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I've spent the past couple of days slowly going through the entire thread... I almost died doing it but...
Since I saw there was a discussion on the difference between HFA and Aspergers earlier, so here's a bit of info for those interested (skip the next three "paragraphs" (there's a mention of Chris in the beginning of the 3rd) unless you really want to read):
I have High Functioning Autism, but I got diagnosed before Asperger's became really "known" where I live, so I more than likely have Asperger's, but whatever, there isn't too much difference (currently, at least).
However, there are people that hate Asperger's being on the Autism Spectrum, because that makes them "a subset of Autism" (kind of like how Protozoans are a subset of the Animalia Kingdom), even though, generally speaking, few people call those with Asperger's "Autistic". The reason for wanting to be seperate from the Autism Spectrum is usually because it's seen that if you have the label of Autism, it makes getting jobs, getting into colleges, etc. harder when the mental image most people have of Autistic people are "arm-flapping, screeching, child/teenchild/manchild", whereas people with Asperger's are usually more accepted. There really needs to be more word out in the world about these two disorders... I mean, just the few people who know I have HFA have all been stunned, saying things like "But you don't ACT autistic" or "So do you do that arm thing?". The people with these traits (or those that haven't worked past them), are generally Low Functioning Autistics (LFA has taken to become almost a slur in it's own right, so beware with using it), which is what the people think about when Autism comes to mind.
The reason people like Chris (HFAs) hate people with Asperger's is because of the idea that Asperger's is the "acceptable" version of Autism, and that any less makes you not able to be functional (HFA doesn't guarantee your ability to be a functioning member of society, Chris pretty much demonstrates that fact. However, Asperger's doesn't guarantee functionality either, but for some reason, people are as high strung about Asperger's as they are Autism). And for those who know about the movement to distance Asperger's from Autism, they fell that the negligible difference in the disorders now creates a "caste" where people with Asperger's are better than HFAs for no discernible reason. Personally, neither side really has a leg to stand on for their abhorrence of being associated with "Those guys that think they're better than us"/"Those guys who are ruining our credibility", and both side should be able to act in a civil manner and try to educate the public on the differences...
But I've rambled on about that enough... now for Chris himself...
I'll say that the scariest thing for me about seeing all of this (I've known of the horrors of "Chris-chan" for a couple of years now, but I haven't known about things like fanta (don't you wanta?)) is seeing how eerily similar he acts to how I Used to act as a child. So before you get the torches, I was never as exacerbated as he is, and I wasn't raised in a house that would make all of the symptoms THAT bad, but I can see the parallels... such as obsessing over [insert subject material here], something I still haven't completely worked out of my system... but it's generally not intrusive at least (my obsessions: Pokemon, Bleach, Biology, Nintendo, etc.), and horribly warped logic. I don't know how many people have heard the story, but there was an autistic boy a few years ago that killed his mother accidentally because she "went back on her word". She essentially promised him some manner of toy for doing something (like getting good grades), but even though he did the work, he acted up, so his mother refused to buy him the toy. In his mind, all of that work should have culminated in getting what he was promised... his mother went back on that word, something that is very bad. When people do bad things, they need to be punished... all leading to him apparently deciding that the appropriate amount of retribution was a chair to the face. At the end of all of this, he not only felt bad that his mother died, but at the exact same time he felt that what he did was completely right and just (Think about this for a sec). For many people with autism, THIS is the kind of logic we operate on, and really, until the last step, it's fairly logical. However, most people would stomp off and punish their mothers by not talking to them, or saying "I hate you". The issue that arises is when the concept of "appropriate retribution" comes up, as without a good amount of empathy or an ability to know that the things autistics do to people hurt them (think Chris not realizing he was hurting Megan by drawing her and taking her words backwards), and so to them, who feel they were wronged SO MUCH and their inability to be able to put punishments on a reasonable scale can see "throwing a chair" being a rational answer to the problem of "My mom won't buy me a toy as promised".
A lot of who Chris is comes from autism. I can see the signs and the actions. However, it's further compounded by the warped sense of morals that have been instilled into him (I don't think Chris just decided to be homophobic or racist... and judging from that one phone call, I think Bob is likely to be the one to have fed him some of this (so imagine, if Chris REALLY is in the closet, how hard is it going to be to come out to his dad, even if he was NORMAL? It's going to be much harder with Chris's Autism and likely his strict adherence to the "laws of the land" that his father gave him)). I really want to feel pity for him, because had he been given some of the opportunities and help I've had, he could have wound up a lot better off than he is. However, whether he's a mouthpiece for Bob and Snorlax's ideologies and social grievances or not, his rampant homophobia, inability to take criticism, obsession with finding a girlfriend/having sex, and all of the other myriad of things Chris is make it impossible for me to pity him too much. At this point, he's so stuck in his ways and his mind is so set in stone in the world his parents and himself have created for him that he's unable to live in the real world. I highly doubt that even with the best professional help that he'd be able to function, as he'd probably resist all attempts to help, especially since his life was "perfect" beforehand. The only thing I can genuinely pity him on is the day when he realizes time is up, the illusionary world he crafted falls apart, and he's left with nothing to hold on to. This is the real world Willy Loman (a character I could only sympathize with when he finally saw the real world), a tragedy waiting to happen.
But until then, I'm still going to get my sick amusement out of the things he does and tries to get away with... It's really way more fun than it should be, and I'm likely to go to an even more special place in hell... well, at least they'll have ice-cream...
But yeah, keep up the good work guys... and hopefully I'll keep up with the topic so I don't have to spend 2 days torturing myself with 193 pages... of this...
I promise to hopefully be more funny from now on in the topic... *feels like Eeyore*
*goes to lie down*
-K-
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-K-
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