Before I go further, my heart goes out to the families of the loved ones who lost their lives in Friday night's shooting in Isla Vista, California. In fact, the reason why I write this entry is in part due to the shooting and several other things that have popped up recently.
As I've made clear on this blog, I have Asperger's syndrome. Individuals with Asperger's I feel have it worse than those with what I'll refer to as stereotypical autism. We often want to lead the lives of our neurotypical peers. We want satisfying interpersonal relationships, steady employment, independent living and all the life luxuries that neurotypicals experience. And apparently for shooter Elliot Rodger, that desire turned him into a mad man.
In recent weeks, I've kept my Asperger's under wraps a little because I know what it is like to be discriminated against by others just because of the disorder.
In fact, I know all too well how Elliot Rodger felt on a day-to-day basis. But would I resort to violence?
Never. Now I don't know where Rodger was in his area of complaint: in regards to dating. I can however, understand the agony because I've been there. For years I didn't bother asking girls out because I knew what the answer would be: a resounding no. And to this day I still feel that way. To further complicate matters, society is not too welcoming to your run of the mill autistic. I've been passed over for jobs I bet because of my identity. And the press has done a really great job of vilifying many in the community. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of some of my fellow autistics, who drown themselves in their "neurotypicals are against us". I for the most part am a happy and sunny person, and I am far from the only autie that is a sunny person. Many of us have happier days more often than we have sad days.
On Wednesday, the
Washington Post ran an article on how researchers in Scotland made a link between autism and mass shootings. The Post article missed how the shooters they mentioned (Seung Hui Cho, Jared Loughner and Jeffrey Dahmer all did not have Asperger's).
John Elder Robision put it into words better than I ever will be able to:
Autistic adults are crying foul at a recent Washington Post article that speculates
on a connection between serial killings, mass murder, autism, and head injuries.
The premise of the article is that those things may be connected in more than a
coincidental way, based on a study of mass killers in various databases. Neurodiversity advocates are rightfully
concerned that the story will turn the public against autistic people for no
good reason.
I say, Shame on the Washington
Post for running such an inflammatory headline to promote such a poorly
thought through article.
And two days after the Post runs its article, another shooter with an ASD goes on a rampage. How unbelievable! I'd like to put Autism Speaks and the
Washington Post in the same boat: promotion of intolerance towards those with autism. In general, society needs to be more accepting of those with all medical conditions. Would I avoid dating a girl because she's diabetic? Not at all! I say embrace our differences!
In college, I fought my social demons in a unique way: I became involved in campus activities. In fact, campus activities is how
I ended up dating this girl for nearly three months! The shooting struck a chord as the shooter had Asperger's and apparently some struggles with interpersonal, intergender relationships. Most problems have solutions, and it's a shame that this young man could not find them.
This shooting is eerly similar to the one in Montreal back in 1989, when a man opened fire during a class at the
École Polytechnique, killing fourteen. The shooter was also a misogynist. It was that shooting that changed the perception towards gun laws in Canada. We need better background check systems for gun buyers. And I have yet to find out how Elliot Rodger acquired the guns he used to commit the gruesome massacre. Richard Martinez, a father whose shoes I would never want to be in, brought up a good point: "My kid died because nobody responded to Sandy Hook!" A few states did, and politicians in those states have gotten grief. Anyways, Rodger was far from accepting of others, no less himself. His writings are as eery as they come (and with that, me committing a sin as a scholar of history) :
The first strike against women will be
to quarantine all of them in concentration camps. At these camps, the
vast majority of the female population will be deliberately starved
to death. That would be an efficient and fitting way to kill them all
off. I would take great pleasure and satisfaction in condemning every
single woman on earth to starve to death. I would have an enormous
tower built just for myself, where I can oversee the entire
concentration camp and gleefully watch them all die. If I can’t
have them, no one will, I’d imagine thinking to myself as I oversee
this. Women represent everything that is unfair with this world, and
in order to make the world a fair place, they must all be eradicated
Regardless, I hope that something good can come out of this shooting, as in increased awareness of people out there who exhibit similar behaviors. The tragedy, like with all shootings, is that precious lives are taken from people, deaths that should have never happened in the first place. What I don't want to see happen is an intergender war break out. As I've brought up tons of times, we have numerous culture problems, and two of them involve sexism and guns.
*On the other hand, Elliot Rodger did write 140 pages worth of something. Sadly, what he wrote was pure hatred.
Just like most of what I write on this blog, I might make changes to clarify points.
