Sheldon Cooper. Aspie, or offensive parody?

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My apologies if I'm coming across angrily or anything like that. Obviously communication isn't exactly my most innate skill, and that was not my intention.

I agree we should be able to laugh at ourselves. And I think others should be able to laugh at us and we should be able to laugh at others for things that any of us actually do that are actually funny. I think a full-on can't-breathe kind of laughing is the absolute greatest thing that happens to us in our lives, and that we can never do enough of it.

But I think that Sheldon's 'Sheldoniness' is trumped up to be more Aspie than it really is. Many of his behaviors are simply the kind of selfish as you'd expect from a psychopath, which is different to Asperger's because Aspies usually do feel and express regret if and when they realize that they have been inconsiderate of others. Psychopaths on the other hand know that they are being inconsiderate of others with no remorse at all, which often happens with Sheldon's character.

It is the fact that Sheldon's 'Sheldoniness' is purposely conflated with symptoms of Asperger's without rounding out WHY the character behaves why he does (e.g. the writers mean for him to be Aspie but are bad at writing it) that irks me.

I'm not saying the show should be yanked from the air (at least not for this) or that Aspies should be offended that the character exists.

Much to the contrary, I'm saying that if a true Aspie played the part it would have been a truer and funnier portrayal. Or the writers and Mr. Parsons might portray Asperger's in a truer and funnier way if they acknowledged from the beginning that it is obviously what they are attempting with that character and maybe consult with true Aspies during writing and filming.

My point with Tyler Perry was that it is people who know African-American culture that make truer and funnier portrayals of African-Americans, which African-Americans find funny for the African-Americanness it contains.

That is what I would have liked to see with this show as well, but alas I find a weak and sometimes quite morally objectional depiction of a condition that the writers and actor apparently don't understand well and therefore portray quite inorganically, while at the same time denying that it is the condition that they are so obviously stereotyping.

It's not that Sheldon couldn't be a great, funny, and more importantly true representation of Aspies in our mass-media that could help bridge the divide with NTs who would otherwise be at best indifferent and often much worse to the Aspies.

It's that he purposely isn't even though he could have been.

My first impression was also that all the guys were aspies, with Sheldon being more severe. But I don't think so anymore, having watched more of the show. Raj, Howard and Leonard are just nerds, not aspies.

Those with historical knowledge of Hollywood might remember the concept of comical genius-nerds in Big-Bang is a 21st century TV rendition of the 80s movies "Revenge of the Nerds" but fast forwarded to move from when they were nerds in the school physics club to becoming Caltech and MIT professors.

Revenge of the Nerds was a gratuitous parody of young intellectuals caricatured with tight uncool clothes, buck teeth and braces. In Big Bang aside from Sheldon, the other three big bang nerds are relatively successful but just unlucky in love (except in later series when Leonard snares Penny). Sheldon seems happy with his life with or without female company but ends up with Amy from Caltech.

I asked a group of people I know (as a type of informal survey) if they associated any of the characters as Aspies. It's curious not one thought so. And come to think of it neither do I. I think this is just an exercise in confirmation bias, if you search these characters hard enough you will find odd behaviors that may resonate and the high intelligence bit is just an example of guilty by association not causation.

Raj and Howard come across as NT-geeks. Sheldon is an extreme OCD type. Leornard is probably the most NT of the four.

I have never watched this show, nor has it ever looked the slightest bit interesting to me, but I've just watched a "best of Sheldon" video on YT as a crash course. And...

So far I'm just seeing an eccentric science and comics buff. Where does the Aspie part come in? There are some surface differences but basically he talks and behaves like any old sitcom character. Do they actually refer to him as an Aspie? He's sort of an interesting character but I don't relate to him all that much.

These clips also remind me why I don't watch any current sitcoms: for lack of a better phrase, everyone is acting too hard, to the point that it's painfully obvious they are just actors who are standing around trying to out-quirk each other. It sets my teeth on edge.

I've only recently started watching that show but I have to say Sheldon Cooper acts EXACTLY like I did as a teenager/young adult. It's almost scary how similar he is to my younger self, even down to the hair! Only difference is that I wouldn't have such a large group of friends wanting to hang around me.

I'm not forgetting Amy, but I'm hesitant to call her autistic precisely because she's written as the "female Sheldon". She suffers from a lot of the same stereotyping Sheldon does.

When I say Bernadette comes across as the most autistic, I mean it's the most accurate portrayal, even if it's accidental.