what would an aspie world look like?

[Tigris]

Hey guys, I did have a novel set in such a world. I would say this is a "better world" not a perfect one. I bet all of us here would love my world.

In my world, people with all sorts of disabilities are accepted as equals and they are not social misfits. I will share more on the next reply. I am currently also drawing up the laws of my world. in my story.

 

[Soup]

This sounds like a novel I'd love to read, Tigris!

I kind of look at any knee-jerk type solutions & judgements with a great deal f scepticism. This new trend of 'blame all your problems & all the world's problems on the so-called 1%' strikes me at times as a facile apologetic. There is someone in my life who is a big proponent of every anti-wealthy conspiracy theory out there. He's very quick to divert blame for his predicament onto others. There are many uncomfortable realities & facts that this person is blissfully ignoring.

He finished high school with pitiful grades, barely squeaking through. This was not due to being half-starved & impoverished but because of his own partying lifestyle: drinking & drugs were what he preferred to studying. Add one dead-end job after another & fast forward to an embittered 40 yr old grossly immature still partying loser looking to blame 'the rich'. He has an attitude of entitlement that is disgusting. He's heavily in debt, a perpetual borrower who spends wildly & then blames credit card companies. I'm not indicting all critics of 'the wealthy', but many people out there have to seriously examine themselves & their choices.

Beneath this 1% is another layer of wealth: not multi-billionaires but people earning upwards of $100,000/yr to in the low multi-millions: doctors, surgeons, business people, engineers, lawyers, pro-athletes & celebrities are examples.

Beneath this upper-middle class to affluent group are middle class and working class people earning a wide range of incomes, many with college degrees & many without. For example, a city bus driver with a few yrs of experience in Montreal earns over $50,000/yr. An air Canada flight attendant with a high school degree & 7 wks of training also makes $50,000/yr.

There has never been a time where ordinary people have had the education, freedom, economic & political clout they have now. Before, 'the so-called 1%' ruled with absolute life or death authority. They had their own armies, could kill anyone beneath them & there was no upward mobility. The life of a peasant or a serf (most people were serfs!) was of no value & you had no rights or legal recourse. The masses were literally slaves. This has been the reality for the bulk of human history. In so-called democratic Ancient Greece & Rome, slaves made up the vast majority of the populace.

The decline of the middle class has a lot to do with a complete lack of financial education & understanding, a tendency to live waay above one's means & many other factors. Blaming wealthy people is a cop out that is doomed to keep poor people impoverished.

 

[Tigris]

This sounds like a novel I'd love to read, Tigris!

Aww thanks for the support, Soup....

I am ironing out the kinks in the plots. The planet of Auth is not a perfect or ideal place, it is just only better in terms of acceptance and understanding of people with learning disabilities. Just don't do anything criminal{hurt other people} and you will be fine.

As for Soup, here is one spoiler. Because the planet Auth is a terraformed planet, there is few man-made pollution and Aspies who have been transported there find their issues improving.

 

[Geordie]

I also look forward to read Tigris' stories.

Anyways, I do not blame the rich people for my misfortunes, even though I do not think I am capable or disciplined enough to have the conditions of success. I tend to party and over-spend on things. But I know my weaknesses, so I am trying to lead a simplistic lifestyle, and I try to read useful books instead of window-shop.

The Founding Father of Singapore is of middle class status when he started to rule the country, for he's a lawyer. There are indeed a few scions of rich bankers who hold immense power and wealth in my country (as do many other countries), but under a democratic electoral system, they got to listen to the masses' views and act on them.

 

[Geordie]

As for Soup, here is one spoiler. Because the planet Auth is a terraformed planet, there is few man-made pollution and Aspies who have been transported there find their issues improving.

This sounds like the utopian fiction that few people, other than me, would call 'utopian'.

I kind of look at any knee-jerk type solutions & judgements with a great deal f scepticism. This new trend of 'blame all your problems & all the world's problems on the so-called 1%' strikes me at times as a facile apologetic.

My training as an accountant taught me that the wealth distribution policy failed, because the poor are suffering at the expense of the rich, whose wealths lost less in proportion than the rich. However, I do think that the poor have to work hard to get what they want.

Politically, they should vote for the party who can realistically bring both fiscal responsibility and more employment opportunities for all, to add to the nation's wealth in their own way. Who doesn't want to work? Well, other than some recalcitrant fellows, that is.

Economically, they should have a good understanding of their economy and society, and try their best to fit in and contribute. Where they can't fit in because of their unique gifts, or their inability to contribute to society, either they try to move elsewhere, or they just have to live with what they have.

 

[Loomis]

The decline of the middle class has a lot to do with a complete lack of financial education & understanding, a tendency to live waay above one's means & many other factors. Blaming wealthy people is a cop out that is doomed to keep poor people impoverished.

I must differ with you on this, soup. I see the decline of the middle class as permanent and structural. Post World War II was boon time for the U.S. and Canada. Our large oceans protected us from the devastation rained upon Europe and Asia. Eurasia had to be rebuilt and they had no infrastructure to do it themselves. This created enormous demand for USA and Canadian manufactured products. This demand also increased the bargaining power of skilled workers. This demand for workers along with collective bargaining power won through brute force during the 1920's and 1930's labor movement led to a great increase in wealth for common folk. We went from a 1930's pre-war depression to the 1950's economic boom. The attitude of a grateful government toward returning veterans was also lavish and generous. This could never last.

Beginning in the 1980's we saw the emergence of the global marketplace as North American labor unions lost their power and greatly reduced transportation costs allowed manufacturers to move factories to the cheaper labor in developing nations. The middle class no longer includes skilled union labor in significant numbers. Except for electricians, plumbers, police and firefighters, unions have lost nearly all their bargaining power; these professions retain their power only because they are all directly involved in providing protection, health or safety. Roofers, carpenters, printers, masons etc. are no longer well paid in America. In Minnesota 90% of the roofers are Spanish speaking workers with questionable immigration status willing to do dangerous work for low pay. (I don't begrudge them their wages. They deserve better.)

Moreover the increased availability of highly skilled professionals in India and other countries decreases the number of Information Technology, Engineering Legal, Medical and Financial jobs in North America. Medical facilities can send MRIs to Radiologists in India to be read. Even the United States Internal Revenue Service has used Indian Accountants and Lawyers to review and audit U.S. Tax returns.

It is a different world and these skilled middle class and professional jobs are not coming back. Young people with college degrees entering the workforce are discovering there is very low demand for their talent. Sure, the best, the luckiest, the well-connected will succeed but it is a numbers game and more will fail now because there simply are not enough jobs for those willing to work. It takes little imagination to extrapolate to the dismal opportunities available to the undereducated and impoverished victims of worthless inner city school systems.

I agree that blaming wealthy people is a cop-out but at the same time the increased inequality and huge transfer of wealth from middle class Americans to the very top income earners is unhealthy for our society. I have no solution; politicians have made a mess of things. Government and Corporations are compiling huge data bases on every one of us and they can easily prevent and restrain us little people from gathering up our pitchforks in revolt. We are powerless and I fear we will see a regression to neo-feudalism.

That is my happy thought for today.

 

[Loomis]

Where they can't fit in because of their unique gifts, or their inability to contribute to society, either they try to move elsewhere, or they just have to live with what they have.

“The aspie world should not look like Charles Dickens' England.

"Merry Christmas, sir,” chimed one of the strangers. “Sir, at this festive season of the year it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.”

“Excellent, then I suggest you do so,” came the reply from the sour-faced elderly man.

“You miss our point, sir. The poor suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessities,” the gentle stranger responded.

“Are there no prisons?” came the coarse reply...“And the workshops? Are they still in operation?” the old man questioned with authority... I have been forced to support the establishments I mentioned through taxation, and God knows they cost more than they are worth. Those who are badly off must go there.”

“Many would rather die than go there.”.. “If they would rather die, then let them do it and decrease the surplus population.”

 

[Geordie]

I can only say, we have to accept that we are all circumstances of our circumstances - including the features of the times we live in. Especially if it remains not quite supportive to Aspies as we would like to see. So be it, I think.

 

[Loomis]

I can only say, we have to accept that we are all circumstances of our circumstances - including the features of the times we live in. Especially if it remains not quite supportive to Aspies as we would like to see. So be it, I think.

I mean no disrespect. Governments mostly disappoint me and make me angry because they show so little concern for the poor and helpless. Corruption seems to always win.

In America during the 1980's most of our mental hospitals were closed and the clueless inhabitants were pretty much just released into the world. This was done to save money. The personal tragedies were mostly hidden as these unfortunates became nameless, homeless denizens of our cities. It really was a merciless, criminal act but entirely within the law.

 

[Nolan1971]

I mean no disrespect. Governments mostly disappoint me and make me angry because they show so little concern for the poor and helpless. Corruption seems to always win.

In America during the 1980's most of our mental hospitals were closed and the clueless inhabitants were pretty much just released into the world. This was done to save money. The personal tragedies were mostly hidden as these unfortunates became nameless, homeless denizens of our cities. It really was a merciless, criminal act but entirely within the law.

I agree I myself have to go to a very low quality mental services clinic because the low income health services here do not include any mental health coverage!

 

[Soup]

America & Canada are so different in so many significant ways & QC is different still to the rest of Canada. However, every now & then an American will post something here that resonates.

Here in QC in the late 70s with the boom in cheap anti-psychotics & anti anxiety meds, there was a trend towards closing mental health care facilities. The argument for this was, of course, cloaked in a bunch of sugary humanitarianism. The severely mentally ill, the argument went, belong 'integrated' into the 'mainstream' society & not institutionalized. The 'insane' would be able to manage just fine IF they take their medication & with family support.

People who had been in care from their childhood were unceremoniously dumped out onto the streets here too. This was a cruel & heartless decision motivated by money & gross indifference towards the well being of our society's most vulnerable people. Everything Loomis said above occurred here too. Now, in order to respond to this crisis, the gov't has established networks of 'halfway-houses' & assisted living facilities but it's too little too late & we're seeing the mentally ill convicted & 'housed' in our overpopulated prisons.

 

[Tigris]

Planet Auth is a bit less cruel to the mentally ill.

But the clean non-polluted environment also helped. Another thing is Auth's governments, banned artificial sweets, artificial drinks and fast food. Yes, visitor have to go cold turkey on fast food but they find that after living on Auth for a while, their weight and fat drop by 40%. ADHD undesirable traits also are significantly reduced.

Another issue I am comtemplating with in my conceptualizing is that Auth's people because of the lack of fossil fuels do not have plastics. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Soup]

That does it, Tigris: how does one go about emigrating to Auth? All these fake foods made of hydrogenated vegetable oils, sodium, high fructose corn syrup & MSG have created a society of obese & sickly people in lands where medical & scientific knowledge is supposedly most advanced. This stuff isn't even food: no nutritional value & often ingredients that the body cannot even break down!

 

[Tigris]

That does it, Tigris: how does one go about emigrating to Auth? All these fake foods made of hydrogenated vegetable oils, sodium, high fructose corn syrup & MSG have created a society of obese & sickly people in lands where medical & scientific knowledge is supposedly most advanced. This stuff isn't even food: no nutritional value & often ingredients that the body cannot even break down!

Yes MSG is also banned as well. Most of the sugars on Auth are brown kind which is the unrefined and many of them are honey-based or beet based.

I am still looking for a safe plastic replacement. Any bright minds from this place who can help?

Anyway in my novel, the protagonist is an autistic boy from Singapore who was transported there because of an alien encounter. But technically since the ancient astronaut theory is prevalent in my novel, you can say that our protagonist was taken away from Earth by a god.

 

[Geordie]

A more natural world would be great to think of. I hope this Planet Auth will be a more hopeful world everyone can feel sane enough and supported to live in.

 

[Tarragon]

Actually, there may not even be money with its convoluted rules and laws and incitement to criminality. The main justification given by capitalists for the necessity of monetary economy is to keep people working with the threat of starvation if they don't. Aspies mostly cannot bear to be idle and seem to be responsible for most of the inventions and worthwhile cultural contributions throughout history. Such an economy would be productive enough to provide for the disabled and trade in kind.

Just think, everything since the beginning of human development would have been motivated differently and we would have had a much healthier society.

On another note, I think that there is enough evidence to suggest that that state of affairs may have been possible at one time. Have you considered that AS genes may have belonged to a successful race, similar to the Neanderthals? Our current situation could be the result of incomplete hybridisation. Those with extreme autism seems evidence of that. I could go on but will leave it to discussion.

An interesting point. society seems to assume that all human "stock" is essentially equal in brain type. ok, I know this could be seen by some idiots as going towards racism but its not. we know aspies are physically different from NT's, just as people with different coloured skin are, well, just people with different coloured skin! etc,etc. People can be good/bad in any part of the human zoo...

so, going back to comparing aspies to Neanderthals. I'm sure the stocks have interbred. as for aspies, well, we couldn't have been that successful if we got swamped by NT's could we?

What about natural evolution? If its true that our brains are wired differently, then perhaps it's just evolution throwing in some variation. this could explain why we are scattered across the globe, and also remove the idea that we were some sort of Neanderthal-type species who interbred (we'd have to have been spread all across the globe to start with, which is unlikely).

The question is, are we doomed to always be outnumbered by NT's? If its through successful breeding, I'd say we won't win that way! Maybe it's the fate of aspies to always be outnumbered by a majority of nt sheeple, who rely on us to produce new ideas for society as a whole?

So, having made sure I didn't come across as racist, I've now come across as some sort of aspie-supremacist! not intended that way! I'm sure nt people have contributed positively to the development of our world? (examples anyone?!)

It'd be nice to think society recognises different brain types as a natural phenomenon, and treat us all with the respect we deserve. after all, we are a minority, and aren't governments hot on being fair to minority groups?

 

[Tigris]

It'd be nice to think society recognises different brain types as a natural phenomenon, and treat us all with the respect we deserve. after all, we are a minority, and aren't governments hot on being fair to minority groups?

It is a crime to incite racism throught the media like that fool who made that anti-muslim movie. On Auth it is also a crime to insult/humiliate another person if you know he has a disablity. The term is Ableism. If you are an Ableist like some governments are, you are not going to be very popular in the alt. world in my novel.

On Auth, aspergers and PDD NOS and other learning disabilities are pretty much more widely accepted as equals and people with rights.

 

[Soup]

That anti-Muslim movie was not only irresponsible, but such a stupid, badly made idiotic piece of crap that I'm surprised anyone would even think of uploading it to YouTube & think that they're a film maker.

Another thing that would never happen:

I sometimes use para transit when I think that the heavy traffic & noise overload would be too much. This time, they sent a taxi to bring me to my appointment in town-which was fine. On the way home, however, the taxi had a woman sitting in the front already so I sat in back. Then, the driver said that he had to pick up 2 more people (!!). The first lady we went for was way in the guts of the East end of Montreal. We then went to the centre of town for another guy. I was crammed into the middle between these 2 people for over an hour! When I finally arrived at home, My legs and back were aching.

 

[Tigris]

On Auth, most people are not overweight due to the ban on fast food and artificial sweets and drinks. But there is no pressure to be thin however.

But if you have an illness that makes you overweight, people will forgive you.

Another thing is most of the vehicles on Auth are the electric type as they dun have any fossil fuels. The only complain from the public are the visually impaired as the vehicles are technically pretty quiet even trains and buses are so quiet they are technically like stealth vehicles.

 

[Soup]

"It is a crime to incite racism through the media like that fool who made that anti-Muslim movie." -Tigris

Here's something to consider for Auth, Tigris. As an Aspie from the west where freedom of speech, a free press & freedom of expression are inalienable human rights, I wonder how (or even IF) you've thought of ways to counter-balance this with your ban. For example, it is illegal here to use speech to INCITE (such as giving a speech in which you tell people to go out & kill all members of some group or even an individual-for any reason whatsoever). You CAN give a speech expounding all the reasons you believe group or individual X is despicable & why they ought to be banned or deported etc. You can't just yell FIRE in a crowded cinema when there's no fire.

That anti Islam movie, however stupid it was, falls under protected freedom of expression. Our options as citizens who deplore it are manifold:

1. Don't go to this movie. Don't watch it. Ignore it completely.

2. Watch it so you know what you're critiquing & then inform others, share your views & expose the falsehoods (if there are any)

3. Make a film of your own countering the messages in the anti Islam movie, discuss miseducation, ignorance & bigotry. Can't make a film? Write a blog, post your views on YouTube, comment on forums, write an essay, begin a discussion group.

4. Are you an anti-Islam in your views like the film-maker? Watch & support the film, make one of your own, network with other like-minded people. While I think bigotry is reprehensible, it isn't a crime. Freedom of speech means freedom to express viewpoints that many will find shocking & offensive-so long as you, like others, remain within the confines of the laws governing free speech & expression.

5. Protest publicly with other like-minded people, where the law permits it.

Here's another thing: IF, AS A FUNCTION OF YOUR EXPRESSION OF PROTEST YOU DESTROY PROPERTY, HARM SOMEONE OR KILL SOMEONE, YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS & YOU CANNOT BLAME THE FILM FOR YOUR ACTIONS. YOU CHOSE YOUR BEHAVIOURS & YOU MUST SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES.

Most of the violent protesters had never seen the film. Many were angry, disenfranchised young men with anti-western views looking for any excuse to lash out.