Lolcows and their Interests -

[LordDarkrai]

One thing I noticed while reading through countless lolcows is that most has a fixation on one interest usually a cartoon, movie or game like The Golden Knight with Powerpuff Girls or the people behind Pooh Adventure's who's into Disney. I'm really curious, what is the reason they get really into one that obsession to a extreme? Is it something that came out out of living a sheltered life or just bad parenting?

 

[Dork Of Ages]

Autism. And not enough belt marks

 

[Null]

Are you being serious?

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-symptoms

Limited interests in activities or play. Symptoms may include:

• An unusual focus on pieces. Younger children with autism often focus on parts of toys, such as the wheels on a car, rather than playing with the entire toy.
• Preoccupation with certain topics. For example, older children and adults may be fascinated by video games, trading cards, or license plates.
• A need for sameness and routines. For example, a child with autism may always need to eat bread before salad and insist on driving the same route every day to school.
• Stereotyped behaviors. These may include body rocking and hand flapping.

 

[José Mourinho]

Autists are attracted to stuff which has lots of colors. Cartoons are one of them along with video games.

 

[DykesDykesChina]

Are you being serious?

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-symptoms

Limited interests in activities or play. Symptoms may include:

• An unusual focus on pieces. Younger children with autism often focus on parts of toys, such as the wheels on a car, rather than playing with the entire toy.
• Preoccupation with certain topics. For example, older children and adults may be fascinated by video games, trading cards, or license plates.
• A need for sameness and routines. For example, a child with autism may always need to eat bread before salad and insist on driving the same route every day to school.
• Stereotyped behaviors. These may include body rocking and hand flapping.

Yes, true - but OP has raised an interesting question: Why are said "limited interests" frequently focused on popular children's entertainment? It may have to do autistics having difficulty growing up/adjusting to adult life as well as the flood of entertainment media available today.

 

[Null]

Yes, true - but OP has raised an interesting question: Why are said "limited interests" frequently focused on popular children's entertainment? It may have to do autistics having difficulting growing up/adjusting to adult life as well as the flood of entertainment media available today.

• Preoccupation with certain topics. For example, older children and adults may be fascinated by video games, trading cards, or license plates.
• A need for sameness and routines. For example, a child with autism may always need to eat bread before salad and insist on driving the same route every day to school.

It's a thing of comfort. Many autistic children will cling on to things that you wouldn't expect a kid of that age to like. Parents will find that they demand toddler stuff, like their baby blanket or even pacifiers as old as 10 because that's just what they want.

Sammy, the MylarBalloonGuy, is a great example of this. If you ask him why he likes things like old 1990s technology and video games and music, he doesn't ever give a reason. He'll say that round designs are ugly or new music sucks, but he won't actually analyze anything. He's just really autsitic and those things were never familiar to him growing up. An old VHS tape is what makes him most comfortable.

 

[Ariel]

Autists can only have one interest at a time.

 

[Le Bateleur]

I agree with the above points being made about autism. I'd also add that perhaps the interests of lolcow watchers should also be considered.
Of all the people with some degree of autism, only a few behave in a way that draws the interest of communities like ours.
I'm generalising, but it's things like public discussion of unusual sexual fetishes, low-quality artwork and/or an ability to accept or understand criticism that make a lolcow.
I'm sure that there are people who are as obsessed with "mainstream" things like sports, cars or film who don't get classed as lolcows because their "thing" is viewed as normal.
My local soccer team, for example, are tiny. Six or seven leagues below the top division. Their supporters club who go to all the away matches has about 15 members, a good 6-7 of whom are on the spectrum. These guys have their own forum and compile very detailed statistics on non-League football.
If they spent the same effort following Thomas the Tank or MLP they'd be lolcow candidates. As it is, they're just viewed as nice lads who get very into grass-roots football...

 

[DykesDykesChina]

I agree with the above points being made about autism. I'd also add that perhaps the interests of lolcow watchers should also be considered.
Of all the people with some degree of autism, only a few behave in a way that draws the interest of communities like ours.
I'm generalising, but it's things like public discussion of unusual sexual fetishes, low-quality artwork and/or an ability to accept or understand criticism that make a lolcow.
I'm sure that there are people who are as obsessed with "mainstream" things like sports, cars or film who don't get classed as lolcows because their "thing" is viewed as normal.
My local soccer team, for example, are tiny. Six or seven leagues below the top division. Their supporters club who go to all the away matches has about 15 members, a good 6-7 of whom are on the spectrum. These guys have their own forum and compile very detailed statistics on non-League football.
If they spent the same effort following Thomas the Tank or MLP they'd be lolcow candidates. As it is, they're just viewed as nice lads who get very into grass-roots football...

Very good post!

I was going to compare this effect to obervation bias in astronomy: That initially the majority of discovered exoplanets was of the Hot Jupiter type doesn't mean that this type is the norm, rather, the observation method (spectroscopic measurement of the star's radial velocity changes) favored these. But with the lolcows, we have a more fundamental mechanism: They have childish interests because our definition of a lolcow implies this.

Keep in mind though that this is not the entire story. On the one hand, in order to be a lolcow it is not sufficient that a person is into children's cartoons - (s)he must also do this in an extremely weird and creepy, preferably sexual, way. ED actually explains this very well when comparing CWC and Ulillilia:

Ulillillia and Chris-Chan both show interests in video games, and few outside that field. This is true to a certain extent; they both love Sonic the Hedgehog. However, make no mistake--even in this, major differences can be seen. They view their gaming consoles in very different ways.

Chris, as we all know, obsesses over his video games out of pure fandom. And, as is evident in his comics, he plays his games only for their content. Ulillillia, on the other hand, seems to only enjoy video games for their coding and relation to mathematics.

On the other hand, there are lolcows of a different nature who do not obsess about children's entertainment but are nonetheless lulzy and/or weird and creepy - e.g. Gloria Tesch, Roosh V, Elliot Rodger, King Peter Fitzek, Alejandro Cao de Benos de Lez y Perez, Robert Stanek, etc.

 

[LaptopGeek]

Yet, there are autistics with unusual obsessions or interests. Like for example, Pies, laptops, route master buses, train schedules, burglar alarms etc.

 

[A-Stump]

I once knew an eighty year old man who was autistic (not diagnosed because old people can be eccentric without needing an excuse) and he collected riding mowers. He didn't sell them. He didn't really mow with them. He just collected them and rode around with them with a little cart attached. Pretty much all he did for fun.

 

[Da Big Staw]

I agree with the above points being made about autism. I'd also add that perhaps the interests of lolcow watchers should also be considered.
Of all the people with some degree of autism, only a few behave in a way that draws the interest of communities like ours.
I'm generalising, but it's things like public discussion of unusual sexual fetishes, low-quality artwork and/or an ability to accept or understand criticism that make a lolcow.
I'm sure that there are people who are as obsessed with "mainstream" things like sports, cars or film who don't get classed as lolcows because their "thing" is viewed as normal.
My local soccer team, for example, are tiny. Six or seven leagues below the top division. Their supporters club who go to all the away matches has about 15 members, a good 6-7 of whom are on the spectrum. These guys have their own forum and compile very detailed statistics on non-League football.
If they spent the same effort following Thomas the Tank or MLP they'd be lolcow candidates. As it is, they're just viewed as nice lads who get very into grass-roots football...

The part about the footbal supporters is pretty interesting to me.

I was/ still am to a degree pretty hardcore into sports and statistical analysis of it. Some of my friends have gone on to have jobs with MLB clubs doing just that. I've been to some sabr conventions and met many others like this. I guess it's true maybe a small amount of them might have autism or something similar. However on average I would say these autists are much better adjusted then the MLP types. Generally with the truly odd/autistic types i find they are attracted to the numbers more then the game itself.

I cant help but wonder if the MLP or Sonic types would have a perhaps more healthy, socially respectable obsession like sports if they were raised better. Or if it's a different type of autism as the numbers types don't seem to have that attraction to cartoon chars.

 

[LaptopGeek]

I cant help but wonder if the MLP or Sonic types would have a perhaps more healthy, socially respectable obsession like sports if they were raised better. Or if it's a different type of autism as the numbers types don't seem to have that attraction to cartoon chars.

I have to agree, if obsession became a choice, it would be these three than anything sexual and it does bring community spirit. Although, the obsession can become unhealthy like sports fans get into nasty fights and Bronies can be nasty and very defensive.