Do Aspies actually care about people?

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How many time must someone post this question? Yes to empathy Yes to caring. And I have to ask that about NTs.

Heh... Then there is a great philosophical question arises (still unresolved):
If a tree fell in the forest and made a cracking sound.. But nobody heard that sound... Was there any sound at all? Did that sound really exist?

If there were compression waves within the audible frequency range emitted, then of course it did.

audibl;e to who?

To the human ear.

which human?

One who's not deaf.

1. Yes. I'm interested in people whom I care about. In the company of friends, I'm far less likely to talk about myself unless prodded. I think its pretty unfair to judge someone's empathy based on a text based medium which is inherently impersonal. This is a place designed to offer support to AS and ASD people, of course you're going to get people talking about their troubles - some of us find it really hard to do anywhere else.
2. Again, yes toward the people I care about, and on a broader scale - sympathy for civilian deaths in war for example. Its the display of compassion that gets us in trouble. Its incredibly difficult to comfort someone when you don't know the rules of what to say and when its ok to offer physical comfort.
My close friends tell me I am very good at seeing all sides of a situation, and not judging people unfairly. I seem to do well offering comforting, logical advice instead of noises of sympathy. On the other hand, casual friends and colleagues may well have a much different opinion of me (I haven't asked, 'coming out' in a general way about my AS is my next hurdle in life) because I don't automatically know when to express sympathy or interest. I'm working on it, but as I mentioned above I don't know all the rules of the game.

f**k YES.

Well, at least, I'm an aspie, and I'm like that.

im getting too old now and have been out of the loop far too long socially to care about someone elses life. i cant pretend i like "whats going on in the life" because i dont. it sounds terrible but its the truth

I care about people, can't express it worth a d***, but hey, thats ok. I can tell what your feeling, but why should I feel it too? I've had relatives die, and for most people it looks like I don't care, but its not that I don't care, its that I show I care very differently... ie: not at all generally. I want to show compassion, but that doesn't come naturally, for me its like "yeah, thats great, now could you say something insightfull?" Thereare however very big exceptions to this. My immediate family is one of them, and a couple really close friends... Although it generally comes out as concern rather than empathy.

This misallocated empathy almost killed a relationship with a close friend i had. It is really hard to express my feelings on the phone (lack of nonverbal exp. that might help). This friend will probably never understand my AS since I hide other traits so darn well. I end up getting a response that i am just being silly weird as usual and don't really care. I wish I could just comprehend normalcy in that situation. Otherwise, I feel like a monster.

This is how I feel. If someone's telling me about their problems, I can relate to them and feel bad, but I can't express it because it feels contrived to do so (just like most of my emotions... like love and gratitude... feel contrived. This is why I ask people not to get me anything for Christmas. I can't say thanks because it feels fake even when it isn't). Even if I'm crying, it feels fake.

Maybe it's because I relate things to movies so often. In movies when people are talking and one is crying, you're supposed to make physical contact. Since I can't, that makes me a bad actress.

I could say I feel concern for others.

Compassion seems a bit too deep though.

I feel, but sometimes there is a huge disconnect between what I am feeling and what I am showing.

I feel empathy and compassion deeply for other people or animals who have been marginalized by society. I even donate money and volunteer my assistance to charitable causes.

I have very little empathy or compassion for neurotypicals who have treated me with no empathy or compassion for most of my life. I am, in fact, amazed when people who treat me as if I were less than human on a day to day basis expect me to be all sympathetic if they have a bad day. Not gonna happen. My troubles have been a source of amusement and derision for the "normal" people around me for as long as I can remember. But if I respond in the same way to their troubles, I'm lacking in compassion.