I'm sure many of you have heard that Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Kaczysnki, the Unabomber, may have had Asperger's syndrome or another pervasive developmental disorder. You might be thinking, as atrocious the acts these two individuals committed are, they are just two monstrous individuals who happened to have Asperger's; any significantly large sample of people is going to have its rotten fruit (unless, of course, you select the sample on goodness). Well, I read an article by the Female Liberation Front (FLF, pronounced filf) and learned that I might as well have thought I was from the planet Mars—so wrong I was.
The FLF is a feminist activist group, promoting female rights, lesbianism as a viable sexual alternative, the extinction of the Y chromosome, socialism, and gender equity.
Reading the FLF article "Bad Men and Asperger's," I learned that at the root of almost every male shortcoming lies AS.
Bad Men and Asperger's wrote:
As Simon Baron-Cohen has said, Asperger's represents the extreme male brain. Here we can learn of all the excesses of male chauvinism. Asperger's men are the perfect example of the menace of mankind. Men with Asperger's syndrome are unable to understand people's emotions. We witness it in the murderous behavior of psychopaths like Jeffrey Dahmer. We see it in the emotional detachment of the absentee or abusive husband.
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Asperger's men focus on one thing at a time to the exclusion of all else, including femininity. They will perseverate (the medical term for men's single-minded obsessiveness) on only their goals, forgetting ours. President George W. Bush shows this characteristic in spades. He continues to pursue a pigheaded international policy, leaving the United States with few friends. He refuses to admit he is wrong.
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Autistic traits are everywhere!
The shady salesman: Pursuing the sale, unconcerned with such matters as truth unless he will be caught in his fraud, the salesman will lie through his teeth to have his way. He callously perseverates on persuading customers to buy materialistic goods they do not really need.
The litigating lawyer: Asperger's men are obsessed with rules and order; so are lawyers. Lawyers have played another part in the greedification of our society. If someone has done us wrong, the answer must be a lawsuit! Money will cure all our grievances!
The pugnacious politician: Asperger's men are not only unwilling to acknowledge other people's point of view, they cannot even comprehend the possiblity! If this doesn't frighten you, consider that U.S. politics are defined by two opposing parties who do not understand the validity of each other's values. They instead stubbornly quarrel with one another, taking it out nationally and globally.
The hateful husband: Oh the abuses of woman by her husband's hand! Whether the man is only emotionally unavailable, working his day away to advance his career while neglecting his family, or scandalously abusive, a husband's flaws are man's natural autism seething through. Every woman who says, I do to her groom risks life and limb.
The common criminal: Feeling justified in exploiting everyone around him, the common crook shows why men are wrongdoers. Criminals will typically tell a life story of past abuses, neglect, and a world constantly scheming against them. They're almost right—let's give men a little credit—just flip those propositions around! At heart, even the kindest man is a savage beast, leeching off others at will, ignoring the hardships every last one of us must face; man is hardly unique in his suffering. He forgets woman.
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This opinion piece is more than a little controversial and inflammatory, but perhaps it speaks for the majority, who is, nevertheless, less extreme. Are these anti-autistic prejudices (read anti-masculine prejudices) the source of maladjustment in people with Asperger's syndrome? Are these FLF women just ranting?