There is a certain species of political theory and public policy analysis which is marked by an inability to understand context and/or a denial of it, difficulty with using abstract thinking and concrete thinking in the correct situations, deep knowledge in very narrow topics, difficulty in understanding other perspectives, repetitive use of set phrases, and an inability to identify or think about groups or shared interests. People who routinely produce such content tend to have a troubling need for routines, a lack of empathy, and difficulty in processing social cues. Analysis that suffers from some (or even all) of these shortcomings can be found all over the political spectrum to varying degrees. While it is most common among libertarians, such myopic content is produced by many conservatives as well, particularly those who are politically connected.
The term political autism has come into use as a descriptor for this phenomenon because the above symptoms are commonlyfoundamong autistic people, particularly the high-functioning or mildly autistic. Other symptoms, which are more common in severe cases of autism, do not manifest politically because they are socially crippling, keeping a person from organizing in the political realm to advance one's interests. Therefore, let us focus on the autism symptoms which manifest among some conservatives and impair their intellectual output. We will examine each of these symptoms, then consider how they typically manifest in order to provide a guide for self-diagnosis and self-treatment to the afflicted. Finally, we will compare and contrast autistic conservatism with the related but distinct phenomenon that has been labeled cuckservatism.
Personality Problems
People who have autism spectrum disorders typically have a lack of interest in sharing achievements, emotions, or interests with other people. They frequently lack empathy for other people's feelings and have difficulties in forming and sustaining relationships. They can have difficulties in understanding other perspectives as well as non-literal speech. These personality problems amplify pathological political positions taken by certain subsets of conservatives, frequently denounced elsewhere as neoconservatives, Beltway bandits, chicken hawks, and imperialists. In argumentation, these symptoms manifest when conservatives answer leftist rhetoric with dialectic, or vice versa. A related problem is the use of faith-based persuasion toward the faithless. The autistic conservative is unable to process the operational mode of the opponent and is therefore only able to frustrate leftists.
Context Problems, Abstractness, and Concreteness
As with many other disciplines, there is a dichotomy between abstractness and concreteness, between theory and practice in politics. Given the human element which is necessarily present, a multitude of variables are introduced, some of which will escape account by even the best theorist. Furthermore, peoples' lives are only ever lived in context; there is no such thing as human existence devoid of setting. It is thus only natural that a theorist should present a simplified model of the world for the purpose of illustrating an argument. Doing so avoids presenting a cacophony of background noise, distracting the recipient with instances of his own ignorance, and maintains the presenter's frame of reference. Political autism takes this several steps further; the politically autistic will not only neglect certain elements of context, but will ignore important parts which fundamentally alter the calculus of a policy decision. More extreme examples will present completely abstract arguments devoid of any real-world considerations.
Depth Without Breadth
A related problem is the practice of delving deep into the weeds in a narrow topic while missing the larger picture. Again, there is a lesser version which naturally occurs for understandable reasons. As Carl Schmitt writes,
“Every religious, moral, economic, ethical, or other antithesis transforms into a political one if it is sufficiently strong to group human beings effectively according to friend and enemy.”[1]
This insight broadens the breadth and depth of knowledge required to be a general expert in politics far beyond that which any one person can possibly acquire. Accordingly, political theorists and commentators will specialize in certain aspects of statecraft. Political autism frequently involves taking this to the extreme of knowing almost everything there is to know about an esoteric, even trivial topic while being unaware of the larger context in which such knowledge could be useful. This hampers the political autist's efforts by peppering one's work with useless details that do not advance the case being made and reducing one's ability to predict future results. Notably, this aspect almost never occurs in the absence of the others, so the issues tend to overlap.
Read the entire article at ZerothPosition.com
References:
- Schmitt, Carl (1932). The Concept of the Political (Expanded ed.). (George Schwab, Trans. 1996). The University of Chicago Press. p. 37.
- Krauthammer, Charles (1983, Aug. 15). “The Mirror-Image Fallacy”. Time.
It is likely that autism isn't just limited to early childhood onset, but what separates it clinically is the social isolation. Clinically, it may be more how society treats an alleged autistic person.
I would suspect some cases where autism is comorbid with another disorder that is is likely due to social rejection theory. In genuine cases it will be a mutation in the SHANK3 gene.
Autistic traits have been found in girls with eating disorders, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are common with bodybuilders as well. Whether they have the mutated shank3 gene, or are subject to social rejection is only speculative at this point. Nonetheless, they have been afforded a somewhat easier path to avoid the chronic isolation. Women have all sorts of tools available too look better, men just hit the gym. Those who are preoccupied with sports or politics will find social comfort with fellow fans or ideologues.
For Males who are more cerebral and have asperger's, particularly those who can't put on body mass, they are less likely to pursue interest heightened by others. Sports is kind of dumb after all. So they will more likely pursue intellectual self rewarding pursuits such as math, science, and programming which achievement may be their only source of dopamine. They tend to have multiple copies of a normal SHANK3 gene which forms brain synapses. I suppose it is possible that someone could have multiple copies of a mutated shank 3 gene
While it is true that more people with asperger's may likely be libertarian, after all John Galt and Howard Rourke would likely have asperger's-Galt of Course what what Ayn Rand considered the perfect man. Libertarians are more in tune to the science of law. Social conservatives may be more in tune with the divine law. The natural law and the divine law are politically linked to some extent. Though there are other schools of thought out there, they are only thought not law. The truly libertarian school is more rigid about following the science of law. Compromise simply gives into evil after all-it is what gave us slavery, allowed it to continue, and lead to a civil war. To deviate from the science of law is to allow the government to use force to deprive people of life, liberty, or estate.
But don't let the left off the hook simply because they support spending other's peoples money in the name of empathy, or because they pretend to support various groups. Some of them are hooked onto junk theories of Marxism,feminism, and victimhood and to various degrees. And when the political groups they once supported are of no more use to them (such as gays and jews), they are discarded. They weren't showing any genuine empathy towards them, but were just exploiting them until their use ran out. If someone decides to make an argument with facts and statistics, they will quickly go into a tantrum of yelling various words ending with "ist" and will not allow a speaker to utter a word. Although, these tantrums could be true for those that hold delusions as well, tantrums are also said to be attributed to the autistic as well.
-satire from youtube channel: Reason: Common sense, for the common good
Nicely summed up. I'm always impressed w/comments that are more in depth than the original content ;)
Pretty naive of our author not to include the left in this autism examination but I read it anyway hoping perhaps there was some un-biased content hidden within. The feminization of society is good for feels, unfortunately there are far too many out there that have and will take advantage of an over empathetic host/society. Rendering hose society as pillaged, weak, then forgotten.