15 Jul 2005, 6:39 pm
You won't believe what someone is posting in Craigslist's psych forum. If any of you can, I think you should respond this this crazy person. Here is the link and quotes.... 
http://forums.washingtondc.craigslist.org/?forumID=29 (then look for the thread from 7/15 at 12pm)
"Aspergers and Serial Killers"
Then someone tells her that it sounds more like anti-social pd rather than AS. Her response:
I have done MUCH reading about Aspergers. Moreover, I have worked and associated with many people with Aspergers--have you? I would disagree with your statement that people with Aspergers are not sociopaths. I think many of them are, though not the "typical" type of criminal sociopath. Based on my FIRST HAND OBSERVATIONS, I would say that people with Aspergers display sociopathic behavior when they are given the opportunity to do so. But with their lack of social skills and interests that "normal" sociopaths have, they simply don't have the same opportunities or motivation to behave sociopathically--at least in traditionally criminal ways (aside from computer hacking and cyberharassment).
Also, not all serial killers are sociopaths. BUT one of the prime characteristics of serial killers is their lack of empathy, which also happens to be a prime characteristic of people with Aspergers. Dennis Rader's profile does, in fact, fit with the Aspergers profile--most notably with his obsessive enforcement of petty rules as a city code enforcer, which would fit with the DSM IV diagnotic criteria of "inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines, rules or rituals or the "imposition of routines, rules and rituals on others." His neighbors and associates also commented that he was an unpleasant person showing no emotional reciprocity in a way that would fit with this DSM IV diagnostic criteria.
Her final post, so far:
"where as apergers patients usually desire emotional connections with others but have a difficult time getting there because of communication issues."
Again, based on my REAL LIFE experience with Aspergers PEOPLE (not "patients"), they do not seem to desire emotional connections with most other people at all. They are very picky about who they will bestow their "invaluable" time on. And everything always has to be on their terms. I know a few who genuinely try and want to be with others, but believe me--most are simply not very nice people.
I know you want to put a positive, sympathetic spin on their disorder--and believe me, I would like to also--but I'm just telling the plain truth; there is no spinning the facts here.
I hope some of you will go there and respond. This is outrageous that someone would think this and then put it on at least one public forum.
15 Jul 2005, 7:47 pm
I can only say it's a opinion. We have had our
share of inner-personal opinions posted here as
well.
Hmmmmm?
"What big fangs(autistics/AS'rs) got!"
"What large eye's we have!"
"What big teeth we have(to better eat you with)!"
This would qualify as her stereotype!
Bah-hum-bug! 
15 Jul 2005, 8:28 pm
I'm not a psycho. 
15 Jul 2005, 8:56 pm
I know it's outrageous and excruciatingly painful to read garbage like that, but please keep in mind that craigslist is chock-full of idiots. Besides - think about it this way: it's *obviously* untrue that people with AS lack empathy: if they did, they wouldn't be in an uproar over this twit's accusations! 
15 Jul 2005, 8:58 pm
The problem is that no one is in an uproar on Craigslist. And even though there are plenty of crazy people over there, there are also some pretty sane ones. And don't forget that most people still don't know much if anything about AS. That's why this bugged me so much. It's just plain bad information that hasn't been corrected.
16 Jul 2005, 4:15 am
16 Jul 2005, 4:33 am
16 Jul 2005, 9:30 am
17 Jul 2005, 6:11 am
I wouldn't worry about it. Something Awful recently featured a Weekend Web on the Craigslist forums here. This is one of their posts that they featured, making it clear that Craigslist is a hotbed of insanity. I don't think anyone in their right mind takes those opinions seriously.
17 Jul 2005, 12:40 pm
I checked it out. The kind of things people posted are going to give nightmares. 
What'd that beam out into space thing mean? Do I want to know?
18 Jul 2005, 11:20 pm
