Forums / Discussion / Serious Debate

Title is self-explanatory.

But more specifically, I don't know why some people get so upset at others they insult as "autistic."

Are some people just simply assholes that use it as an insult associated with impaired social skills? Sure, but I don't understand what they see as terrible about it as if people with neurological disorders choose to be that way. And I also just don't understand the hate against fandoms deemed as "Autistic."

Fandoms for animated cartoons or video games like Sonic, Minecraft, MLP, Just furries, or likewise, but so what if some people like pastel colored animals and blocks? And yeah, I could read the reasons why people would be upset about them, but I can't see what makes people emotional about it.

Where is that anger coming from? Wide spread fanbases? Cringeworthy artwork? Rule 34? Why is it special when they do it? What warrants more anger then when people do it to things that aren't colored animals and blocks? Why can't these people just simply ignore and go on with the rest of their day?

I don't know why they feel that why, It might have something to do with why my family members see me as unflappable; I have no anger against anyone just doing their own thing that doesn't directly involve me, and I just hold cool-headed dislike against other people acting toxic (unless they're being assholes to my brothers).

So I could just be unable to empathize with hatred against what I see as harmless.

It's because of those right-winged trolls from 4chan. The person who probably started call bad things autistic meme was someone who was jealous of an Aspie getting better grades and popularity in high school. The hate towards the mentally disabled spread across the boards of 4chan and other parts of the net like Reddit, YouTube, and unfortunately, Know Your Meme. Sadly, there's no way we can stop it, and I feel it got worse since the Newtown Shooting in 2012 was performed by a man who was perceived to be autistic.

It's a current buzzword insult and "snarl word". It'll die down once it becomes cliche and hackneyed. Many of the people who use it are people who spend time lamenting over their own obsessive interests and are potentially autistic themselves.

I feel you though OP, it's pretty shitty to use as an insult. It's like when elitist nerdy people say "suck it, nerd" unironically (Except obviously cognitive disorders are much worse to use as a slur, obviously!) Using a word as a serious insult when you fall into that category yourself is very uncool and wanky. Just don't stress about it too much.

tl;dr some people are dicks online.

Ya know most of those evil hate trolls from 4chan you're complaining about are also autistic?

People use Autistic as an insult because stupid and retard have no strength to them anymore, people who use Autistic as an insult have zero idea of what Autistic actually is. They just want to insult something and have that insult make an impact, unaware that people who use Autistic as an insult are just announcing to everyone how stupid and immature they are.

Some people have a need to put others down in order to elevate themselves above them, to make themselves feel better. MLP was an easy target, so a lot of people insulted it because they would have the validation of others. Same with Minecraft and it's simple design and child fanbase, Sonic with it's, um, interesting Art presence, Furries because anything sexually not normal gets harassed.

Then people become hypocritical when they need to find something to insult the fandom about and pick something that fandom has in common with other fandoms that don't get hated. People don't hate MLP because of the Clop Porn. People hate MLP to elevate themselves above Bronies, then point to the Clop Porn to justify it to themselves and others.

Another reason is that some people are just intolerant of people who are different than them. It's almost the same reasoning behind Homophobia, Racism and Religious Intolerance. "They are not like us, the think and feel differently than us, who are normal/better, therefor I hate them". Hatred against people based on taste is just a lighter form of this reasoning. They see so many people like something they don't like or actively think is bad, but can't actually accept that people have opinions other than their own, so they become hostile.

Really, there are many reasons people hate other people based on harmless things, but the best rule of thumb is that if you see someone spend energy on a hatred of something that harms no one, it's safe to assume they are either intolerant or insecure and trying to look cool by hating "The thing it's cool to hate"

I don't think I've seen much hate against the actual disability. The people who use it as an adjective for other people on the internet are intentionally using it because the people they refer to are not actually autistic, so it becomes a more specific "you're a retard" because specifics tend to annoy people more while generalization is easy to dismiss.

Other than that, it's the internet bruh, people are always trying to be mad about something.

I don’t know why some people get so upset at others they insult as “autistic.”
Are some people just simply assholes that use it as an insult associated with impaired social skills? Sure, but I don’t understand what they see as terrible about it as if people with neurological disorders choose to be that way.

Uses of words like 'autistic' and 'retarded' have become so commonly used as insults that people don't really associate them with mental illnesses anymore. I doubt most of the people who use these words actually have anything against autistic or retarded people, even though they are offending those inflicted with these problems.

Fandoms for animated cartoons or video games like Sonic, Minecraft, MLP, Just furries, or likewise, but so what if some people like pastel colored animals and blocks? And yeah, I could read the reasons why people would be upset about them, but I can’t see what makes people emotional about it.

People just generally hate fandoms which they consider abnormal or annoying. Furries are considered abnormal, minecraft fans are considered annoying, and bronies are considered both.

Why can’t these people just simply ignore and go on with the rest of their day?

People like seeking out others to insult. It's exciting and makes you feel superior. Plus, there's the added bonus of being anonymous online.

I don’t think I’ve seen much hate against the actual disability.

I'm suppose you haven't been on Encyclopedia Dramatica then. (I'm not going to link to the page, because… well, take a guess.)

But yeah, it's the edgy insult of the day. Whatever. It's my personal desire to not get "offended" by this petty shit, and I see no reason to.
Oh, and by the way, from what I've seen, I'd say that there are plenty of times where a connection can be found between the thing that brought on said insult and the disorder itself. Most people have at least a vague idea of what it means.

Nothing is held sacred on Encyclopedia Dramatica. They literally mock everything, including themselves.

Autism is a spectrum of disorders that are usually characterized by social awkwardness, poor communication abilities, and other personality "oddities."

Many online fandoms have children in them. Children can be socially awkward, have poor communication abilities (especially when relating to online communities and terminology) and can get overly emotional and angry.

Because of the similarities, there has formed a connection. That's why you tend to see "autism" associated with fandoms/groups which have a high proportion of kids and teens.

Very seldom have I seen hate directed at someone with diagnosed autism. In fact, for those who are severely autistic (hitting their heads against walls, thrashing at their parents, etc.) there's a great deal of sympathy and pity directed at them and especially their parents.

^

there’s a great deal of sympathy and pity directed at them

Wouldn't say so. Check out the comments section here.

Granted, it's youtube, but it's still part of the internet.

Ignoring the internet for a moment, I've never known anyone IRL with autism or aspergers of any degree, so I can't say I have much of clue regarding how they're treated in general.

While I'm guilty of fucking around like this (it's more of a jab at myself since I have it as well) it, in the end, is a pretty uncreative insult. I have more of a problem with the fact that a lot of people don't really understand what autism is.

Now I will say this much. In many places on the internet, the autism community earns this highly negative reputation, due to an extremely vocal minority who says all sorts of stupid shit. On the lesser end of the scale you see people who think their autism excuses their behaviour or believe the world owes them something, and on the other end of the crazy spectrum there are genuinely people who act like having autism is superior to others. And no, this behaviour predates tumblr/twitter stupidity. There's also the problem that these people tend to be very arrogant and very close minded, and are completely unwilling to question themselves on anything. I've even been told by these idiots that "devil's advocate is wrong in activism" – apparently questioning yourself or trying to understand other people's perspectives is something that should never be done when civil rights are involved.

I used to participate in autism activism but these very arrogant traits made it almost intolerable and I quickly withdrew. It is a serious problem within these sorts of communities.

What's unfortunate is that individuals such as myself who aren't complete idiots have to deal with the fact that the disorder is stigmatized both by the misconceptions spread by the media, the "retard" affiliation pushed by websites like 4chan and these crazy people who ruin the reputation of autistic people all over. I'm personally not really too hurt by it because I have bigger fish to fry and I have to deal with other things that make me much more of a target but I can understand why people are upset about it.

Ultimately while I don't necessarily hate it, I do hate the misinformation that it spreads. If people were more aware of what autism actually is I don't think people would be using the insult as much and when they did it would be more relevant.

I do think it's funny that a lot of the 4chan types use it because considering how socially degenerate most of them are, there's probably a lot of autistic people among them.

The comments section on that vid was shitty but enlightening, so genuine thanks for posting that. Holy fuck, I had little concept of the sheer ignorance surrounding autism. I will defend the right of a woman to abort a foetus she cannot or does not want to raise, but there are people literally discussing whether autism can be detected in the womb.

It is a behavioral and cognitive disorder. One cannot detect it before the child has had the chance to behave or reason.

i have to somewhat disagree with some of the posts here.

sure, hating on autists can be done from personal insecurities and wanted to get kicks from people getting angry.

but from personal experience. people actually believe autistic people are inferior human beings and therefore deserve no sympathy.
im my place, being considered autistic pretty much to be considered mentally retarded, admitting in some social gathering that you're autistic or like things that are considered "autistic" will have people laugh at your face and stop taking you seriously.

so yes, there is actual hatred against autists going around at this moment although i see less and less of it as people are starting to realize that all the stereotypes and rumors that have been spread about them for decades, are actually false

I think it took off for the same reason retarded took off as a word a decade prior. The behavior of some people, which can be classified as dumb, annoying, and immature, all at once, are unfortunately people's experience with dealing with people with behavioral impairments.

Retard became taboo to use, but was still considered tame to many, so people online came up with a replacement thst wasn't outright banned yet, but was also far more offensive and hard hitting. Generally, it's just used as an umbrella term for people who post weird, dumb, highly stupid content, unironicly. I don't get bothered by it much, even with mild autism, because I understand what they mean when they use the word. They're not saying "I hate you because you have this problem" they're saying "I hate you because you act annoying and stupid, and you should know better by now".

I know its offensive to other people, and I understand why they shouldn't do it. But at the same time, I can't really get outraged about it.Especially when no word exists that covers someone who posts stupidly, akwardly, and lacking in any social awareness or sense of what's good or bad by societal standards, and none is offered as a replacement.

It is merely a term used to describe cringe worthy and absurdly awkward behavior. Much in the same way as retarded is used to describe someone as very stupid. That's the point of slang, its supposed to be different from its true meaning.

So yeah, its just slang, nothing more, nothing less.

"Gay" was used as a catch-all insult and so is "retard". The same can be said about "faggot"

"Autistic/Autist" is just the latest in insult buzz-word and like it's predecessors is used completely out of it's original context.

This trend is also pretty restricted, you only see it getting thrown around websites where the user base is mainly made up of kids. Mainly because kids are immature enough to use such a stupid insult

Honestly, I haven't seen anyone use it unironically. Even my friends that frequent 4chan.

It's like saying someone is retarded or an imbecile. Most of the time, people aren't trying to imply that the person is actually mentally deficient, because they probably wouldn't be able to use a computer in the first place.

It's similar in a way to "op is fag." Usually nothing actually implies that the OP is a male and/or is homosexual, it's just a catch-all phrase used to insult someone for shits and giggles.

sorry completly disagreeing with the optimists here.

its not just some word to make people feel bad like lakia said.

none of the words mentioned above are just a buzz-word to cause discomfort.

"retard" is being used to crticize something incredibly stupid. but it shouldn't offend anyone because actual people with mental retardation are not capble of using the internet to get insulted.

"faggot" is being used to criticize something that is desprate and obnoxious for attention and its stopped to be used as an insult real homosexuals for a very long time ago

yet "autist" is still being used to insult delibertly insult autistic people and their mental disorder to presnt them as inferior beings.
people call mlp fandom autstic BECAUSE of the actual autistic people that are in the fandom
people call crigeworthy behavior autistic BECAUSE the person is verly likeley to be autistic.

and the fact that its reaching the point that its becoming a slang word makes it even worse. it will just further reinforce the belief that autists are inferior and that "autistic" shows and games should be avoided.

I have aspergers, and for the most part, I don't find the whole thing too insulting, because I know these people are twits. Most of the time, when I see someone use autist or aspie as an insult, I roll my eyes and move on, because, well…

Of course, I've never been the target of any of these insults, so that may skew my view on this a bit. And in anycase, I'm guilty of calling people 'tards on occasion, so I don't wanna be a hypocrite.

Like many have said before, I think most people that use "autism" or "autistic" as an insult don't really know what it means, sort of how a lot of people use swear words, but don't really understand the meanings behind them. Only people from 4chan or ED (which is pretty much the same thing) use autistic as an actual insult (which is a pretty lame insult in my eyes).
Also, the reason all those fandoms are viewed as "autistic" isn't because of the source material, it's because a lot of the fans are asinine 12-year-olds or lonely, perverted people. Now, not everyone in these fandoms are those, but those people are perceived the most, which leads most to assume that's what the fandom is made up of.

Uhh no. Their ego is bigger than the Super Gurren Lagann. Go look up the page of their own site.

And back to the topic.

I honestly felt a sick kind of sympathy to these haters. They are so shit that they have to judge and hate their way to prevent being rock bottom. This – to them – pretty much mean that being an absolute cunt is better than being a simple guy who just likes something and is willing to contribute to their fandom.
Can't they at least try to do something productive, something that people will like, say a well-written opinion/reasoning like this entire fucking thread? And what's funny here is they like being hated. I will honestly fund a research on Internet trolls on their mental condition on why they have such a burning passion to do this. Frankly, it's some kind of masochism to point out how shit and useless they are. Fucking pathetic.

"Autism" is just a label that has been blown out of proportion, to the point where nowadays anybody in a particularly embarrasing situation caused by their own fault must be "autistic".
Because it's thrown around so much, it's rather easy to be called out as autistic because of the way you behave, as is it easy to call someone else out.
What results is cesspool of paranoid egotists that shame others because of their own dumb insecurites.

I have Asperger's and I actually don't think I personally have taken offence to the insult but I have seen other people take offence.

If enough people are offended over the use of autism as an insult, then may I suggest making it against the rules to use autism as an insult in any comments or forum posts as well as making fun of the condition in the image galleries?

This is gonna sound bad but….

A lot of people with (usually mild) autism are annoying. It may not be right to call people that for that reason but a lot of people find those with autism or aspergers frustrating. That's how it got associated with cringe and social ineptitude. It's frequently used in arguments, usually when one party thinks the other is so stubborn and oblivious to something like when someone on 4chan makes a statement about society other people just don't think is reality.

Really now its got to the point where it's a bit of internet slang. It's got that fine line between it being offensive enough to offend people but overly offensive that everyone will berate you for saying it. Where retard has lost all its punch, autist takes its place. In an argument using autism feels like you might be able to affect the person your flinging the word at.

"hey that guy's autistic"
"yeah, so?"
"i fucking hate him"
And thus started an overused and MEDICALLY INCORRECT insult

In most cases, autism does NOT equal mental retardation. It just means they have trouble in some areas and are excelled in others.