Flowers for Christion -

[Christ-Chan]

A while back I read a book called Flowers for Algernon (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon if you aren't familiar) and it's one of those landmark novels that has the power to change your perception of the world.

One of the themes of the novel is that a mentally retarded person slowly gain cognitive functions up to the point where the retard savanté realizes that all his "friends" were actually people just having a laugh at his expense. He later realizes what folly his simple life has been and he gains greater aspirations and it just spirals from there.

So what's the point of this thread? Well, something I've asked myself is, imagine you lead Chris' sheltered, dysfunctional life, which has become somewhat of a comforting routine, but then one night you suddenly realize what your life has become; like unused cheese that has grown moldy in some forgotten corner of a refrigerator.

Do you think there is any reasonable way to recover from the life Chris leads, should you gain a somewhat "normal" perception of the world? I personally feel like if you accept some frame of normality the weight of all your previously life-choices would crush you relentlessly.

 

[Thetan]

A while back I read a book called Flowers for Algernon (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon if you aren't familiar) and it's one of those landmark novels that has the power to change your perception of the world.

One of the themes of the novel is that a mentally retarded person slowly gain cognitive functions up to the point where the exceptional individual savanté realizes that all his "friends" were actually people just having a laugh at his expense. He later realizes what folly his simple life has been and he gains greater aspirations and it just spirals from there.

So what's the point of this thread? Well, something I've asked myself is, imagine you lead Chris' sheltered, dysfunctional life, which has become somewhat of a comforting routine, but then one night you suddenly realize what your life has become; like unused cheese that has grown moldy in some forgotten corner of a refrigerator.

Do you think there is any reasonable way to recover from the life Chris leads, should you gain a somewhat "normal" perception of the world? I personally feel like if you accept some frame of normality the weight of all your previously life-choices would crush you relentlessly.

Chris's issue isn't mental retardation though. In my opinion, his intelligence is somewhere between slightly below normal and the lower end of normal.

His problems are more psychological. He never received the appropriate counseling / support during his formative years. If he had, we probably wouldn't be talking about him now.

Counseling would certainly improve his current lot, but at his age, with his personality completely formed, it will be a lot harder to make any significant progress.

OT:
If you're interested, there is quite a bit of research currently going on in the area of neuroscience. Scientists are developing chips which, after being implanted in the brain, could make a person smarter.

http://theweek.com/article/index/233419/the-futuristic-brain-implant-that-makes-monkeys-smarter

You might also want to Google 'Transhumanism': an international cultural and intellectual movement with an eventual goal at fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. . Fascinating subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism

 

[Tenrouchan]

The autism papers are a pretty good insight as to how Chris is psychologically. Chris's Global Assessment of Functioning in 2004 was a 70, which means he has mild retardation but isn't unable to function properly retarded. The psychologist notes that Chris's problem lies more in he doesn't seem to have any understanding as to why the things he does is bad or unreasonable (cursing Walsh; the attraction sign), most likely brought on by years of papering and reassurance by Borb. Unfortunately, the papers are outdated by a good nine years, and it is debatable how far Chris has deteriorated since then, but it is a pretty good overall summary.

Chris's perspective is normal; it's just that his normal somehow involves negligent parents, a house full of crap, and being allowed to just about do whatever he wants. Even if Chris was to somehow wake up tomorrow and suddenly grow an genius-level IQ, I'm doubtful that would do anything for his overblown ego either (otherwise Cole wouldn't be still doing those stupid ebay listings).

 

[Holdek]

The autism papers are a pretty good insight as to how Chris is psychologically. Chris's Global Assessment of Functioning in 2004 was a 70, which means he has mild retardation but isn't unable to function properly retarded. The psychologist notes that Chris's problem lies more in he doesn't seem to have any understanding as to why the things he does is bad or unreasonable (cursing Walsh; the attraction sign), most likely brought on by years of papering and reassurance by Borb. Unfortunately, the papers are outdated by a good nine years, and it is debatable how far Chris has deteriorated since then, but it is a pretty good overall summary.

Chris's perspective is normal; it's just that his normal somehow involves negligent parents, a house full of crap, and being allowed to just about do whatever he wants. Even if Chris was to somehow wake up tomorrow and suddenly grow an genius-level IQ, I'm doubtful that would do anything for his overblown ego either (otherwise Cole wouldn't be still doing those stupid ebay listings).

Well...I hope you aren't insinuating Cole has a genius-level IQ.

 

[DangDirtyTrolls]

Chris' biggest problem is his laziness and arrogance, not his mental capacity. He has held a job before, however briefly, and would be more than capable of menial labour. However in his own words he has issues with 'authority awareness' and was never taught or never bothered to properly learn social skills. These things combined to create the perfect storm of having no idea how to behave around others but also believing he's never wrong. IF he did a full 180, learnt social skills and got a job he could be a functioning, if unremarkable member of society. His autism isn't the insurmountable handicap as he and his family have made it out to be.

 

[Christ-Chan]

I didn't mean it quite that literately though; I guess what I meant to ask is if there's anyway to come back after gaining that self-realization - would it just kill the soul to one day wake up and look back on 31 years of misery and for the first time blaming yourself? I guess it's more of a philosophical question than a Chris-related one really, so this thread was probably a bad idea.

 

[DangDirtyTrolls]

I didn't mean it quite that literately though; I guess what I meant to ask is if there's anyway to come back after gaining that self-realization - would it just kill the soul to one day wake up and look back on 31 years of misery and for the first time blaming yourself?

I don't know about blaming himself but I get the feeling the reality of his situation is setting in now, he used to bounce back from crashing into slumber pretty easily; it took him a day to get over Kacey. Now he just seems morose all the time. This may be as far as Chris will come, his logic is so twisted and he has nobody to tell him he's wrong now so he may never realise he was the one at fault.

The fact that he believes Megan, Michael Synder and the Greene County school board are all involved in a massive conspiracy against him rather than looking at his past and realising he is the common element speaks volumes.

 

[Some JERK]

Do you think there is any reasonable way to recover from the life Chris leads, should you gain a somewhat "normal" perception of the world? I personally feel like if you accept some frame of normality the weight of all your previously life-choices would crush you relentlessly.

Popular media is full of formerly washed-up, has-been, trainwreck celebrities who've completely self-destructed in public and then turned it all around and are now more popular and well thought of than they ever were. (Robert Downey Jr. comes to mind.) The point there is that even large amounts of public embarrassment can be undone under the right circumstances. You could argue that Chris wouldn't have access to the opportunities that they've had to turn it around, but i'd argue that unless the goal was to be in the positive end of the public eye, then it wouldn't matter. Chris could probably have a pretty happy life were he to suddenly become a thoughtful, responsible and considerate man who dumped the idea that his troubles are all caused by others, and learned what it means to genuinely care about someone more than you care about yourself.

 

[Marvin]

For a lot of people, the second half of their lives are far better than the first half.

 

[Some JERK]

I didn't mean it quite that literately though; I guess what I meant to ask is if there's anyway to come back after gaining that self-realization - would it just kill the soul to one day wake up and look back on 31 years of misery and for the first time blaming yourself? I guess it's more of a philosophical question than a Chris-related one really, so this thread was probably a bad idea.

You'd either let it crush you or you'd use it as a motivator to live a better life. I've seen people go down both paths where regret is concerned.

 

[harvey dirdban]

OT:
If you're interested, there is quite a bit of research currently going on in the area of neuroscience. Scientists are developing chips which, after being implanted in the brain, could make a person smarter.

http://theweek.com/article/index/233419/the-futuristic-brain-implant-that-makes-monkeys-smarter

Wow, the Tumblr radical disability rights crowd is really going to flip a shit when they see that.

 

[Christ-Chan]

That's some interesting insight; thanks for your contributions to the discussion all!

 

[Tenrouchan]

The autism papers are a pretty good insight as to how Chris is psychologically. Chris's Global Assessment of Functioning in 2004 was a 70, which means he has mild retardation but isn't unable to function properly retarded. The psychologist notes that Chris's problem lies more in he doesn't seem to have any understanding as to why the things he does is bad or unreasonable (cursing Walsh; the attraction sign), most likely brought on by years of papering and reassurance by Borb. Unfortunately, the papers are outdated by a good nine years, and it is debatable how far Chris has deteriorated since then, but it is a pretty good overall summary.

Chris's perspective is normal; it's just that his normal somehow involves negligent parents, a house full of crap, and being allowed to just about do whatever he wants. Even if Chris was to somehow wake up tomorrow and suddenly grow an genius-level IQ, I'm doubtful that would do anything for his overblown ego either (otherwise Cole wouldn't be still doing those stupid ebay listings).

Well...I hope you aren't insinuating Cole has a genius-level IQ.

Well he is the "smartest film critic in the world". Although I do want to know a bit more about that incident Chris mentioned where he hit his head...

 

[Anchuent Christory]

As it stands now, Chris doesn't feel he needs to turn his life around.... he feels others should be turning it round for him. He attributes every heartache and rough patch in his life to other people wronging him.

As far as he's concerned, there's nothing wrong with the way he's conducted his life thus far, it's just that others kept stepping in and fucking it up for him.

 

[NobleGreyHorse]

As far as he's concerned, there's nothing wrong with the way he's conducted his life thus far, it's just that others kept stepping in and fucking it up for him.

It's hard not to be paranoid about being trolled when you really are. Hell, Death himself is IN ON THE CONSPIRACY, ALBEIT A BIT CONFUSED BECAUSE HE HAS NO TROLLS ON HIS STAFF, ONLY ALBERT. But that certainly doesn't mean Chris is reasoning from correct premises about... crap, I can't think of what he does reason correctly about.

 

[Holdek]

I didn't mean it quite that literately though; I guess what I meant to ask is if there's anyway to come back after gaining that self-realization - would it just kill the soul to one day wake up and look back on 31 years of misery and for the first time blaming yourself? I guess it's more of a philosophical question than a Chris-related one really, so this thread was probably a bad idea.

People do it. People who have endured self-inflicted misery far worse than Chris. It takes a lot of strength, and maybe some outside help, to come to terms with that responsibility and to move forward productively, though. Thus, most continue blaming others and don't change.

 

[GFYS]

I didn't mean it quite that literately though; I guess what I meant to ask is if there's anyway to come back after gaining that self-realization - would it just kill the soul to one day wake up and look back on 31 years of misery and for the first time blaming yourself? I guess it's more of a philosophical question than a Chris-related one really, so this thread was probably a bad idea.

There's probably a lot of variance, depending on the person. I sort of have my own issues with perception. For several decades, I know I would probably have taken a swan dive off of the tallest structure I could get on top of, if I suddenly gained the ability to perceive all of my past actions from the perspective of the most average American adult my age... And I've still never done a fraction of all the embarrassing things that Chris has done. Had I, I'd probably spontaneously will myself to death.

IMO, there are too many unknowable variables for us to do more than wildly speculate. Given the illusory superiority ruling Chris' mind, even he couldn't answer this one at present.

People do it. People who have endured self-inflicted misery far worse than Chris. It takes a lot of strength, and maybe some outside help, to come to terms with that responsibility and to move forward productively, though. Thus, most continue blaming others and don't change.

Agreed. Often, that's a necessary step along the path to most peoples' recovery.