Empathy, yeah, but only if you have fur, feathers or fins...

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swbluto
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15 Dec 2011, 5:07 am

Verdandi wrote:
In my experience, animals very much do have a choice in the matter. I've seen animals simply refuse to take to certain people, even their own owners, and I've seen animals take to people immediately, owners or not. And everything in between. I have also seen people coerce their pets, and that is not the same dynamic I have ever experienced with my own pets.

This is why I find your theory difficult to accept: It clashes with what I've seen and experienced. I am also fairly dubious about a theory that hinges upon an assumed self-perception of inferiority as compared to NTs.


So, are you suggesting aspies tend to be "good with animals" because they have special inborn 'animal talents'? Haha. Don't make me laugh. If anything, because aspies prefer animals to humans because aspies find most humans distasteful and hard to relate to, aspies develop more "skill" for animals. Let's say.... aspies develop more "social skills" for animals, while most NTs develop more "social skills" for humans since NTs socialize with each other more often than aspies who "socialize" with animals more often.

Of course, it's entirely possible yours is a special case. Maybe YOU were born with special talents. So is that NT down the street.

Btw, this explanation could easily follow from the previous theory. In other words, if this explanation is true, it's very possible that it's because the previous theory is true.



Verdandi
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15 Dec 2011, 5:40 am

swbluto wrote:
So, are you suggesting aspies tend to be "good with animals" because they have special inborn 'animal talents'? Haha. Don't make me laugh. If anything, because aspies prefer animals to humans because aspies find most humans distasteful and hard to relate to, aspies develop more "skill" for animals. Let's say.... aspies develop more "social skills" for animals, while most NTs develop more "social skills" for humans since NTs socialize with each other more often than aspies who "socialize" with animals more often.

Of course, it's entirely possible yours is a special case. Maybe YOU were born with special talents. So is that NT down the street.

Btw, this explanation could easily follow from the previous theory. In other words, if this explanation is true, it's very possible that it's because the previous theory is true.


:roll:

I never said that all autistic people tend to be "good with animals," although I do admit that the only people I know of who relate to animals like I do are also autistic - but not all autistic people relate to them like I do, and some even dislike animals. That's not to say no NT could relate to animals similarly, but I'm not making a generalization nor a sweeping claim about all NTs or all autistic people, simply relating my observations.

And I do not know if I can properly describe myself as "good with animals." I just know that I can quickly gain animals' trust in a way that it seems most people I know cannot.

Your theory describes these interactions with animals and NTs as strictly power relationships, and I find that overly simplistic and a failure at describing how I relate to animals and how I've seen others relate to animals (whether they are "good with animals" or not).

Let me ask you: Do you relate well to animals? Do you find them easy to get along with? Animals who have never met you before, who do not take to strangers, even feral animals who are more likely to lash out at people than anything? Do you find that many people seem to be fairly clueless even about their own pets?



ArthurDent
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15 Dec 2011, 6:56 am

slovaksiren wrote:
You know what? Me too... The only time I cried over death was the death of an animal. I don't cry over humans dying or anything or I just force myself to cry just so that people won't think I'm disrespectful. I mean, my ex-boyfriend died last month, but I didn't even shed a tear.


I was devastated when I has to have my fourteen year old cat Scottty whom I knew for almost all of his life and slightly less than half of mine euthanized even though it ended his suffering and I am sure nothing could have been done, my cats Schrodinger and Heisenberg have helped considerably to lessen the pain.



misswoofalot
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15 Dec 2011, 8:38 am

I always feel empathy for the underdog, whether human or animal. And hate animal and child cruelty, and bullies, and bitchiness.


I do feel I have a special connection with animals though. PArticularly dogs and horses but get on well with cats/ little creatures too. They love me and I love them. Their body language is less subtle, les complicated, and extremely consistant and therefore predictable, so alot easier to learn, unlike humans .

They don't need prolonged eye contact ( in fact frown upon it in most species) and respond well to our touch and are not repelled by our quirks in anyway, and best of all - they don't talk!

Except parrots maybe 8) :lol:



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15 Dec 2011, 10:54 am

Same here. People don't deserve my empathy. I love it when people find out I am an avid supporter of Peta and the ALF and they are all like, "But they've killed people!" and I'm like, "But the people deserved it." Some are bystanders, but most of the people that they kill are the ones that had it coming. This is holy war. And like I said, since when do I feel anything for people? Why are people so special?


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swbluto
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15 Dec 2011, 12:23 pm

Verdandi wrote:
swbluto wrote:
So, are you suggesting aspies tend to be "good with animals" because they have special inborn 'animal talents'? Haha. Don't make me laugh. If anything, because aspies prefer animals to humans because aspies find most humans distasteful and hard to relate to, aspies develop more "skill" for animals. Let's say.... aspies develop more "social skills" for animals, while most NTs develop more "social skills" for humans since NTs socialize with each other more often than aspies who "socialize" with animals more often.

Of course, it's entirely possible yours is a special case. Maybe YOU were born with special talents. So is that NT down the street.

Btw, this explanation could easily follow from the previous theory. In other words, if this explanation is true, it's very possible that it's because the previous theory is true.


Let me ask you: Do you relate well to animals? Do you find them easy to get along with? Animals who have never met you before, who do not take to strangers, even feral animals who are more likely to lash out at people than anything? Do you find that many people seem to be fairly clueless even about their own pets?


Well, actually, yes. However, I'm not exactly out in the wild trying to relate to every animal out there, so I'm not exactly like some sylvan goddess out there petting the deer nor am I willing to risk taming the ferocious, like the pit bulls next door. But, I do have a way and understanding with animals that many seem to lack.

But, also, my IQ is/was a bit higher than most people's, so that might have something to do with that.



MagicMeerkat
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15 Dec 2011, 3:02 pm

Why is okay to tourture a poor innocent rabbit or other animal to try and find a cure or treatment for some disease in people, but why can't we use a pedophile or serial killer who took someone's innocence or life and needs to pay their debts to society? I really hate people who think it's okay to expirment on animals becuase it "helps" people. Why are people THAT important? Some use religion as an excuse, saying that man was created as a superior being, because he was "made in God's image" or that we have "dominon" over them. Usualy those statements come from conservative rednecks who abuse their own children in the name of God. And anyway, "dominon" means to protect and take care of. A king has "dominion" over his subjects; does that mean it's okay for him to expirment on them? Some people say its okay because animals are not self aware. That's just stupid and like saying it's okay to expirment on an infant or mentially handicapped person. Now who do we know who did just that? Oh yeah, that's right, Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitter.


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Verdandi
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15 Dec 2011, 6:38 pm

swbluto wrote:
Well, actually, yes. However, I'm not exactly out in the wild trying to relate to every animal out there, so I'm not exactly like some sylvan goddess out there petting the deer nor am I willing to risk taming the ferocious, like the pit bulls next door. But, I do have a way and understanding with animals that many seem to lack.

But, also, my IQ is/was a bit higher than most people's, so that might have something to do with that.


Most pitbulls I've been around have been fairly friendly. I think that if they're ferocious it's because their owners mistreated them to make them that way. /digress