I have another question for you which I’m going to send by email as it’s kind of private about someone else.

The Integral

Thank you for continuing to share your ideas with all of us.

One of them was basically, “Here’s a bunch of stuff that I happen to see as connected, that not everyone does.” And the detail seemed necessary because people often take it as really abstract otherwise, and wonder what on earth I’m talking about.

Another of them was, “Here’s the difference between what I see, and the roles I see others putting people (the ones who look like what I see) into.”

You say that I have crossed a particular line, and I know you’ve elaborated on what that line is elsewhere: I’ve ended up becoming a symbol in the media that is supposed to represent a whole lot of things I’m not, and in particular I appeared on an awareness day thing (where most of the material was filmed so long beforehand that I had no idea that’s what it was going to be until close to when it was already happening, and where I expected that I would be one of many people, not singled out).

I’d like to note that if there are demarcation lines on the ground about these things, then they are written in a code that you understand and I do not.

Which means I could walk right past them unawares, or for that matter be shoved across them when I’m least expecting it.

After the experiences I’ve had — which have largely been of only finding out after the fact how people perceive various things that they hae expected me to notice and understand all along — I won’t judge anyone for what their appearance in the media is, when it comes to things like this.

And I think that blaming me for what the media and people watching along have tried to turn that person into, is actually playing right along with the media images in a way. Playing along with the illusion that this was something I could have foreseen or chosen. And playing along with the illusion that my appearance to some people (as a symbol of all sorts of ideas that have little to nothing to do with my life) is actually about me at all.

And given the fact that I have little media knowledge and I can see my end of what has happened here. And given the fact that you have a whole lot of media knowledge, having actually studied it, something I’ve never done. I would then expect that of all people you’d know to get mad at the people who create these images, not the people who get shoved into them unawares and unwilling while believing that something else is going on. I would have thought you’d know the difference between saying something and having words put into your mouth, between doing something and being portrayed as doing something, between agreeing to one thing and watching another happen, etc.

I mean, I probably agree with you already, on your take on what has happened. The only part I don’t agree with is your implication that I’m complicit in all this somehow, and that I could possibly know beforehand all kinds of things that only become apparent to me when things happen.

But then I’ve noticed a lot of people who have a lot of knowledge in a particular area, expect it to be easy for everyone else. It isn’t.

As for groupthink, yeah it happens in the autistic community and I’ve for a long time been one of the few people willing to admit it. It can be pretty insidious. But I think my main problem right now, is not of groupthink as much as groupwrite: I am having trouble writing what I really want to write about, so I write what I can write about, which is often things I’ve been exposed to recently, in groups of people. And I’m also really out of the loop in a lot of ways lately, and that’s not helping any. And tremendously sloppy in a lot of my writing.

Which is why I’ve asked people to excuse the sloppiness, because sloppy is all I can do right now, I sort of expect other people to sort out the details and excuse the fact that if I am writing about why a particular stereotype is wrong, I might not for instance, be able to write every nuance of what happens when it’s actually accurate, etc. Or of stereotyping in the opposite direction. Just saying that the “excuse to be a jerk” thing is a bad stereotype doesn’t mean I’m exchanging it for some sort of opposite stereotype. That’s like saying that fighting the “women are airheads” stereotype has to mean believing that all women are some sort of genius-stereotype, or has to mean believing in “airheads” as a real concept, etc., it just doesn’t follow.

Basically, I don’t see a need for such a conversation to involve “attacking” and “defending” and so forth, because I’m likely to agree with you on a lot of it, and at the same time, disagree mainly on the point that says there’s a way I could have foreseen and avoided everything — me, not you, with my background, cognitive abilities, and set of knowledge, not yours.

I happen to enjoy Donna Williams creative writings and films…I also read academic neurological writings and don’t fine the need to be exclusive in either of these.

I found the recent The Excuse to be a Jerk writing to be consistent with what I have observed over many years and more. I found it informative…The Poetry Writing Challenge is creative and fun…I like this element and hope it repeats later on… It is particularly appropriate for this site as Amanda has written poetry much of her life…I found it fun to read what people came up with for titles. There is such a need for just having fun and collaborating on creative endeavors..It makes life the richer.

As for singing when not being able to speak…the internet is full of support of this with numerous articles about stroke patients, stutterers, and Alzheimer patients doing just that. Most articles site that another part of the brain is involved..
Many say it is helpful with regular language to do the singing regularly…like an exercise…when normal speech is difficult or not there at all…
There is documentation too that movement is easier for some when music is involved…Whatever the reasons…I say celebrate the fact that you are able to sing! I myself would welcome a video of your doing just that as I think I would enjoy your enjoyment of singing. Of course there are those who would jump on that but they jump on darn near everything…and they can’t dictate what you do and who your are.

Sorry for this catch-all nature of my comments…A lot has happened here in a short while.

I remember the substance of what I wrote. If the comment does not appear in two to three weeks time I’ll probably post it again.

Even NT’s need to draw lines in that sort of thing. Notably, Neil Gaiman recently announced on his blog that his editor has “commanded” him not to take on any more work or “favors” until he’s cleared his current year-plus worth of commitments. I think Will Shetterly and Steven Brust also have lately posted similar announcements. (These are all well-known, and well-Netted, science-fiction/fantasy authors)

Not to mention that stuff keeps happing to all and sundry — I.e, Making Light’s server blew up over the weekend, so now they’re begging people to recover their comments from the past couple of months.