While it’s clearly some kind of joke, it does betray the lazy
thinking “rationalists” love to indulge in. To illustrate: “That’s a
fairly typical summiting of Everest, congrats on your average
performance.” For people obsessed with statistics they don’t really
understand them at all.
I mean, it's not even rationalism here, it's the weird "autistic supremacy", a charade usually played by totally neurotypical people whose entire idea of autism is based on fictional characters, that developed in the various nerd subcultures. The whole "I am too smart to understand human communication or have a speck of empathy, so don't call me out if I am a dick" stuff, that now is probably 40 years old (it started at least in the '80s) but that they keep finding it funny for some reason
>Someone should tell these people that part of being intelligent involves emotional intelligence and understanding social interaction.
Ergh, I dunno, I know some very smart people who are neurodivergent and in *their case* they don't have any emotional intelligence, they just know that certain things get strong backlash and adapt. Zero empathy and ability to model the other, just smart enough to not repeat shitty things because backlash.
"Being intelligent" is kinda a fuzzy term, and you can be missing many traits from the word cluster associated with it and still fit the idea. I think yud *is* smart, just not as universally as he thinks he is
Yeah, it upsets actual aspies too--there's this weird meta about it, but I dunno, sometimes it's also like, embracing the stereotype sometimes? Like what happens with black people who are "too black" or "not enough black", within their own culture. For aspies, often it's like, are you not proud *enough* of your neurodiversity, that you're hiding, or are you just jumping on that bandwagon of autism to stand out in some way?
But, how does one themself even *know* that, outside of just trying to live in society, without people bothering you over it too much? Works with LBGTQ folks too--are you trying to "act" normal too much, or trying to make yourself known too much?
Reminds me of that Parks and Rec scene... "Too autistic? Jail. Not enough autistic? Believe it or not, also jail." :)
So, I guess I'm disagreeing with your comment a bit (as you seem to have no idea just *how much* a lot of us are trying to fit your wildly changing norms), but I take it in good fun, too. :)
>as you seem to have no idea just how much a lot of us are trying to fit your wildly changing norms
I mean, I think I made abundantly clear that the object of my criticism were not people *actually* on the specter, however they choose to live their social life, but rather the depressing and often insultingly self serving "nerd essentialism" construed by the members of some subculture that turned the tackiest aspie stereotypes (Sheldon Cooper and the likes) in their whole online (and often offline) persona.
So black and LGBTQ+ folks struggling between being accepted both in their community and in the wider society is not a good comparison. A better one would be the rich white kids that take hip hop or old school rap completely out of context, decide that the stereotype attached to the culture that created it is true, but is also *totally awesome*, because YOLO and my bros are my family and if you fuck with me you won't see another day. SO they go around being dicks and harassing people (knowing they will go largely unpunished), and all of that just to add another layer of self congratulation to their already cushy, privileged and unexamined conduct. They don't seem to grasp that they are reinforcing a stereotype that they won't have to live, or that even the trashiest and goriest rap song they can find is, when examined in context, something a bit more nuanced than "crime is *awesome,* live fast die young", *because they don't care. They never cared. They just wanted an excuse to be dicks.*
Hah, I loved reading this, thanks very much for the imagery. :) I step back from my previous assertion--with the racial thing, it's pretty much more clear if one *is*, looks different enough to be discriminated against or not...gender/orientation may not be precisely apparent to one's own self or the outside world, though, nor are autistic traits. So I tend to give some leniency on young people who think they are this one way or another. (Yeah, even if they think they're the next Eminem, lol :))
It's pretty weird for a person to think that they're actually, say, black if they're not, but with gender/sexuality, it's really not so clear all the time. Same goes with autism/adhd or other neurodiverse traits, since high-functioning stuff can just be personality traits...OR, simply un-diagnosed stuff that lasted well into their adult lives, since mental health diagnoses are very hit-and-miss.
It's a curious question to me, of when do we reasonably expect someone to follow social norms, or when is it allowable for a particular person to just never "get" them, and just talk and walk how they want?
Tourette's is the most obvious one that comes to mind--is it just grandma's *thing* that she does, and we should all still love her and accept her with it? Because, her calling me a huge nose pucker-cunt at the dinner table could *also* be considered verbal abuse, if it were coming from another person. (love you grams <3)
Personality (possible disorder) mannerisms are much less obvious, though...I guess everything exists on some sort of spectrum, with a lot of grey area involved...do you think so?
Sample size one, but I couldn't see my classmate who had Tourette's being mistaken for verbally abusing someone. His tics were all noises and random words, but even if they had included cursing, they usually happened at random times when he wasn't in conversation or even facing anyone specific. If two people spent enough time together that one could verbally abuse the other, it'd pretty quickly become obvious if one of them has verbal tics.
(And tics really cannot be controlled. So if insult-like tics are unacceptable you'd have to ban people who have them from socializing, which seems... really excessive for something that could be handled with "sorry, that wasn't directed at you, I have a tic.")
Okay, so first, you're not the one I was replying to, correct? And second, this was a month old, correct?
I can pick up this convo again if you'd like, but I'm just making sure we're on the same page to begin with, okay?
This is what happens when the contrast on which a joke depends is
underdeveloped, and the character giving the deadpan punchline has too
much baggage. The context is all wrong, so it comes across as being
callous to people who have just gone through an ordeal and have signed
up for another, much longer one.
I could see it playing in, e.g., an episode from the middle seasons
of TNG. The teaser opens in the Enterprise arboretum,
where a young couple has brought their newborn. Deanna and Beverly are
making smalltalk with the parents, doing that little “hi there” wave to
the baby. Keiko is shooting meaningful looks at Miles, who is very
clearly putting on his “yeah, this doesn’t scare me at all” face.
Data says to the parents, “The weight and length of your offspring
are both within point five standard deviations of the median. You should
be quite pleased by the absence of complications.”
Picard leans over to Riker. “Is it bad that I am relieved to be only
the second most awkward person here?”
“I don’t know, sir. Honest, dependable chap like Data — I bet there
are plenty who’d find him husband material.”
Picard gives Riker the side-eye and is about to speak when his
communicator chimes. “Worf to Captain Picard. Sensors show a Romulan
scout craft is approaching at high warp.”
Yeah, this is pretty standard "You ever realize how much of what we say is socially performative, instead of communicating the literal meaning of the words?" observational comedy, with a bit of self-deprecation thrown in. Like pointing out that "have a nice day" and "enjoy the next 24 hours" mean the same thing in literal terms, but have very different implications.
He's pretty clearly not saying this is how people _should_ behave; it's probably not even how _he_ behaves. The comedy comes from the absurdity of the response being described.
that definitely tracks for yud, but i honestly initially read this as pointing out the absurdity of this social convention, in the style of *Curb Your Enthusiasm* or *Seinfeld*. like rating people's babies and complimenting them for making the baby is kinda weird if you think about it too much, even if it's (always) a positive rating.
of course in real life it's usually more of a "congratulations" than a "good job"but i thought it was a passable joke
Is it absurd? Are people actually "rating" babies, or are they just showing support for one of the biggest life events that people tend to go through? I'm really not seeing what the absurdity is supposed to be there.
I totally understand that's the actual meaning of these comments, i'm just saying i could see the humor in a sketch that sorta cuts through the intentions to the actual words used and actually judges babies impartially, like the tweet did. like i could see it on *Curb*, everyone is complimenting a baby and Larry is just like "eh, he looks alright" and it becomes a whole production.
This is better when read in the voice of Dwight Schrute.
While it’s clearly some kind of joke, it does betray the lazy thinking “rationalists” love to indulge in. To illustrate: “That’s a fairly typical summiting of Everest, congrats on your average performance.” For people obsessed with statistics they don’t really understand them at all.
“Yes, that is a baby”
This is what happens when the contrast on which a joke depends is underdeveloped, and the character giving the deadpan punchline has too much baggage. The context is all wrong, so it comes across as being callous to people who have just gone through an ordeal and have signed up for another, much longer one.
I could see it playing in, e.g., an episode from the middle seasons of TNG. The teaser opens in the Enterprise arboretum, where a young couple has brought their newborn. Deanna and Beverly are making smalltalk with the parents, doing that little “hi there” wave to the baby. Keiko is shooting meaningful looks at Miles, who is very clearly putting on his “yeah, this doesn’t scare me at all” face.
Data says to the parents, “The weight and length of your offspring are both within point five standard deviations of the median. You should be quite pleased by the absence of complications.”
Picard leans over to Riker. “Is it bad that I am relieved to be only the second most awkward person here?”
“I don’t know, sir. Honest, dependable chap like Data — I bet there are plenty who’d find him husband material.”
Picard gives Riker the side-eye and is about to speak when his communicator chimes. “Worf to Captain Picard. Sensors show a Romulan scout craft is approaching at high warp.”
“Thank goodness. On my way, Mr. Worf.”
what? is this some kind of weird joke I’m not getting? why would you ever say this