Are autistic people an easier target of political extremism? -

[AF 802]

This is a legitimate question I'm wondering. It seems a lot of lolcows who are on the spectrum we know have some sort of fringe political ideas (usually proto-Marxist leftist ideals and/or anarchist ideals), and it seems alt-right can be a victim of it too. If autistic people really are an easy target for radicalization, what is it that causes this? Is it the extreme gullibility? Or is it just some sort of IQ factor?

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

It's the extreme gullibility combined with lack of good social skills.

 

[aleksandrov]

Gullibility and ignorance.

 

[MemeGray]

Autistic people are an easier target for pretty much anything

 

[Cool kitties club]

Extremist political communities often thrive on offering a community where all you have to do is say the right thing. This makes it pretty easy to be accepted and helps keep the community. Many of these like marxism and the alt right give you a convenient bogeyman to blame stuff on

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Definitely a gullibility issue.

Also could be the inability to fit in with normal society. These are people that would probably otherwise find some kind of religious cult. Also explains the high number of austistic trannys.

 

[Richardo Retardo]

Yes, but I don't think it has anything to do with what most people in this thread are saying. Autistic people have issues with integrating into social norms they don't automatically assume the societal dogmas (diversity is our strength, the free market will sort it out in the end, happiness = cummies, etc) that neuro-typical people do, however, this doesn't stop them from believing in dogmas that are equally ill-informed. So, basically, yes and no. Dogma is successful because it's very convenient and the only way to really rise above ideological dogma is to be a well rounded individual that sees through the meta-narratives that all ideologies have and tries to engage with the "facts" and viewpoints honestly . . . something 90% of people will never do.

EDIT: Like @Cool kitties club said the community aspect is also a big part of it.

 

[The Shadow]

Anyone with difficulty socializing is a target for radicalization since they tend to cling to and desire the approval of their social group. So if extremists take them in...do the math.

 

[OB 946]

Autists aren't inherently easier to exploit or dumber, because autism is an extremely broad spectrum. Some autists are non verbal 50 IQ potatoes whereas some are extremely intelligent, moreso than most people here. There isn't an "average" intelligence among autists. That being said, one of the things most autists have in common is the fact that when learning about a subject they tend to deep dive into the subject, learning everything they can, see: train autists, a perfect example. This, coupled with the fact that many autists lack social awareness means that they are prone to not realizing what is and is not acceptable public discourse, means that autists interested in politics will deep dive into their political research, absorb all the information they can, and pick a position that probably isn't nuanced at all because they don't understand that interacting with others in modern society necessitates nuance.

Also the "autistic community" has been co-opted by the left with asspats and the promises of gibs, which explains why many people who tout their autism as a badge tend to be lefties. "Normal" autists learn to adapt to their environment by taking special classes on how to literally read body language and voice inflection like a paraplegic learns to navigate normal people life using a wheelchair. The "autistic community" says these things are "ableist" because society should just accept these people even though they have literally no ability to interact with others on equal footing. Basically the loudest autists out there are actively discouraged by their friends from learning people skills and there are a lot of autists that you don't even realize are autistic because they actually take the time to learn how to not be a burden.

 

[DuckSucker]

It's the extreme gullibility combined with lack of good social skills.

I dunno about gullibility but I know autistic people are known for black and white thinking, and that combined with lack of social skills makes it seem like an extremist movement where they are accepted as long as they are "one of us" would be very appealing to autistic people.

 

[DN 420]

I think you need to take a step back and examine why someone with autism would be interested in politics in the first place. What issues do they care about? Getting into the weeds of foreign or domestic policy only appeals to a certain kind of autist, and that kind wouldn’t be a person to get pulled into extremism.

The average person with autism might find appeal in the intellectual identity that is associated culturally with a certain political group, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with politics and is more akin to sports teams. They might only be interested in parts of politics that intersect with their autism (such as healthcare, disability awareness, equal rights), which could lead to extremeism, but I don’t think that’s likely.

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

Could explain why so many of the sped teachers/group counselors I've come across were insufferable SJ-types.

Hell I had one who openly celebrated the Charlie Hebdo massacre in front of a bunch of impressionable spergs.

 

[An Ghost]

I dunno about gullibility but I know autistic people are known for black and white thinking, and that combined with lack of social skills makes it seem like an extremist movement where they are accepted as long as they are "one of us" would be very appealing to autistic people.

Absolutely this.

Plus autists are more likely to spend all day shitting up the online screeching exceptional politics. The loud few idiots drowning out the reasonable many.

 

[Crunchy Leaf]

Extremist political communities often thrive on offering a community where all you have to do is say the right thing. This makes it pretty easy to be accepted and helps keep the community. Many of these like marxism and the alt right give you a convenient bogeyman to blame stuff on

Autistic people are attracted to things that have lots of rules. There's a lot who are polyamorous, because poly has lots and lots of rules about how romance is supposed to work. They don't have the innate ability to discern how to act in social situations, and in normal world nobody says 'this is what you do', but in extreme communities they have lots of strict rules. I wonder if autists are also overrepresented in extreme fundamentalist religious groups?

With transgenderism specifically, though, there's also the fact that many autistic people feel disconnected with their body, and may perceive their feeling different from everyone else being due to transgenderism and not autism.

 

[Big moth tiddies]

Autistic people have a hard time accepting shit just happens and believe EVERYTHING has to have a plan or conspiracy behind it. All you have to do is give them the thinnest of tightropes and they'll walk out on it with no hesitation.

Shit happens, and they just can't accept that.

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

Plus a lot of autistic dudes have weird ideas about women, which breeds into troon shit pretty well.

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

Many of these like marxism and the alt right give you a convenient bogeyman to blame stuff on

Most political extremists are some kind of losers who spend too much time on the internet in search for community and like it to have a scapegoat for all their and the world's problems, be it the Jews, Chads, straight white cis men, bourgeosie or infidels.

 

[Big moth tiddies]

Most political extremists are some kind of losers who spend too much time on the internet in search for community and like it to have a scapegoat for all their and the world's problems, be it the Jews, Chads, straight white cis men, bourgeosie or infidels.

Yeah, that's the other big draw for them. In a way it makes them feel like they finally have an advantage on the everyday person, like they're so smart that they can connect dots that other people are "too dumb" to see.

My main discord server has a special channel where we document the fall of one of our members who has fallen deeeeeeeep into the qanon well, and it's full of self righteous assfingering where he's basically saying shit like "we've got the elite pedo peddlers where we want them now!" and other horseshit.
Now he unironically believes the nazi's escaped to Antarctica, the world is flat, chemtrails are real, aliens and the Eisenhower treaty, pizzagate, and ancient aliens in obviously shopped photos.
Absolute mental.

 

[Watcher]

Wasn't the discovery of asperger's syndrome by Hans Asperger a big deal at the time because the Nazis thought people with the syndrome would be much more loyal to their cause?

 

[aleksandrov]

Yeah, that's the other big draw for them. In a way it makes them feel like they finally have an advantage on the everyday person, like they're so smart that they can connect dots that other people are "too dumb" to see.

My main discord server has a special channel where we document the fall of one of our members who has fallen deeeeeeeep into the qanon well, and it's full of self righteous assfingering where he's basically saying shit like "we've got the elite pedo peddlers where we want them now!" and other horseshit.
Now he unironically believes the nazi's escaped to Antarctica, the world is flat, chemtrails are real, aliens and the Eisenhower treaty, pizzagate, and ancient aliens in obviously shopped photos.
Absolute mental.

People also like feeling like they are part of a group also. Your friend might have followed the same path as a flat earther.

Also do you play tgstation or something? Your pfp made me think of it.