Gun control and other issues
Gun control is a noble goal, and I fully support it, but allow me to point out something: the two most recent gunmen stole their weapons from people who had legally bought theirs, and passed background checks. No amount of gun control is ever going to keep sufficiently motivated nutjobs from getting weapons.
And while we're at it, stop trying to blame the violence on mental health issues. The news keeps bringing up the possibility that the Connecticut shooter may have had Asperger's Syndrome. The only possible way this is relevant is if people were treating him stupidly because of the condition; the condition itself has nothing to do with it. I think the only reason they're even considering the possibility, in the press, is the myth that people with Asperger's don't have empathy. This is absurd. As I, and thousands of others of Aspies can attest, Aspies DO have empathy. In fact, we're often cursed with an overabundance. Where confusion arises is, I think, because being around other people can be painful for many of us, or at least emotionally and mentally exhausting. I myself am picky about who I spend time with because I have to balance my need for company with my ability to tolerate company. And I get angry about so many social issues because it hurts my soul that anyone suffers needlessly. I wish I could cure all the world's ills, but I can't, and that is extremely frustrating.
Another area where confusion about aspies may arise is that many of us need to learn body language. Many misinterpret this as not being attuned to the feelings of others, but the truth is that to someone with Asperger's, the emotions of other humans are like a wave of endless noise. Those of us who have to learn body language do so, I think, to learn how to pick one person's feeling out of the din. At least, that's my experience.
One last thing: don't listen to anything that the mainstream media says about guns. Ever. Their accuracy rate is, as a friend of mine said, the same as homophobes talking about gays. Nothing they say can be trusted, when it comes to guns. They use the wrong terms, they use weird definitions, and most of what they're saying sounds, to anyone who actually knows anything about guns, like they're just making shit up. Because mostly, they are. I'll leave the details of picking apart their lies to someone more knowledgeable than I, since I have never held a gun and have no interest in doing so.
This was cross-posted from http://alex-antonin.dreamwidth.org/207072.html
You can comment either here or there.
And while we're at it, stop trying to blame the violence on mental health issues. The news keeps bringing up the possibility that the Connecticut shooter may have had Asperger's Syndrome. The only possible way this is relevant is if people were treating him stupidly because of the condition; the condition itself has nothing to do with it. I think the only reason they're even considering the possibility, in the press, is the myth that people with Asperger's don't have empathy. This is absurd. As I, and thousands of others of Aspies can attest, Aspies DO have empathy. In fact, we're often cursed with an overabundance. Where confusion arises is, I think, because being around other people can be painful for many of us, or at least emotionally and mentally exhausting. I myself am picky about who I spend time with because I have to balance my need for company with my ability to tolerate company. And I get angry about so many social issues because it hurts my soul that anyone suffers needlessly. I wish I could cure all the world's ills, but I can't, and that is extremely frustrating.
Another area where confusion about aspies may arise is that many of us need to learn body language. Many misinterpret this as not being attuned to the feelings of others, but the truth is that to someone with Asperger's, the emotions of other humans are like a wave of endless noise. Those of us who have to learn body language do so, I think, to learn how to pick one person's feeling out of the din. At least, that's my experience.
One last thing: don't listen to anything that the mainstream media says about guns. Ever. Their accuracy rate is, as a friend of mine said, the same as homophobes talking about gays. Nothing they say can be trusted, when it comes to guns. They use the wrong terms, they use weird definitions, and most of what they're saying sounds, to anyone who actually knows anything about guns, like they're just making shit up. Because mostly, they are. I'll leave the details of picking apart their lies to someone more knowledgeable than I, since I have never held a gun and have no interest in doing so.
This was cross-posted from http://alex-antonin.dreamwidth.org/207072.html
You can comment either here or there.