Is it wrong sometimes to think of Neurotypicals as "stupid"?

Post Reply New Topic

Unfortunately I see lots of unflattering generalizations about NTs on these boards. Things like they are superficial, only care about appearances, etc. I am sure you all have seen them too, and that somehow Aspies are superior because we don't care about those things. Most of the NTs I have met are actually really good people who I wish I could be like.

ProfessorJohn -- did you not read my post carefully?

I never said "it is odd."

I said "things I FIND TO BE ODD".

I, me. I find to be odd. That's a total owning that it's my subjective feeling. Saying "I find it to be odd" is completely different from saying "the things they are drawn to are odd."

One is a statement of both individual opinion and a choice of wording that shows I'm aware it's only my individual opinion.

The other is something someone would say if they truly believe it was objectively odd.

I'M FULLY AWARE that if masses of people like something or do something and I don't, I'm the odd one.

I only expressed MYSELF FINDING IT odd to me.

HOLY SH!T I just don't know how to be any clearer on this frakking board.

And by the way, most of the NTs I have met have been good people I wish I were like too.

That doesn't mean to say there aren't some things that people without my f****d up brain do and like and say that I don't FIND TO BE ODD TO ME.

that also doesn't mean I don't KNOW it's not generally odd. I bloody well know all my life I'm the f*****g odd one.

I'm neither an "aspie supremacist" nor ashamed.

I neither think I'm better than NTs nor hate NTs.

But I DO KNOW there ARE differences that make me unable to enjoy some of the things a typical NT enjoys, and some of these are definitely because of my different wiring. And it doesn't make ME better than them, it just means I CAN'T FRAKKING UNDERSTAND THE BEHAVIOR.

And they can't understand some of mine -- so we're even.

Last edited by BirdInFlight on 13 Aug 2016, 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

I’m pretty sure a lot of people disagree with that, too. At least in my humble experience, the usual approach is to regard anything they choose to believe as self-evident and work their way from there, considering anything or anyone that opposes it (often science, for example) discredited by their very disagreement. They don’t seem to have concepts of subjective and objective other than “what you say” and “what I say”, respectively.



Similarly, people will usually consider whatever argument they’re using to be “hard evidence” and yours to be BS, either just by definition or resorting to some creative bunch of fallacies.



I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed actual debate anywhere. What I’ve seen boils down most of the time to a matter of status and power. Whenever I engaged in real life, with my predictable autistic blindness to hierarchy, I always ended up regretting it when they finally made it obvious enough that I’d better shut up if I knew what’s good for me, as that was more humiliating and I’d make much less savory concessions than if I had kept my mouth shut in the first place. On the Internet, they just kept escalating personal attacks till they finally called me out on my cowardice for telling them what I wouldn’t dare to face to face.

I was brought up with the idea that words are to be replied to with words alone, so I need to keep reminding myself that most people will never renounce their natural right to respond to words with physical violence, and generally to anything that is within your legal, so-called “rights” with something that isn’t within theirs, and that you’ll be universally condemned as a coward if you try to escape their retaliations. The only law you can ultimately trust is the law of the jungle, and the only way you’ll stop others from harming you if they choose to is by force—which requires being stronger than them.

Neurotypicality is a spectrum condition.

I've never generalized the NT population as stupid. I hate when Aspies do that. It's a bit like people saying all Jehova's witnesses are stupid because of how they think and live their lives. They aren't stupid, they just have different beliefs.

I think it's wrong to see anyone as stupid for not having the same abilities as you and for not knowing the same stuff as you and for not being aware of things in life if they have never had that experience.


I try to not label anyone as stupid but sometimes it's hard when they do something well stupid and it shocks me. Like how can one think jumping from five stories wouldn't hurt them? (No I never heard that happening) If they were a child, that is one thing but an adult? I would wonder if they were mentally challenged or something. Like that one woman who called 911 because McDonalds was out of chicken McNuggets, I wondered if she was mentally ill or something because it reminded me in Benny & Joon when Joon would call Benny for an "emergency" because they were out of peanut butter super chunks. At least she didn't call 911. Or that time when some woman called 911 because she locked herself in the car and didn't even think to pull on the thing that unlocks the car. Or the time on this forum years back when someone goes insulting a member here calling them stupid and then they get attacked for it so they go to the mod section on wrongplanet.net board and report it showing the thread basically reporting themselves.

To me to judge someone means to think negative of them. For example to judge someone for smoking, you look down on them. You think less of them as a person. I don't think it's judging if you think smoking is a disgusting habit and a stupid thing to do but however if you saw them as disgusting people and stupid and hate them and assume they are rude and inconsiderate people and selfish without seeing any actual proof first, that is judging.


But then again everyone judges. Anyone who says they don't judge is lying. I am sure they will judge anyone who hurts children or if they were racist or supported Hitler. Everyone has limits. If I saw a parent smoking around her child, yes I will judge because I think of them as selfish parents who are not concerned about their kid's health and how they will smell. If I see a pregnant smoker, I judge too because I see them as selfish moms who are not concerned about their baby's health and their development. If I saw a smoker standing by themselves puffing on a cigarette, I don't think anything of them as a person. But however if they got near me and whipped out a cigarette and lit it, I judge. They don't care about anyone being exposed to their second hand smoke. If they were in a smoking area, fine. I as a non smoker have no business being there if I don't want second hand smoke near me. It would be fair for them to assume I wouldn't mind it or else I wouldn't be in the smoking area. But if I complain and judge them, I'm an idiot.

Not just many NTs but many autist seem equally as stupid. The OP first post seemed foolish too. That logic just didnt add up well.

Perhaps you need to state some ground rules when you drive people, such as no passenger or back-seat driving, tell them you aren't going to drive them if they do that because it distracts you and will put everyone in danger. That would bother anyone NT or autistic...if anything it's probably worse for autistics though, at least I have enough trouble focusing if too much is going on so if someone was yelling at me where to turn I'd be worried of getting in an accident because of their distraction.

Or tape a sign somewhere in there that says No Backseat Driving or No Ride!

To be fair everyone is different, so its not exactly an unfair judgement.

I don't have to have a sense of direction where I live, Colorado east of the mountains...thus mountains always to the west. But always feel so lost when I go to other states and such without mountains, as I don't know which way is what.

I like to think of NT's as a different species. As such, it isn't justified to call the other party "stupid" based on concrete differences which can't be reconciled.

Yes, it is wrong. No one is stupid, we just have different ways of thinking and viewing the world.

I like to see some validatable numbers for this. Have you met every neurotypical person around the world yourself and asked him how he feels about you? Probably not. So you cannot actually know anything about "neurotypicals", you just know about specific stupid human individuals. Exactly like not every autistic is the same, so isnt any NT. By judging all NTs stupid you do the same thing you dont like some NT´s for, thus you get like them. Think about it...

Peace
TK

Oh lord... I really want to weigh in here, but honestly it feels like voluntarily jumping into a firestorm. Guess I'll try my best anyway. I'm new here (Hi all!) and was going to dip my toes in the water on a different thread but saw this post and felt the need to say something, because.... I can empathize with the OP. And I realize I'm opening myself up to some grief here, but let me explain. I do recognize it's wrong to think of someone as being "stupid" (whatever that means to you), but not wrong to dislike someone or something. And I don't think it's judgmental to say that someone or something is different and be able to point out why. That's an observation. And it's perfectly okay not to like whatever you're observing, so long as you understand that everyone has a different way of doing they're thing. (And if I'm being completely honest, I don't believe all judgments are entirely bad either... they evolved from earlier mechanisms to keep us alive out there in the wilderness with our fellow hunter-gatherers. )
But I am guilty of this "NTs are stupid"-type of thinking, especially in recent years -- though "stupid" is just a broad, all-encompassing term I use to describe the traits and culture of NTs. (And a disclaimer: I'm fully aware that my opinion is just that, an opinion. It doesn't mean I think I'm right or better than anyone else. It's just how I feel and I'm making an observation.) I have a general dislike of NTs, not necessarily because individuals I've met have done me wrong (though some definitely--and knowingly--have) but because of what they and "their" society represent. Not because they are "stupid" in the intellectual sense or because a lot of the things they think/feel/do/say are different from my own way, but because they (or, more rightly, the society they are born into and support with their continued compliance to its "system") seem to be rather hypocritical and preachy or sometimes downright arrogant and degrading about it. As in, they preach tolerance for all or claim they accept someone who is "different," but only when the person (or behavior or thought or opinion, etc.) they are tolerating or accepting is within a decidedly narrow definition of what they already know to be "different."
And even then, they have their limits. It's as if they will only stretch their tolerance/acceptance so far and if you or your behavior lies beyond that point, well then, you're sort of screwed. If you aren't one of the "different" types they're familiar with or have ever had experience associating with, they seem to view you as weird or odd and almost react to your behavior or feelings or way of thinking as frightening and alien. And even when you try to explain yourself, they don't get it. Which is fine, and I wouldn't expect them too all the time really, but it's not just that they don't get it, they sometimes don't even want to hear it. It's that attitude that I can't stand, from anyone, not just NTs -- it just seems as if they fall into that pattern more because they are the "norm" and they know it. I feel like their world is not meant for someone like me and no matter how hard I try to conform to it for them, they just don't care and they want more, because it's never enough, and they don't want to compromise. Now I realize that is just MY experience and opinion and I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. And I also realize that most NTs aren't doing what they do on purpose, they just don't realize they're doing it.
Sorry for the convoluted and long-winded reply/rant that's always been a problem of mine! And thanks to the people who actually took the time to read it all lol.

I dont think they are ALL stupid, they just....miss understand.....a lot.....like a lot a lot. but at least some of them try to, these people make up society, i feel like an outsider really, i feel like im just observing people living really. its so.....alien. are they the stupid ones....or are we? thats what i feel sometimes. but then, we see things they don't, so i guess maybe they are, but thats not really a good way to think about it, as at that rate, ill never get any friends or feel any real connection to anyone if i think of them as stupid, as i don't do making friends with stupid people, they just waste my time.