@Vermillion-Rx You, and Grok, didn’t answer my question as to whether autism generally (let’s not go with always) gives someone an above average ability similar to Peter Parker getting bitten by a radioactive spider.

I have a theory about the Sheldon Cooper character is that his social awkwardness was most likely due to a coping mechanism similar to that of star athletes, rich kids, or, well, women. :-)

Namely, when someone is young and greatly talented, they may use it as a coping mechanism or crutch to avoid developing social skills or empathy. “Nice guys”, maligned in the culture, are perceived as weak people who are “nice” because they feel a NEED to and worse, act like it’s a virtue as if my not stealing apples from my neighbor’s tree entitles me to an award when I’m actually afraid of their dog biting me.

Nonetheless, being cognizant of reality isn’t a bad thing either. Being nice IS a good thing as I often muse riding the metro and tolerating boorish behavior because the local’s parents never bothered to teach them manners or to do so via discipline. Being a rude A-hole because you can, isn’t to be admired either.

It’s also why I want my daughter to read Game, The Like Switch, and other books on human psychology so she can legitimately empathize with other people but also achieve her goals without feeling held back by other people not “getting her”.

Sometimes “autistic” people, including myself at times in my life, retreat into our hobbies, work, and books because either the social culture is overwhelming to us or, well, pathological. I at least didn’t smoke, do weed, or get tattoos and if my daughter is “autistic” in that regard, I’ll be quite happy about it.

I strive to educate her to stand up for herself constructively, to initiate and develop friendships, and to be a leader, even for herself, rather than a trend follower.

As I say this, and muse on other posts in TRP, all my lovely daughter really needs to do to swing it our of the park is not mess up. Don’t waste her 20’s partying and sleeping around and getting tats. Develop basic financial skills and market herself early including identifying a decent, reliable husband and father. Ironically, back in my father’s era (RIP), this was all men back then needed to do.

@Stigma In the old All In The Family episodes, Archie notoriously bullied Edith, his wife, when she expressed a contrarian opinion to him. Women who divorce their husbands are denying their husbands mental autonomy as well as harming their children over something that doesn't matter. After all, voting or holding a political opinion is one of the most overrated aspects of existence sort of like cheering for a sports team. If a woman was otherwise wonderful but was a Flat Earther democrat, I'd be ok with it. Go ahead, vote honey, as if it changes anything. Here, if she cooks and cleans AND works full time, I'll give her my mail-in ballot too. No problem!

This kind of advice illustrates a larger trend in our society where men have zero intrinsic human value even as feminists rant about how "oppressed" they are. Sure, us men earn more money because we MUST to literally earn a living. They don't value a relationship with men unless they're getting status via hot men or wealthy men they can divorce rape later. Relationships with men, even healthy ones, are "work" or a burden for them. Many would rather be worse off alone than with a man where she "gets" nothing from him.

@Vermillion-Rx I was recently musing on how there's this autism-obsession trope in popular culture that began with Rainman and then with The Imitation Game and The Big Bang Theory. Heck, there was also The Revenge of the Nerds movies.

I chuckle in that we have a materialist woman friend who loved The Big Bang but didn’t see the joke that she was physically and emotionally shallow and wouldn’t have dated a socially inept nerd. What also struck me about The Big Bang Theory is that in the states, nerds generally have a hard time getting any women, particularly pretty ones, while outside of the USA a nerd with a good job is set for life.

When I was 22 and started out as an engineer I asked out a fat local girl who worked full time at the ice cream shop. She didn’t want a second date with me but likely that was because I hadn’t used game on her (I didn’t know it at the time.). It amuses me that, outside of the USA, a girl like that would have used game on ME. Perhaps tried to get me into the sack and knock her up. I’m glad she didn’t, in hindsight, of course. I wouldn’t want to be married to a 62 year old obese American woman I have little else in common with.

I read that Alan Turing was NOT a socially inept autist but was just an otherwise normal man who was secretly queer. That said, are autistic people always above average skilled in other areas?

@Lionsmane8 I only used “Free Tibet” because I thought a freedom loving republic such as China would appreciate that message if it was displayed on a poster on their territory.

That said, Britain is becoming notoriously Orwellian (in both an ironic and unironic sense) and Germany? Its anti-fascist speech restrictions imposed since allied occupation are amusingly fascist. Nonetheless, the west is still much more free speech than Russia or China but, hey, that’s only my opinion and 2 cents worth.

I think we are at a point in this discourse where others may become bored and annoyed (is this a RP discussion?) but I do address these general discussion observations in the context of our communicating with each other. Sometimes, two people can have all the same facts and books and yet come to wildly different conclusions about something. It’s astonishing but yet, a fact of life.

I’ve had epiphanies years later from such encounters even over otherwise sideways remarks that provided me with invaluable insights. If someone wants to stick to their beliefs, even if wrong, that’s truly not my problem, it’s theirs and by the same token, I don’t want to hold onto incorrect beliefs myself, however, I do not change my mind merely because someone disagrees with me. Yes, I have changed my mind significantly over the years and continue to do so.

Have a good (upcoming) weekend. Hope to have something fun to post on WAATGM.

@Lionsmane8 Go to St. Petersburg and hold up a blank sign in public for an hour. Nothing on it criticizing Jews or the protected classes. Heck, even nothing about Putin. Hold up a sign “Free Tibet” or “Remember Tiananmen Square” in China.

Granted, St. Petersburg is probably a lot safer and more pleasant to walk around than NYC. Some of Tucker’s lovely and affordable supermarkets are there as well and even take quarters for a cart! N Korea has wonderfully clean streets!

Nonetheless, I stand by my observations above and invite others to have conversations with friends in the regions about what’s going on and draw their own conclusions.

I chuckle over two things you said: Yes, the weather is bad in most of Russia hence why they want to invade and occupy Ukraine. Before the “liberation” of a section of Ukraine from “Nazis”, Russians commonly visited or moved to Ukraine. Also, I think that certain remaining sections of liberal western whites such as New Hampshire or Finland are that way because certain ethnicities can’t handle the cold.

It also reminds me of another phrase: “The Soviet cooler” to describe Eastern European nations that suffered under Soviet occupation after WWII “liberation” to 1991, but were shielded from the contamination of western white guilt/feminism media and emerged almost as if they were from a 1950’s time machine.

This is why I’m against “globalism” and even all the “fusion” restaurants that make everywhere look like an Indian shopping mall: Distinct cultures which retain their identity allow us to generate insights from travel and to broaden our mindset. I find it hilarious when a leftist travels but yet remains unchanged and unmugged by reality.

You also used the term “wake up” which is funny because the left called themselves “woke” as if they learned about white male oppression that was “hidden” from them when it’s ubiquitous in the media. It’s like “waking up” and “discovering” Coca Cola or McDonalds.

youtu.be/YPUCkiK4uj4?si=NH4EoXFJaJwy2b6O

Instead, like with The Red Pill, the right has appropriated that term forcing the left to try to come up with something else to describe themselves. My woke little sister said she was triggered by me casually using the term “woke” to describe a movie. I didn’t mean it pejoratively, but rather as the political tone of the film.

@Lionsmane8 I don’t wish to get into an argument over this, particularly a personal one, because I think it will be out-of-scope or even unwelcome.

That said, if you think Russia is so great, then move there. Seriously. I stated my preferences so I’m putting my beliefs into actual practice (at least in the next 15 years or so.).

Could we have this very discussion in Russia itself? Could you call Putin a fascist or Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh?

To put this back on topic: I chuckle at feminists who cry they’re so oppressed, blah blah blah, and then smile as they say they’ll call the police or campus authorities to punish me because I said something “Politically Incorrect” (they used to say that, then “woke”, and now they try to call themselves something else I suppose?). My point being that despite the problems with the west, and there sure are a hell of a lot of them, it’s still preferable for most of us to moving to Russia or China.

But if you think I’m wrong, please knock yourself out and move there. Please send us postcards.

@Lionsmane8 If you’re repeating yourself, I’m glad you did. I didn’t see what you wrote previously (I just joined the thread). Thanks.

I don’t think Russia’s economy is “booming”. If someone wants to move to Russia for supposed conservative values and a great economy, more power to ‘em. I wouldn’t, though. Heck, I’d move to West Ukraine before I’d move to Russia. Not propaganda or anything like that: I have friends in Ukraine, Poland, and Russia as well have spent time in the region.

I do see that China is better in many ways than the states: They build out massive infrastructure such as trains and are improving overall. I don’t know much more about it, but from what I hear from relatively neutral sources, I have human rights concerns about the place. That’s just me.

I blame the states for exporting out baizuo wokeism to Europe, but the deed appears done. I don’t think capitalists subverted the left in that regard but rather they did it to themselves via a general dislike of American conservatives and, I daresay, reactionary thinking.

When I use the term “feudalism”, I refer to a system of hierarchal authoritarianism.

@Lionsmane8 Largely agreed, except I wouldn’t count on salvation from BRICs. I chuckle that Russia and China remind me of the Feudalism of Europe’s past that many escaped to the Americas for “freedom” but, as you observe, free labor is inferior to slaves and indentured servant immigrants. Nonetheless, getting a Social Credit tattoo watching your every move when you eat rice is like the serfs of Europe who literally didn’t have a bucket to pee in but yet had more religious holidays off than a modern office worker.

Speaking of that: Jason Pargin complained that The Matrix could use a refresh reboot but I disagree. Neo being in the “apex of humanity” in 1999 appears amusingly prescient: Just before 9/11, we had the internet, still could get office jobs that could pay for a home, and could get on a plane with a cup of coffee in our hand. I had fond memories of that very year. Nonetheless, there was a feeling of existential angst that it was all on a decline. I presume you felt that as well. It was no longer Mad Max apocalypse vibes of the 80’s, but rather just a slow decline like being on a morphine drip.

The left corrupted everything they touched: improved standard-of-living for working class whites transformed into scapegoating whites. Environmentalism became fretting about plastic straws while welcoming the third world to have large families with thousands of disposable diapers per month going into dumpsters, and so on. Science was transformed into Global Warming cult hysteria.

On the right, they regarded “intervention” and “pandering” as evil and preferred to just, as the old joke goes, “the light bulb changes itself”. Just don’t tax the rich and everything would be ok. “You can be rich someday if you work hard and get to keep more of your money!” Everyone was encouraged to think that if they could win the lottery, they’d get to keep their winnings so what’s the problem?

It says a LOT that the Republican party is now not comprised of the “haves” and the wealthy but rather working class men who have nowhere else to go because the left openly scapegoats them and the left tries to have “focus groups” to see if they can appeal to men but can’t break away from their “men stink” message. How to better tell men how they hate them so they’ll get our votes?

youtu.be/5KsMlpqhLdg

@Lionsmane8 I thought this as well and love to point it out to both sides: When a leftist starts their spiel, I inform them that my coal miner union great-grandfathers would have beaten the snot out of them. Socialism originally was about empowering working class beta white guys and now the left panders to the crony capitalists and transforms the west into the 3rd world instead of making the USA more like Sweden (ABBA era).

On the right, it's about being rich or powerful. As Richard Cooper puts it, become the 5% and then you can bang single mothers and sluts all you like. Being a mere decent human being increasing means little or, worse, it puts a target on your back.

It's still POSSIBLE to be a decent human being AND respected for being successful, but remarkably difficult and, as a cheesy line from Picard to Data on Star Trek put it: You can not make a single mistake and still lose. That's life.

It's time for the west to step back and ponder the mistakes it as made, cut bail, and abandon cherished progressive notions that many conservatives have now defined as "traditionalism". Dinner dates are NOT traditional. It's meal whoring. Traditional is having dinner at a woman's house chaperoned by her parents. And so on. It means stepping back 400 years and evaluation everything, like some sort of Papal conclave.