Oryx and Crake
mysticaria
Raven
Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 121
Location: British Columbia, Canada
This is a novel by Margaret Atwood, that I just finished today.
It is very interesting and entertaining, and I would recommend it. It is about a hypothetical future where genetic engineering and multi-national corperations have taken their toll. And it would be interesting to people on this board because it mentions Aspergers, and the basic concept is that in this future people of this nature are highly valued, and run the world. And then its not a really good thing... because ideals get seperated from humanity...and destruction abounds! But I will not say much, as I will ruin things for anyone who is going to read it.
But yes, I thought that she basically portrayed people with Aspergers as cold, self-absorbed, immoral, idea-driven people who lost touch with their "humanity", and were only concerned with advancement and structure. Basically, mad geniuses. And this seems to be a highly stereotypical view... because although, some people with Aspergers may appear to be that way, and think in a highly logical manner... they are still people with feelings as well. I think Atwood must have done her research by focusing on the characterizations, but not actually talking to anybody or visiting message boards with real people.
It is essentially the stereotype taken to the extreme.
Its a good concept though.
Has anyone else read this?
I don't know why logical people are so often portrayed a cold hearted and power hungry. As far as I can tell, the emotional ones are dangerous- they are impulsive and do not think things through, acting rashly and over-reacting. They often have a warped, distorted sense of justice/fairness.