Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What was he thinking? (this one isn't funny)

I'm going to save you all some time right now and tell you that you should not feel obligated to read this post. It is not entertaining, thought provoking, or even very interesting. I just needed to tell somebody this at the time I saw it, but didn't have anyone to tell, so I figured I'd just type it all.
A certain status popped up on my Facebook homepage tonight, and it was . . . well, shocking.
Before I get into it, I should share a little information on the guy who posted it. I'll call him T, to protect his real identity. T has Asperger syndrome, which basically means the part of his brain which controls social interaction cannot develop physically.
T is a genius when it comes to math, you can walk up to him and tell him your birth date and he can tell you how many months, weeks, days, hours, or even minutes old you are just by mumbling to himself for a few seconds. For all the superior intelligence he displays in the field of math, T does not communicate well with others.
In order to avoid exposing the people involved in this conversation, I'm going to represent each of them with a letter.

T: is the 1st nigger president was sworn in office today.
K:
JUS iGNORANT.
T: I don't really understand anyone's culture even my own, but I don't trust this man like about every other politician out there. I really don't care about the race of president, only their philosophy.
D: dont throw around racial slurs then
T: Writters Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens used the N word.
D: its 2009 t
K: WELL... i DONT APPRECiATE YOU USiNG THE WORD RiGHT ALONG Wit THE WRiTERS THAT YOU HAVE NAMED. iT MAKES NO SENSE FOR YOU TO SAY THiNGS LiKE THAT REGARDLESS OF YOUR POSiTiON iN SOCiETY.
T: Bible was written way before 2009.
T: Nigger is another word for black, like queer is another word for a gay person. Nigger is a synonym for a black person.
K: i SAY JUS BE MiNDFUL OF THE THiNGS THAT YOU WRiTE ON HERE.... REALLY AND TRULY iTS TRUE... iTS YOUR OPiNiON BUT NOT ONLY OUT OF RESPECT TO THE NOW PRESiDENT OBAMA...BUT TO THiS COUNTRY THAT HE iS NOW iN CHARGE OF LEADiNG ALSO. THERE iS NO WAY YOU CAN CHANGE WHAT HAPPEN TODAY....iT WAS GOD'S WiLL...WHiCH iS VERY iMPOSSiBLE TO ALTER. SO LOVE iT OR HATE iT...iT iS DONE. OUR PRESIDENT iS BLACK.
K: iF NiGGER iS ANOTHER WORD FOR BEiNG BLACK....i DARE YOU TO GO TO THE NEAREST HBCU AND YELL NiGGER ON THERE CAMPUS AND SEE iF YOU GET THE SAME YOU RESPONSE AS TO CALLiN A GAY QUEER... NO MY FRiEND THAT iS BEGGiNG FOR A BEAT DOWN... NO EXCUSE NEEDED.
T: This message board is going in circles now, so lets close this subject. I will respect the president with honor. I just like to make outlandish comments every once in a while, it just amuses me to see how people react.
C: you really should be careful about what you say T
T: I make outlandish comments quite a bit about everything. I've said things a lot worse, not about race, but other stuff. There times that I hate the world a lot, and I don't think anyone out there really understands me. I have thought about suicide several times.
C: There are people out there T that will understand you if you need that. You can feel the way you feel, you have that right but it doesnt necessarily need to be announced on facebook

It is unfair to read T's comments and automatically label him as a bigot because of his mental condition. At the same time I cannot help but wonder what influences cause him to feel the way he does. I have not interacted with T much in the last 4 or 5 years, but that whole sequence of comments concerned. I am not in a position where an intervention on my part would do any good, it just seemed odd for anyone to post comments like those in a public forum like the Facebook.

2 comments:

Myke said...

Like you said, I don't think you can label him a bigot or racist because of his condition. But at the same time, you mentioned that Asperger syndrome means that he can't control the social interaction aspect of his personality. But does that mean his condition actually keeps him from having these thoughts? In other word, if he didn't have this condition would he still have these racist thoughts but simply not post them on Facebook? Doesn't simply having these thoughts make you racist, whether or not you share them? Again, I'm not calling him a racist or a bigot, I'm just wondering if his thoughts are also dependent on his condition.

Quinn the Eskimo said...

Good question. I honestly have no idea. If you click on the words Asperger syndrome in my post it takes you to the wikipedia link, there might be an answer there.