Reflection on William Freund

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I was considering revealing my AS diagnosis to my employer.

After all of this stuff with William Freund being all over the news, I've decided against it. I'm just going to muddle through with the help of meds.

You can always come here and talk to us too Fahreeq.

when your in such a bad state of mind your lost of feelings and reason,not careing of anything
so one may seek a revenge before doing his final goul.

Geraldo will be featuring a segment on William Freund tonight at 6pm. The commercial I just saw on it mentioned A.S stated it to be a type of autism and questions whether it played a part in the shooting spree. The show is on the local fox channel. I dont know about anywhere else but here(Phoenix,AZ.) they always do a rebroadcast of the previous nights show at 4:30am the following morning. Possibly check your local listings for Geraldo slot on your local fox affiliate or look for show online even.

Could someone give us the run-down on the report after they see it?

Being in Aus we don't get the Fox Network. I'm not even sure this incident has even made news here in Aus.

Heres the enticer for the show and the story.


http://www.geraldoatlarge.com/

http://www.geraldoatlarge.com/blog.php

You know, I hadn't even heard of William Freund until today, when I heard it through this forum here somebody linked me to yesterday.

There are kids with AS in my school who talk about killing people, I, and the teachers had always assumed that they were joking.

I wonder if the teachers will take those comments more seriously after this.

These kids all do have friends though, so that might make a difference.

I think, if you go back and read the AP coverage (the article I'm thinking of comes up in a search), you'll see that he had been taking a lot of what people were dishing out for years. The AP didn't follow that one up, but maybe 60 minutes or 48 hours will. And though I can't imagine taking a gun out and shooting my neighbors, I can understand where the poor guy was coming from.

From the AP....
"Freund had Asperger's syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by poor communication and social skills. As an undergraduate at Aliso Niguel High School, he reportedly was harassed, spit on and had his head pushed into the toilet.

People laughed at him and harassed him in the school halls, Key told the Los Angeles Times for a Sunday story.

"He wouldn't get aggressive. He would never retaliate," she said. "He would just take it, day after day."

"Here's a guy who had it really hard and nobody made it any easier for him," said Tio Lavranos, 19, another former classmate."


How sad that the world has come to that.

RES

having read geraldo's sensationalist crap (from the blog link), all i can say is... oh great. just great. just what we didn't need, again.

Well, not to be overally generalistic or prejudiced (which is more than I can say for Geraldo), but it's pretty typical for America to go on a xenophobic witchhunt... Just think of the American Muslims being persecuted for the acts of a few...

good point, GA.

obviously, there are people with AS who are violent etc., etc., just as there are muslims who are extremists. but, in both cases, the majority are not. AS does not equate to violence, just as muslim does not equate with terrorism. it's pretty obvious why people might think they do equate, but i like to think i'm not such a sheep as to believe one person, or a minority, of a group is representative of the whole group.

sadly, many, many people in this world don't think for themselves, and so do believe so.

William Freund is another fallen victim of the system; yet another person driven mad by the injustices in this arrogant and ignorant society. You can call him a crack-headed-killer or whatever you want, but the truth is he was a product of his society. Nature handed him a social blindfold, a handful or more people gave him a reason, yet others fueled his hatred and desperation, some handed him the fateful bullets, and another gave him the gun. In real life nobody was listening, nobody cared, not one person thought abusing him was worth stopping, nobody showed him a better way, no one gave him love or compassion, and none of his classmates had the courage to stand up and stop the abuse, or maybe they really didn’t even care to. It seems like they would rather talk about it on CNN or Fox news. All too often its some preppy blonde girl talking about the abuse she didn’t help to stop; the abuse that nobody tried to stop.

He even tried to reach out to other people online. I know that feeling. I know how it feels to be depressed, and doubting even the most sincere attempts at friendship from other people. Its hard to trust people when the ones in real life do rotten things to you. Hell, he was even posting stuff on Live Journal communities I bet. I suspect that he frequented the main one on there. The Internet is a very sad last resort for social interaction. Oftentimes the Internet brings out the worst in an already rotten society. I went onto depression support chat on the yahoo network where a young man was begging people to talk to him and stop ignoring his SN. You know what they kept doing? They ignored him again and again. He changed his name multiple times and was pleading with them to let him participate. Do you know what they did to him? They continued to ignore him, called him filthy names, and made fun of him. It turned into a sadistic game of torture, and from people that should have been able to relate to his pain. No…they did not! After all its just the Internet, and nobody can look past the black 12pt font and see an actual human being. Whocares? Whocares right? Right?

Aspergers will just get the quick and easy blame just like the video game and music industry did for the Columbine school shootings. Even people in this community want to mentally separate themselves from what Freund did.

The average domestic pet is treated better then most people are. There is a prison mentality in a great deal of the public schools, and the liberal teachers set back and ignore the problems going on right under their noses. I know all too well what it is like as a person who went through the Colorado and Wyoming public school systems. I was labeled the “problem”, and it was always me that was reprimanded when I would inevitably fight back. They even threatened to kick me out of school at one point in Junior High. When I reached High School people left me alone for the most part, but then I was literally ignored. Nobody cared that I was there, nobody remembers me or cares to, and nobody cares to talk to me anymore NOW, then they did back then.

I remember when the schools in my area went into panic when the Columbine shootings happened. I didn’t go to that school, but I was attending a school in a nearby suburb across town. I know why they did it, and it’s the same reason Freund did.

I too am a lost cause. Its hard to trust anyone when every single person in my life has betrayed me. I remember begging Anna to just talk to me again, but she wouldn’t. She just walked away and gave up on me. The only other person in my life I ever cared about just gave up on me. Whocares right? It doesn’t matter what I think or what I feel? The only thing I did wrong was point out the things she was doing wrong to me, and for that I got pushed away. Enough is enough.

no-one is a lost cause, darkschizo, and you certainly are not. you have a contribution to make here, for a start, as your experiences are relevant and help other people to understand how to deal with stuff in their own life. apart from anything else, it also helps them to see that they're not alone in feeling as they do - i bet there are many people here who have had similar experiences.


hang on in there, darthschizo.

darkschizo, anna and others like her are really the lost ones. Flawed and unable to forge meaningful give and take relationships with others. Abandoning ship at the first sign of rough seas-unable and unwilling to navigate thru the storms of life. You did nothing wrong by pointing out things she may do that hurt your feelings. In fact you did the exact thing a socially well developed person who cares for another should do. Ofcourse you care for her and most likely your emotions wont let you see her for what she truly is which is apparently self-absorbed and shallow prefering to cut and run rather than address the pain she causes you. Its so much easier to think something is wrong with you rather than accept the idea that something is wrong with her. To remian close to you means she would have to accept that she is flawed now that you have acknowledged these flaws and pointed them out to her. You are the messenger of news she already knows but can dismiss til another repeats it aloud. You feel sorry for yourself wrongly-she is the one to feel sorry for. And to forge relationships with broken people will only cause you to feel and become broken. People are not vases that can be glued back together,once broken we are always broken. That is why its so important to choose carefullly those we grant access to our hearts. That doesnt mean distrust all and put up walls to protect-when you put up walls not only do you lock others out but you lock yourself in. You have to think of yourself as a door to door salesman in a way-knocking on a hundred doors or more before you knock on the door that wants what you have to give. When you find that one-youll forget about the other 99 who turned you away. Everyone has been in your shoes at one point or another-I know I have. But believe me there will come a day youll be hard pressed to remember her and the pain she caused you. Read your post as we do and youll see just how strong you are. If you were a general would you surround yourself with weak troops? Ofcourse you wouldnt-life is the same-we are all generals and must choose carefully our ranks. This is but one battle of many to come use it to make you stronger for the next. Your strength is what will draw others to you forging lifelong relationships. Stay strong little General there is an army that needs you.

DarthSchizo, I could relate very, very well to your post. When I was a bit younger (I'm 28 now), I frequently used IRC chat rooms (most often ones to which I'd never been before--I wasn't very good at "joining communities" or what have you) as crisis lines. It would get me through the night, eventually, when I'd find someone who would talk to me in private messages, but it was a very empty endeavor in general. <sighs> For the first time in my life I'm in a "place" where I feel fairly stable. I have a (small, granted, but that's all I really need/can handle) social network. I was open about my condition when I applied for my first full-time job (for which I was actually selected--yay!) and so won't be expected to act socially "normal."

My point is--I've been there. I was something of "the village idiot" in middle and high school in the small semi-Southern town where my parents lived. The school did its best to kick me out and send me to an "alternative" high school. But I survived, dammit. I've been through very bad periods as recently as the past few years, but I'm getting closer and closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm still very angry about what I had to go through as a child/adolescent/young adult, but I haven't the slightest idea what to do about it. To victims, though, I have one simple piece of advice: SURVIVE.

--Jennifer