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Memories of the 28th Century

On Asperger's Syndrome I

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by
PeterL
, 01-16-2013 at 07:11 PM (2314 Views)
Last week I was thinking about including a character with Asperger’s Syndrome in a story I am writing. Alas, Influenza stopped that for several days, during which time I thought about the matter some more. I started writing a blog entry about Asperger’s Syndrome and low intelligence, then I went out for lunch. After eating and having coffee and discussing the matter of the Judeo-Christian God having problems managing anger, it occurred to me that that God might actually have Asperger’s Syndrome. The principal symptom is insistence on being right regardless of actual fact. In the real world with humans there are many other signs of the Syndrome, but we have only the Scriptures for evidence regarding this.
That that God has problems regarding truth and enforces his opinions violently and seems incapable of empathy argue strongly in favor of a diagnosis of Asperger’s, but it could be OCD. In addition, we don’t know whether that God had any learning disability; although learning disabilities are not necessarily related to Asperger’s.

This is something about which I will have to think more, but my preliminary diagnosis is: Asperger’s Syndrome.

I am wondering whether anyone else as any thoughts on this matter. I previously had thought that god had problems of low self-esteem as evidenced by the commandment that demands that other gods not be put before him, but that might just be the tip of the iceberg.


Along these lines, today (Jan.30, 2013) I started reading a Sherlock Holmes story by Michael Dibdin, and it became clear the Holmes had Asperger’s Syndrome. I think that it would be difficult to portray Asperger’s in writing in more detail than Conan-Doyle did.

Updated 02-05-2013 at 11:21 AM by PeterL

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  1. Buh4Bee's Avatar
    This cracked me up. Personally, if you are going to include a character with Asperger's, I want to do a great deal of research. To really understand it goes beyond reading about it. My point is that you should really should "get it" before you make a joke out of it. Just food for thought. When I write I try to have a "personal" relationship with all my characters. Asperger's is a good skeleton to build a character from, but you need to understand its form. If you can begin to find some kind of respect or compassion for the struggle of the syndrome, the you may be on the right path. Just food for thought.

    I'm not going to engage with you about your thoughts on religion as I find them, well, ____________ (fill in the blank).
  2. PeterL's Avatar
    I have been acquainted with people with Asperger's for decades even though the syndrome was only defined less than twenty years ago. I think I know a little about it; although the more I consider it, the more I learn about it.

    There have been some characters with many features of Asperger's in the past. Such characters have been treated in various ways.

    I thank you for finding my thoughts on religion sagacious.
  3. Dark Muse's Avatar
    Haha that is great. I always just assumed that he was just extremely egotistical, as well as perhaps suffering from low self-esteem. I figured he was just always picked on by the other gods, you can see a lot of those Olympian fellows in particular being real jock types they probably gave him wedgies and stuffed him in his locker and such other hijinks, so when he grew up he became a sort of bully picking on those weaker than him to make up for it.
  4. PeterL's Avatar
    Yes, Zeus and the other Gods and Goddesses have no problems with us worshipping whichever ones amuse us. They are the Real Gods, so what's it to them?

    Should I start recruiting for my religion?
  5. Cadigan's Avatar
    I think this explains a lot about deities in general.
  6. PeterL's Avatar
    Not deities in general as much as it explains about Yahweh.
  7. PeterL's Avatar
    And what do people think about Holmes?