be put in concentration camps anyway. I've always wanted to go to Poland to see the concentration camps, not to be put in them!

Last edited by Joe90 on 26 Apr 2014, 5:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

woud honestly say to not leave as are clearly finding it a helpful resource but to take a break from forums,a break [a few days for example] can be very helpful, am always taking breaks due to having a lot of severe health problems made worse by being spoken to like sht by some people on here.

a few points about what have said....
a]those people who have used the term 'mentaly ret*d' arent worth the bandwith they use up with their posting, mental retardation isnt even a diagnosis anymore the DSM finaly changed it to intelectual disability last year alongside the ASD merge-plus ID has been used in america for several years before the change in preparation.

nor is ID something to be phobic and/or ashamed of,many of us with ID have more fulfilling lives than non disabled people and arent thick,we just have a limited mental capacity.

b]keep off the PPR forum,that will take some of the stress away,plus that website have refered to was the landover baptist church site which is a fictional church and fake forum and full of atheist aspies amongst NTs trolling each other,obviously it doesnt make it moraly ok but this is the internet unfortunately;most people dont take any consideration for how their words will affect other people because they are anonymous and nothing bad will happen to them, unless theyre reported under disability hate crime laws and see whose laughing then... just stay away from the site, it will do a lot of good for mental health.

c]a lot of the people who support the cure idea are hypocrites and not just NTs, many are aspies who are disgusted at the idea of a aspergers cure but automaticaly think those of us on the low functioning spectrum need it when they dont have a clue what we want nor do so many of the parents of young LFAs who only see it from their view and not ours [and we are supposed to be the ones with a buggered ToM].

dont give any weight to the whole involuntary cure idea as it will never be allowed to happen, at least in the UK it wont because those of us who are low functioning and in the firing line the most for this topic
are under the mental capacity act and it woudnt be allowed as we cannot legaly consent, they woud have to have a legaly binding 'best interest decision' with many different specialists and people who support us and BIDs are about making sure decisions are what we woud want to.

If people think that someone is likely to go on some sort of rampage or something because they are autistic, then that is because they are ignorant and need to be educated. Most people who commit those sorts of crimes are not autistic. The common thread among such individuals is most likely to be that they have suffered at the hands of others through abuse or bullying. Certainly many autistic people experience this.
People develop prejudices because of ignorance. More awareness is needed, and the lives of autistic people in general should improve if the focus was that instead of just a cure. The NT public could learn to not be afraid and even to appreciate the positive qualities of AS people, at least in some cases.

I said this because I hope no-one feels bad about themselves because of this perception. The fault lies with the ignorant, not with the autistic.

I don't think you should leave, just be more selective of the posts that you read.

OK, Landover Baptist Church is a PARODY website. It's to make fun of people like Westboro Baptist Church and RaptureReady.com which are actual things. I actually joined Landover before and played a character on there. It's NOT about ASD or anything like that, they go after anything and everything and they pick their topics from looking at sites like RR.com. It's just full of people who want to poke fun at other people who hate everybody else who doesn't believe like they do.

Also, WP has quite a few paranoid member, if you ask my opinion of it. Nobody is out to get rid of aspies or folks with autism. If you want to know who most people in the US are paranoid about, it's Muslims. I don't know why. Most Muslims are not nutcases like the extremists. However, if somebody was going to start a program to get rid of people, it would be them in the US. Or possibly illegals. Thats a huge issue too. Nobody even bothers with us. Chill.

Perhaps the OP has trouble identifying satire.

I get caught by it from time to time. And I'm a first class smartass.

The prejudice and the danger that people with autism face is real, even though that satirical piece isn't. I'm not surprised that it makes you uncomfortable, because it does the same to me. It makes me scared, and sad, and angry.

The problem is that once you know about something like this, you can't just decide to not know about it anymore. Leaving WP wouldn't change what you learned here.

That doesn't mean you ought to go and find the most depressing autism news and wallow in it, though. That'll do you no good; it'll just make you more sad, angry, and scared. Find some of the positive stuff, too, and read about that. You know--the autistic kid who wins the spelling bee, or the autistic author who just got a book published, or the parents who are paving the way for their autistic kids' education instead of making do with the mediocre quality schooling that's available. Compared to the way things used to be, it's getting better. Slowly and surely.

And that brings me to another point: When you become more aware of things like prejudice and mistreatment of autistics, you probably feel pretty helpless. That makes it much worse--but you don't have to feel helpless. There are some things you can do. Get involved in an autism association in your area; help the younger autistics and the ones who are in difficult situations. You could write letters, if that's your thing. Or don't focus on autism specifically; just work to make things better for people in tough situations generally. Helping other people also helps you, because it brings home the point that you are able to do something about the sad and scary things in the world.

If you want to leave, that's cool; I mean, it's your choice, and people drift in and out of WP all the time. If not dwelling on negative information means not hanging around here so much, maybe it would be a good choice. On the other hand, consider adding balance to WP yourself, in the form of positive news, useful advice, or simple support to others. It's up to you. Perhaps you could leave for a week or two, as an experiment to find out whether you want to stick around or not. The important thing is that you choose what's best for your situation at this point in your life.

Callista wrote:

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Pretty good advice, but imo the best thing to do is observe ones own reaction impartially, if possible, though that is very difficult and even better, just feel the feeling without thinking about it and playing into it or trying to move away from it by thinking about something else.. That is what I have done with my own anxiety and terror. I had an unusual experience on a particular thread here that is now locked where I experienced sheer indescribable terror triggered by a particular sequence of comments from one person and I just stayed with it and felt it as I was experiencing it---completely felt it---and it was amazing l was able to do that, I acknowledge, but lots of previous work and practice went into being able to do so at that moment, and this dissolved the terror, and I have been more free of terror ever since, though I still experience it. I do think I have a lot more work to do in this area, and do not know if I will ever be completely free of terror, but writing this inspires me to simply feel it the next time, as I still get lost in thinking about it when it happens.

Also previously on this thread littlebee wrote...:

...and I just edited that message to say what I actually meant to say:

Thanks for the info. I remember that link, and that site is so over the top it flat out couldn't be real. I forget where you have to hover the mouse over on the main page explaining it's a parody site.

Paranoia is local. Where I live, Muslims are everywhere, and no one bats an eye. Have two upper middle class, African American families move in, in three months houses are up for sale.
Gotta love the Metro Detroit area....I'm sure it's different all over the U$.

I agree with all of the above.it sickens me how ignorance leads to fear in those who dont understand.id be willing to bet that most evil people are nt's. they dont understand and blindly adopt opinions of others who dont understand either and are so ignorant and act on these fears.I resent media who mention that criminals have asd,do they mention those who dont?
People with asd i beleive may have way more common sense than nt's.its like those who encourage bleach enemas and baths as a "cure",WTF.they are the supposed "normal"ones,it makes me sick.
Hope this makes sense,i had to get something up here.

Losonearth35.do what you feel you need to do to clear your mind.it would be a shame for you to quit us over their bs.
Im glad to live in canada where there are less of these kooks,and feel sorry for those who have to deal whith them

this is my second day here and I'm already feeling skittish about the exact things you've mentioned...but I'm not going to leave yet as I hope to be able to avoid them in the future. There are certain usernames I know to look out for now, because I've seen them post things that trigger my anxiety and depression, so I know those users are likely to post triggering things in the future...does anyone know of a browser-based tumblr savior-like add on that I could use to prevent showing of triggering material? Considering how many of us have some pretty serious anxiety, it seems like a function like that would be really appreciated here.

I think that if you want to leave, you should try simply not visiting WP for a while before deleting your account, as I have done that on other sites before and then changed my mind and felt a lot of social anxiety about having a new username and account (or maybe that would not be a problem for you). Your mental health should be priority number one.

Some people may not be afraid of hate-speech, ablism, and eugenics-based fascism, but I think those of us that are afraid should have our fears respected as legitimate considering how these things really did happen and are still happening all over the world. Also, it is invalidating to dismiss other peoples' emotions as silly.

And I don't see how anyone can think it's okay to have a laugh at anyone else's autistic traits on a forum specifically for autistic people. Satire and sarcasm are difficult for us to understand, and even those users who are NT, or who don't have that particular trait, should understand that. And considering Poe's Law states that parody of extremism is identical to plain old extremism when it is in text form, to everyone (NTs and auties alike), the arguement "it's just parody" really doesn't hold water.

Also I am getting pretty sick of the "functionality" labeling as it is ablist and often serves to simply silence those autistic people who contradict generalizations about autistic people (as in: "oh no, I didn't mean you, I meant the autistic people who can't defend themselves"). If a person wants to identify as low-functioning that's fine, but I don't think we should be labelling each other as such, or any portion of the autism community (such as nonverbal autistics).

Also just a quick disclaimer: I'm not trying accuse any user of any specific problematic behavior; I'm just trying to outline certain behaviors I find to be wrong (such as invalidating emotions, ablism, etc). I do this to show support to lostonearth35.