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If I had a nickel for every time someone says "this person's being a huge jerk to me but I think they might be neurodivergent"
(lemmy.world)
Regular reminder that being an asshole is not a symptom of any form of neurodivergence. (You can replace “neurodivergent” with depressed, anxious, bipolar, etc. and the diagram works equally well)
ETA: social faux pas, awkwardness, and genuine symptoms of neurodivergence don’t make you an asshole. I shouldn’t have to say this? An “asshole” is someone who enacts a pattern of abusive, controlling, harassing, and/or harmful behavior with no remorse or concern for how other people are affected.
I've been called an asshole many times. I think most people think I'm a nice person, but to the wrong person I'm a complete asshole. If I find out you support cops I'm suddenly the biggest asshole alive. If you're a capitalist? Guess what, asshole mode wants to turn on.
That's fine in echo chambers, but when you're in a diverse group? I had to learn social skills early on as a kid, and not every autistic child learns how to adapt to a social situation. I put my example as a hard truth: We can't applaud people being assholes to certain people and then be appalled when assholes remain assholes to those aren't the acceptable group of people to be an asshole to. If I want to remain socially acceptable around cop-supporters, I have to adopt different social 'postures' like respectfully disagreeing instead of calling them boo-tlicking piggies. My tolerance for respectful disagreement only lasts so long, though, when my under-the-breath stuff starts coming out and then I know I can't be around people if I want to be accepted.
What gets rewarded gets repeated.