Please stop blaming Asperger's for Mitt's nastiness!

[tblue37]

I posted this as a comment in another DU thread, but I think it is important enough to deserve its own thread.

Please do not blame Asperger's for Romney's nastiness and his insulting behavior toward those he considers "beneath" him!

I know many people with Asperger's, and none of them act like that. In fact, I would say that Asperger's makes a person much less likely to be nasty and insulting to other people!

Mitt does not have Asperger's. If he did, he would not be able to lie so easily. That's one of the "deficits" (or, perhaps, one of the advantages!) that comes with Asperger's and other autistic spectrum conditions, because the sort of mental processes required to lie (or to express or understand certain kinds of jokes and certain types of metaphorical language) make it extremely hard--maybe even impossible--for someone with Asperger's to use language to express something other than what the person knows to be true.

What I think he has is spoiled rich brat social ineptness, which is another condition altogether.

Asperger's makes it hard for someone to read subtle social clues that most of us take for granted and use without even thinking about it. A person with Asperger's also tends to hyperfocus on whatever specific topic(s) he finds particularly fascinating, and Asperger's makes it hard for that person to switch topics when other people signal a lack of interest or when others try to take the "conversation" away from the person with Asperger's who has been holding forth on his special topic at length and not noticing that his company is not as fascinated as he is or that they really would like to move on to another topic.

But Asperger's has nothing to do with nastiness or insulting behavior, and I am appalled at how often that connection gets made here on DU!

[DURHAM D]

1. Link to post? thanks

[tblue37]

3. No reason to link to my post, since I have copy-pasted it

in its entirety right there in the OP.

But here is the link to the thread I was responding to with that post, in which the OP said Romney exhibited "Asperger's induced insulting behavior" toward others:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1397003

[DURHAM D]

14. I see the comment/quote was from an article at Wonkette.

I was hoping it was not from a DUer. But, everyone does need to stop with that sort of stupid comment.

Thanks

[marybourg]

2. +1

[TrogL]

4. I'm an Aspie. He's no Aspie

A sociopath cannot be an Aspie

[tblue37]

5. Precisely! Aren't you horrified at the ignorance about Asperger's

that is being displayed here on DU? (Not to mention insulted by it.)

[foghat rules]

9. What makes him a "sociopath?" Has he killed anyone?

And what makes our POTUS not one? He has ordered drone attacks, which have killed innocent people. He has also killed another country's leader, even though that leader was our bud recently. You know--like Hussein in the early '80s?

[pnwmom]

17. He is a bully, at the very least. This has been shown in numerous examples.

And his lack of empathy is also abundantly clear.

[treestar]

19. Well then Bush would be one too, right?

No?

The drone attacks are acts of war. Were Lincoln and Washington sociopaths?

[BanzaiBonnie]

22. that word...

I do not think it means what you think it means.

[laundry_queen]

25. Most sociopaths aren't murderers. Fact. nt

[loyalsister]

31. And by definition, very few socoipaths are willing to participate in society

Let alone run for office.
Mitt is has an authoritative leaning that has worked in his favor because he has dealt mostly with people on on one. He has been immersed in both a religion and business culture that have rewarded that authoritative quality. He really doesn't seem to be able tell lies that serve him well. He either eventually accidentally tells the truth, or can't equivocate and spin on the spot. Mitt is a terrible politician because he doesn't have the humility to even act like he gives a damn about what other people (even allies) think. In his world he has never really had to because he was not questioned. Among family, fellow church members, staff, and employees- Mitt is the final authority. I think he let's Ann have some input because she worships him to his satisfaction. But she has picked up his defensiveness and that serves neither of them well.

He is discovering that during a large national campaign people demand more answers than he is willing to give. I wonder if he knows how much advice he would need to take or at least listen to as a president. He certainly won't do it as a candidate.

I have seen candidates who are 50+ year old men and women taking campaign advice from 24 yr old communications staff. He's in an unfortunate predicament being pulled this way and that by people who want the republicans to succeed, some how just want to beat Obama, and tea party. This campaign is way more work than he bargained for. He didn't have to work this hard in Mass because he did not have an electorate this divided to convince. He is the nominee essentially by default.
I think he is more dangerous than a person who is just out for their own personal satisfaction. Being president is not the kind of thing a person sits back and enjoys. It actually really hard work, and as we have seen it is not as much of an authoritative position as many people think.

[Zoeisright]

36. A sociopath has no feelings for others.

Completely unlike the President of the United States.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. good point.

[WI_DEM]

7. I agree. Romney is just someone who thinks because he is rich he is entitled

in short he's just a jerk.

[kag]

8. I hadn't heard that claim before.

My son has Asperger's, and there is NO WAY he could behave as Romney does. My son is truthful to a fault, and believe me, that's not always a good thing. But it's very different from the sociopathic behavior displayed by Rmoney.

[gateley]

10. WTF? There's no need for a "diagnosis" -- the guy is just simply a prick. Sheesh!

[Posteritatis]

11. Yep. DU's obsession with medicalizing everyone they don't like is irritating. (nt)

[loyalsister]

33. Indeed!

I have a disability and know many many people who have the conditions people "accuse" others of having.
We tend to surround ourselves with our families and people who we consider friends and others with whom we have affable relationships.

We run onto people with whom we clash in our less or completely involuntary relationships who we simply dislike. On rare occasions we have the misfortune of finding ourselves watching or dealing with people who are simply disgusting. We have been tortured with Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, etc. Romney has no medical problem he wants to impress and be friends with hateful people. When he was a little younger he was flexible enough to develop relationships with some people with who he disagreed.

One person suggested to me that when we get older we censor less and some of our worst qualities begin to rule the day. That may be what we are seeing not only with mitt, but with members of congress. Wouldn't a capable politician have saved the comments mitch mcconnell said for a private meeting? Unfortunately for them, these are the people who are mentoring paul ryan and the other up and coming republicans.

[nolabear]

12. In my professional opinion, and I am one, he does not have Asperger's Syndrome.

Since I have never had him in my office I wouldn't presume to give him a DSM-IV diagnosis. But it's pretty safe to say he doesn't meet the criteria, and it's never accurate to think you know from a public persona what anyone's dx would be.

But OFF the clock, I think he's a complete asshole whose entitled, societally isolationist upbringing has played a big part in creating a brittle exterior that cracks under the least inkling that he's not the superior, messianic son of fate that he KIND OF believes himself to be. His actions reek of coming from a shell and not a core.

There's nothing more fragile than buying into your own myth, suspecting in the very back of your mind that you're not as perfect as you're told you are and will fail and die, and then finding out that you, too, really are a tool by which others are trying to advance their own interests and you, too, are disposable.

That kind of thing will mess a guy up.

[siligut]

32. Thank you for this

Not the sympathy for the devil part, but for the compassion it must take.

[Kablooie]

13. I disagree. Romney is an ass burger if anyone was.

Respectfully,
Emily Litella

[mindwalker_i]

15. Mitt is an ass-burger

It's different.

[pnwmom]

16. He's not an aspie. He's a pathological narcissist, without a drop of empathy

for other human beings (or any living creature, for that matter).

All other human beings must either feed his narcissism or be ignored -- or squashed like a bug.

(And then there's that other thing. Becoming President is just another step on the way to his true ambition: becoming the God of his own planet!)

[deafskeptic]

20. I agree.

I have two members of my family with NPD. Trust me on this one, you do not want to deal with people like this in your family.

[pnwmom]

21. I had one, also.

What can be so confusing to outsiders is that these people are often very successful, even charming, when they want to be.

Mitt seems to be the exception in that regard.

[laundry_queen]

26. Sounds like my family.

Although I think Mitt is more of a sociopath, you can have traits of both.

[treestar]

18. Agreed, Mitt being out of touch is not Asberger's

Shows a shallow understanding of Asberger's to even entertain the idea that the Mittwit is a victim.

[MurrayDelph]

24. No, no, no. Willard doesn't HAVE Asperberger's

he IS an ass-burger.

[randome]

27. Why would you be appalled?

You expect everyone in the world to have the same knowledge as you?

Set us right if you want but leave out the counter-accusations, please.

[Posteritatis]

29. These days for something as widespread as that? Yes, it's a reasonable expectation. (nt)

[tblue37]

35. I don't expect everyone to know everything I know--I just think that

if they don't know abotu something, they shouldn't sling the terminology around as though they do.

I am appalled because people with Asperger's are being insulted by the claim that nastiness like Romney's is to be expected from those with Asperger's.

I would be equally appalled if someone's ugliest personality traits or vices were said to be caused by his having, say, MS, or hearing loss, or visual impairments, or any other condition that is somewhere outside of what most people would call "normal."

It is the association of Asperger's with insulting, vicious personality traits that appalls me, because it paints as typically having such traits a group of people who are even less likely than most to have such traits.

In the same way, associating adults with developmental disabilities with violent acting out (which was commonly done in the past and is still done all too often today) led people to isolate and avoid such people, for fear that they might attack them.

If people get the idea that those with Asperger's tend to get nasty and insulting as a consequence of their syndrome, that will reinforce prejudices against them and unfair treatment of them. I consider that a good enough reason to be appalled!

[backscatter712]

28. rMoney is a psychopath.

He has the eyes of Hannibal Lector, but rather than eating people, he eats their jobs & money.

I don't see anything in him that indicates Aspergers.

[Odin2005]

30. This is why I hate the "autistics have no empathy" crap.

Empathy is one of those words that seems to mean what somebody wants it to mean. When an "expert" like Simon Baron-Cohen or Uta Frith comes and says that we have no empathy most people read that as "autistic people are assholes who don't care about other people", which is absolute crap.

[SheilaT]

34. I am the mother of an Aspie,

and it is totally obvious that Mitt is NOT one himself.

[sakabatou]

37. Mitt's not on the autistic spectrum

He's just an asshole.