Are You a Loser?

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I've been giving this some thought; and I'm beginning to wonder whether people with Asperger's syndrome, clinically diagnosed or self-diagnosed, are at a greater risk of being losers. I believe that loserliness exists on a spectrum of severity, and its telltale signs can be measured as a percentage of similarity with the ideal loser.

I've made a rough list of characteristics symptomatic of losers. Give yourself a point for each you think you show and then add them up.

• Makes excuses to avoid confronting difficulties indefinitely
• Reduces failure to chance or wholly external factors so as to be unable to learn and succeed
• Blames self excessively and feels constant guilt, low self-worth, and pessimistic attitude; ruminates on trivial worries and avoids actually solving problems
• Closes self off by being too anxious to try new things
• Uses self-awareness (medical diagnoses, awareness of cognitive and physical differences) to anticipate failure rather than to find ways to compensate
• Refuses to let things slide; becomes distraught at all kinds of perceived insults and insensitivities to their needs; reluctant to forgive and forget
• Believes self to be too smart, sensitive, or different to be understood by most people; feels other people are snobby, ignorant, and boorish
• Lives off others; obtains welfare income when can still work
• Looks for the worst in occurrences and people instead of the best
• Cannot admit to mistakes
  

Control sample...well, sort of, but not really, as ADD probably correlates with these factors too, as do other common diagnoses like depression.

1. yes
2. No. #3 cancels it out.
3. HELL yes.
4. yes...but I still don't see the point in, e.g., going out and getting a boyfriend when there are other ways to seek happiness that do not involve other people.
5. HELL yes. But at least sometimes I get inspired to want to change this and use the self-awareness for good.
6. No.
7. No. #3 blocks this.
8. Not yet, but often worry (#3) that it will happen.
9. No.
10. No. #3 blocks this.

So, 4 out of 10.

I fail at being a loser?


Makes excuses to avoid confronting difficulties indefinitely
Of you put it off long enough...

Reduces failure to chance or wholly external factors so as to be unable to learn and succeed
Huh?

Blames self excessively and feels constant guilt, low self-worth, and pessimistic attitude; ruminates on trivial worries and avoids actually solving problems
Guilty.

Closes self off by being too anxious to try new things
Only if it involves crowds of people.

Uses self-awareness (medical diagnoses, awareness of cognitive and physical differences) to anticipate failure rather than to find ways to compensate
Only when I'm depressed.

Refuses to let things slide; becomes distraught at all kinds of perceived insults and insensitivities to their needs; reluctant to forgive and forget
Guilty.

Believes self to be too smart, sensitive, or different to be understood by most people; feels other people are snobby, ignorant, and boorish
Well, Yes, I do think most people find me to weird to comprehend. But that's all my fault.

Lives off others; obtains welfare income when can still work
Nope. I've not even applied for SSI although I am elegeable.

Looks for the worst in occurrences and people instead of the best
False. I'm renowned among my peers as someone who could find good things about Attila the Hun

Cannot admit to mistakes
False. I usually admit my mistakes and take the responsability for everyone else's as well.

3, because I refsue to count one which is invalid in my case an another which is completely invalid.

I've worked on myself a lot, and i'm constantly at vigil, so currently i'm at 0.

I read a book about the 6 types of ADD, and several of the things on that list are covered in that book.

Are you suggesting ADHD might be the medicalization of being a loser?

No. It seems like the ADHD diagnosis explains a lot of things typically considered to be in the "loser" realm of "you'll never make it" or "you don't try hard enough." But not everyone with ADHD is a loser, and not every loser has ADHD. Of course, it depends on what your personal definition of "loser" is.

I've been researching ADHD lately....it seems like a lot of people get labeled lazy, stupid, etc. for their ADHD traits. Several of the items on your list can result from being repeatedly mistreated, regardless if you have ADHD, AS, or anything else.

thought you didn't have aspergers anymore. whatcha doin' here?

Sings;

I'm a Loser...I'm a Loser, and I'm not what I appear to be.

Umm...that's about it. I used to have most of those traits, but have fixed a lot of them.
I'm not a loser!! !

guilty as charged, take me away officer

No.

Only one other person here has had the guts to admit they are one!!

Yes, I am definately one, but I am not afraid to admit it, as it is only a subjective label anyway.

The term "loser" is used more often than not by right wingers as a way to justify their perceived superiority over weaker individuals. It is often a word used to describe someone who is not able to survive in the harsh capitalist economic climate of certain Western nations (USA??) and it is used as a way so that the rich justify keeping their wealth and not sharing it (either by tax or charity) with the less fortunate.

It is a term I would rather like stamped out. (enter the PC bods....)

Makes excuses to avoid confronting difficulties indefinitely
maybe

Reduces failure to chance or wholly external factors so as to be unable to learn and succeed
no

Blames self excessively and feels constant guilt, low self-worth, and pessimistic attitude; ruminates on trivial worries and avoids actually solving problems
yes

Closes self off by being too anxious to try new things
yes, but it wasn't always that way (making excuses?)

Uses self-awareness (medical diagnoses, awareness of cognitive and physical differences) to anticipate failure rather than to find ways to compensate
I don't think so.

Refuses to let things slide; becomes distraught at all kinds of perceived insults and insensitivities to their needs; reluctant to forgive and forget
no

Believes self to be too smart, sensitive, or different to be understood by most people; feels other people are snobby, ignorant, and boorish
yes

Lives off others; obtains welfare income when can still work
If living off one's husband counts, yes.

Looks for the worst in occurrences and people instead of the best
I look for the worst in occurences, I look for the best in people.

Cannot admit to mistakes
No. I always blame myself.

Upon closer review of this list, several of the points seem to contradict each other.

Which right-wing source did you get this from, Neant?