(Kapitel 10 - Swedish)
Some cause happiness wherever they go.
Others, whenever they go.
Oscar Wilde SOCIAL AUTISTIC DYSFUNCTION Try as you might, you will not find the above title in any scientific analysis except this book. The reason is simple.
S.A.D. was invented right here in River City.
We cannot dwell on Autism without also spending an equal time on Common Sense. As you will learn, I believe autism and a defective common sense are one in the same. If not, then they are kissing cousins. If the defect of common sense is slight, then the autism will be slight. No one else seems to address this comparison. Certainly common sense is and has been a major part of the United States‘ greatness. I cannot think of one of your national heroes who appeared to have poor common sense. This mental facility was a major part of our Revolution. John Paine was a prolific writer for the Revolution and his articles were titled, ―Common Sense‖. This was in 1776.
His basis of common sense is best expressed by reading his articles. Over and over again, in today‘s Conservative airways you hear the lament about the lack of common sense.
Glenn Beck‘s best seller was titled, ―Common Sense‖. The Fox Cable News Service calls for a ―Fair and Balanced‖ approach. This is a call for common sense in such matters. As we continue in our analysis of autism, ask yourself on each characteristic, isn‘t that really a failure of common sense?
You have been with me during my travels in search for the reason or reasons Leftist think so politically differently from Conservatives. You have learned about my studies of my dear departed leftists Mother and how I differed with her. The only positive aspect of her passing was that I was able to cancel her subscriptions to Leftist magazines and respond to the ACLU and Sierra Club that my Mother could no longer donate to their organization. She was mildly autistic. For the last 20 years, I have been up and personal with autism in my own family and the family of friends and acquaintances. Autistic people are not rare.
You have studied with me, the differences in detail, the examples of their thinking, the logical inconsistencies, the major difference, their profile, and then we began to zero in on the brain for our answer.
I have not found any brain abnormality that fits the Leftist better than autism. Autism defines Leftists. Not all autistic people are Leftists, but most are. In their struggle to accommodate and care for themselves they, like the spoiled child, become very myopic.
Socialism looks and feels good to them.
Autism is a relative recent study but it is a condition which has always existed. The present work to set it up as a special psychotic problem began in the 40‘s. Doctor Leo Kanner introduced the label ―early infantile autism‖ in 1943. At this time, there are many, including me, who are putting their oar into the water. Before all the present hubbub, we used to call severe cases of autism as ―nare-do-wells‖. You know the kid who just did not fit in, couldn‘t do well in school, or any other thing he or she got involved in. The worst of them were basically unemployable. Even mild forms can have trouble holding on to a job. Something about not understanding that being on time is important or that dressing correctly impresses.
In my Webster‘s 2nd Edition 1979, Autism is defined as follows.
―…in psychology, a state of mind characterized by day dreaming, hallucinations, and disregard of external reality‖
As we now know, this old definition was way too simplistic. Going back a bit, the term autism was first used by a Swiss psychiatrist, Eugene Bleuler, in 1910, as an attempt to define a type of schizophrenia. He took the word from the Greek word ―autos‖ (meaning self). Now you know where ―Automatic‖
came from. There it lay, until 1938 when Hans Asperger of the Vienna University Hospital used Bleuler‘s word in a lecture about child psychology. He was studying one aspect of autism which he described. In time, his description became known as Asperger Syndrome. It was not formally accepted until 1981.
This was after one Kranner redefined it in 1943, presenting his study at John Hopkins Hospital. His study was of 11 youths who had strikingly similar behavioral similarities.
He used such terms as ―autistic aloneness and insistence on sameness‖. It took some time for this new term to rid itself of its attachment to Schizophrenia. It is now conceded it is not that, but is classified as a neural dysfunction. In common lingo, a wiring problem.
Today, it is considered one of the things to look for in school children who do not do well, but otherwise appear bright.
Personally, in my family and the family of friends, I have studied it closely.
If you go back to the words of Bleuer, when he said the following,‖autistic withdrawal of the patient to his fantasies, against which any influence from outside becomes an intolerable disturbance.‖ You have just described the Leftist who continues to pursue Socialism when all history dictates that it fails. They will not tolerate a different view.
They froth at the thought of the John Birch Society and the Tea Parties as horrible people who threaten their One-World. Our Chief of Home Land Security calls Veterans and Tea Party people as dangerous as terrorists.
Now autism is still being categorized and listed in its various parts, if we can find the parts. We have a long way to go in understanding it. There is severe and mild and many names have yet to be invented. In the area of political preference, I coin the term ―Social Autism Dysfunction‖ ( S.A.D.). This may be a new idea for you, but it is not a new observation. Every family has a member who is probably autistic. You know them. The mild ones otherwise appear normal, except that they never do well in most things.
Sometimes they will excel in one thing or subject, but that is another category. They are the cousin, or brother, or sister or another, who, when they are in little league, they were not good and generally played outfield and most time did not pay attention to the game.
You know the kid who had to be dragged to the game. It made them very uncomfortable.
They may have been slow to talk but that is not necessary to have autism. When it came to self-discipline in anything they flinched or did poorly.
Even though the autistic child may have a high IQ, they have difficulty using it. In high school the autistic youth just gets by and tends to be loner. Oh, they might hook up with other loners, but they do not run in the main stream. Most are not evil or intentionally bad. They just do not seem to fit. As one educator told me, they will go through life not able to rough it in the free market system. They cannot respond accurately and on time.
Now you may understand why a Leftist does not like the free market system. It scares them and frustrates them. They need a comfy blanket.
Autism is generally described as a disorder of neural development. I have said autistic people are wired wrong. Since there are so many synapses which comprise the brain the wiring can take on an imponderable amount of variances. It is not considered a mental impairment, by some, but some so called experts do not make a distinction between IQ
and common sense. Mild cases of autism are not even observable unless you know the person well. It is most dramatic in youth and as a person grows into adulthood they can, if they realize the problem, begin to modify their behavior to reduce the impact.
Unfortunately, the more severe do not have this opportunity.
The mild and slight may never realize they are different, in which case, accommodation is slow. Accommodation means learning what is normal and copying it.
To support the above observation, think about yourself.
Be candid. All of us have some wiring problem. Maybe you transpose numbers or letters routinely. You have learned to accommodate. Maybe you cannot remember names well.
You accommodate. Maybe you stand out as special in remembering names or numbers.
Maybe you find playing music way over your head. With music, maybe you do not accommodate, but you could. Even if you are tone deaf (a mental problem), you can accommodate well enough to have a good time playing. You still may not be able to recognize the tone of middle C, but you know where it is on the piano. Maybe you feel uncoordinated in some activities. A typewriter key board baffles you. You accommodate.
You see no one is perfect. Some are less so.
Most of these problems, however, are isolated and do not fit into a pattern and do not make you different. Autism is a known pattern of misfires.
Let me spend some time discussing it in scientific terms.
If I repeat myself, it is necessary for a complete understanding.
First, Autism is listed as one of several Pervasive Developmental Disorders: It is often referred to as PDD. One other PDD is Rett Syndrome which has to do with a small head and brain development. Another is listed as Asperger Syndrome. This is autism without a communication problem. Another is listed as Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. Again this is a form of autism. In this type, the child will develop naturally to about age 3 and then begin to regress into the type of characteristics found in autism‘s definition.
Autism is generally described as a ―Disorder of Neural Development‖ It is highly variable, from really disabling to barely noticeable.
Its characteristics fall into three categories which are not necessarily exclusive.
1- Impairment of social interaction: It is often said that these social deficits distinguish autism from other developmental disorders. I do not agree. They are not exclusive to autism, but always a part. Generally the social deficits are: a- A lesser attention to social stimuli, such as their name, eye contact, and social participation. This is one factor which makes employment difficult. If they had good common sense this would not be a problem.
b- They exhibit more attachment to their caregivers, but without good feelings of security. Spoiled children have a similar attachment. Common sense could cure this attachment problem.
c- They have problems making main stream friends and tend to function alone or with other similarly dysfunctional people. The obvious reason is they say and do things which do not fit the normal. For example, several boys are gathered together and are having a general discussion about sports, cars and girls. The Autistic child will become super focused on the new BMW Coupe and go on and on about it. Pretty soon the other kids look at each other, roll their eyes and avoid the autistic boy. A healthy good common sense would have warned the boy to cease and desist BMW‘s.
d- They develop frustration which can result in tantrums or unusual responses. Of course, this is caused by a and b above. Common sense is the aspirin.
e- They often display sleep problems. Oversleeping, going to bed late, going to bed with noise from the TV or radio, and leaving lights on. A healthy common sense tells us to conform to the sun and the moon. It is from the light of the day and dark of the night that we develop our bio-rhythms. Obtaining a good night‘s sleep is a major part of mental health. Disrupting the bio-rhythms gives us jetlag. Autistic people suffer a lot of jetlag even if they are not flying. Common sense would cure the problem. Their accommodation helps, if they know the problem.
f- Often they have atypical eating habits. For example, at breakfast they may reject the normal breakfast foods for dinner foods, etc. A bowl of chili and a hotdog are perfect for 7:00 AM. Common sense tells us to conform to the mores of our surroundings.
2- Impairment in Communication: (Not a part of Asperger.) a- More severe cases will exhibit early problems with speech, unusual gestures, diminished responsiveness and different vocal patterns. As the autistic child get older, he or she can modify this conduct to appear more normal. As stated this is called accommodation. It is pretty certain most adults, who realize they have a problem, will accommodate. For example, such a person can learn that it is normal to go to bed early, so they learn to do that. They learn it is not normal to talk off the subject. They will work hard to stay on it.
b- Their focus in communication may be off center. For example, they may fix on the pointing hand rather than on the object pointed at. Again, what are considered normal hand gestures as an aid to communication can be impaired. As a child, they may run with their hands out instead of in line. This they can accommodate by faking common sense.
c- They may have difficulty with self-generated imagination, but become attached to an imagination generated by others or things such as electronic games and shows.
Common sense stops us from going there or pulls us back if we do.
3- Restricted Interests and Repetitive Behavior: a- They may have repetitive body movements. This may not even be noticeable and can be removed with accommodation.
A good effective common sense tells us waving our hand around is wasteful energy and causes others to stare at us.
b- Often they have compulsive behavior. Stacking things, putting things in a line, obsessive play with small things.
What they are doing here is generally repetitive. Again, accommodation is fairly easy.
What goes on behind the Green Door is another matter. Perfect example of a defect in common sense. You see, common sense is a tool to avoid things that fail.
Leftists never get the message about Utopia‘s built in failure.
c- They tend to be resistant to environment change.
When one feels threatened by their surroundings, obviously any change will be perceived as an additional threat. Maybe threatened is not the correct word. An autistic person has trouble relating in a normal way to what surrounds them so these things have to be coped with. This is their environment. If there are birds and bees, they will be resistant to changes about them.
They will spend millions on the reintroduction of the California condor, when common sense tells you it is doomed. There were good reasons the birds became endangered and those reasons cannot be rolled back. The Leftist will be emotional about saving a smelt in the Sacramento Delta and to hell with the farmers and people who populate the Southern part of the State. A Leftist will be very resistant to oil and its production even though they know that we need it and have to buy it (with billions of dollars) from people who basically would like to see us dead. If the leftist does not have to see those nasty ole oil rigs and pipes and such, then it is better for them. They get very emotional about such things.
d- Often they have ritualistic behavior or sameness of conduct. This is not a big separate characteristic and is generally part of b and c above.
e- Eating abnormalities are common. This was mentioned in f of number 1 above. 80%
will have some trouble deciding to eat breakfast food for breakfast or wanting dessert as a meal. Common sense of what is considered normal would be very helpful here.
f- Restricted behavior. I call it a focus problem. This can include preoccupation with a particular conduct, which just as suddenly, can be dropped.
g- Prone to accidental self-injury. This is not often a part.
Only about 20% fall into this category. Common sense is the facility which reduces injury along with fear. The latter is a combination of common sense experiences and natural intuitive impulses. Remember a flame burns.
4- SPORATIC SYMPTOMS: The following symptoms of autism are sporadic in appearance. They are not listed as part of the three above.
Remember, a good dose of common sense cures them all.
a- 5 to 10% will show extraordinary abilities or talents.
Savants etc. Of course, this can show up in people without autism.
b- May show superior skills in perception and attention in limited areas. Part of a- above.
c- Sensory abnormalities are prevalent as in most developmental disorders. You can expect to find more on the downside with autism.
d- Most autistic people display some degree of coordination problems. For example, they may have problems using a hammer or balancing on a ladder. Again, this is common in most PDD.
Let me add my two bits worth to the above observations of others. What does explain each and every one of the characteristics is an impaired common sense. Whether it is social difficulties or keeping a clean room, the autistic person lacks some amount of common sense to direct them. This can be learned and that is what is known as accommodation. They learn what they must do in a given situation to not seem unusual.
My research did not find any discussion of the more current problems autism may bring.
Let me add my own studies and observations.
One interesting side issue is the maybe-cult belief which has developed because a young child, 2 to 5, may speak about his or her real parents (other than the biological parents) or of a different life. An example is the book of Carol Bowman titled ―Children‘s Past Lives‖. She attempts to review the many such experiences and filter out the make believe from the heart felt stories. One of the things she mentions, to support the latter, is the child speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. May I be so bold as to suggest the child or children are probably autistic….. the Asperger type. Of my own personal knowledge, I know of several autistic children who have said these things and a characteristic is Bowman‘s observation of a flatter tonal delivery in speech. I have noted it, especially when they are trying to be serious. Bowman does not address the observance as a mental problem. She sees it as spiritual. I see it as autism.
The young autistic child and adult will find tasking difficult. Here you find they do not do their homework, taking lessons is difficult, and taking orders is even more difficult.
Some might say it is laziness, but in the autistic person, they do not grasp the need to prepare. They do not process the data correctly. This also becomes a problem with employment.
Common sense disability.
In this day of electronic blizzardry, the autistic person can get buried. They can spend hours and hours playing the same electronic game over and over again. Cars present another observable characteristic. They tend to drive too fast and put the car to tests it does not appreciate. Common sense problems. They do not like to care for their car any more than they like to care for their room or other property. Even though they are taught the art of car repair, they will be reluctant to do it.
They know how to clean their room but cannot get to it. The autistic person generally appears more passive and low key.
Their speaking manner may tend to be flat with limited inflections. Their sense of humor may also be impaired. Without good common sense, humor is often missed.
Finally and most importantly is the aspect of manipulation. Any impaired person will try to accommodate to limit the impairment. For the autistic this often means coming up with a cover story, excuse, or false explanation. Some call this lying. The autistic person knows they cannot compete on a level playing field so they learn how to gain an advantage by telling an untruth. This is most evident in the typical Con Man (confidence man) who is so willing to lie and so blind to know his end and discovery is inevitable. I suggest that most confidence people are probably autistic. Within this realm of untruths, stealing from their caregiver is easy. Especially if the caregiver tries to force them to obtain a job by cutting down the money supply.
In the political arena, manipulation is very observable and unfortunately prevalent. I must say it is heavily weighted on the left side of the aisle. President Obama‘s failure to keep promises between his campaign and his presidency are remarkable. His manipulation by the use of the word ―Change‖ is scary. He did not mean clean up Washington D.C. He meant Socialism in its worst format. He knows the truth. Hiding his smoking is just a part.
Obviously, autism is a neural disorder, so where in the brain is it? Autism disorder seems to be a part of the frontal lobe which we learned is the center of conscious thought. It is here that common sense is developed. One of the most used demonstrations of autism is of a small child who stacks drink cans. The cans fall over. He/she repeats the same mistake and the cans fall over and he/she repeats it until they are distracted or someone takes the cans away. The autistic child never picks up the problem. Their common sense is impaired. So too does the Leftist conduct themselves.
You say to a Leftist that the greatest murders on Earth in the 20th century were all Socialist or socialism generated. It does not register or is denied. They just keep on pursuing a dream of Utopia. You tell them Utopia has never been successful and each time it is tried nationally, it causes great death and loss of property. They do not hear you.
You explain that right next door there is a Communist country (Cuba) which has, since its inception, kicked out dissenters, killed thousands, seized property without compensation, caused worldwide problems (Cuba and the Soviet Missile crises) and is failing terribly.
Cuba even ran out of toilet paper last year. When you tell a leftist these truths, they begin to ask you why you are racist or why won‘t you let more tourists go there, or it is the U.S.
embargo which is the cause of Cuba‘s miseries. They are deaf to reality. You have heard it many times. How come those Democrats do that? It does not make common sense.
Well it is true. They have defective common sense. Unfortunately, they are in charge in the year of this book 2010.
I am again reminded of the most recent statement by Senator Chris Dodds when he voted against a GOP bill to require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to require of all loans they buy that the owner put up at least 5% of the purchase price. Let me remind you his words were to the effect that if we did that those who cannot afford to buy a house could not.
Now the normal person when asked the following question will have a common sense way to complete it. The question is for you to finish the following statement. , ―If you cannot afford to buy a house……… then you should or must not buy the house.‖ The underlined part is the finish of the statement. It is normal. What Dodds said is abnormal.
When President Obama told Joe the Plummer that the government had to redistribute his wealth, common sense people were shocked. When someone points out that taxing one citizen more than you tax another is not equal protection under the law, the Leftists does not get it. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that it did not matter what was in the health bill because once it was passed they would change it any way. Common sense thinkers were shocked. Leftist were not.
Autism is an impairment in the processing of information.
I believe for the milder cases there is no discernable difference between it and an impairment of common sense. They should be synonymous. The information is made available to the eyes and ears and goes into the frontal lobe and is misdirected. If the data is not misdirected, common sense prevails. If it is misdirected and does not find normality, it will not make common sense. Now when you think about it, as our population has skyrocketed all over the Earth there are multiple more times for this bad wiring to occur. It may be genetic. The evidence is not convincing. Assuming that it is, then when two like folks with mild autism get together, there is more of a chance it will pop out in their offspring. We cannot be blind to the fact that President Obama‘s parents were strange. His parents and his grandparents all loved Communism, apparently never giving a thought to its abject failure worldwide. Maybe they were common sense deficient as well. Some commentators say autism may be caused by mutations. I do not agree unless we want to believe that is the way we are all going. Let us hope it is a dead end which occurs simply because our brains are so very complicated that perfection is not possible. As stated before, it has always been with us, but without a name.
Autism is not mental retardation because the IQ level does not seem to be affected. Most autistic people share with all others a varied I.Q. which means their memory and recall is not an autistic problem. It is common sense which is in question and we have not even begun to test for it or grade it, but I will in this book. Every characteristic of autism can be explained because the person has a defective common sense. My test will be criticized but so then were the Wright brothers. Humans fly?
Nonsense, if God wanted us to fly he would have given us wings.
In mild cases of autism, no one will know unless we have comprehensive testing. This book is just a beginning and I challenge the scientific field and other interested persons to, as they say in Texas, ―Getter Done!!!‖.
Let‘s look at some of the characteristics of Autism from a slightly different angle.
1- It is highly variable. So is deficient common sense.
2- It is not presently curable. This is because we cannot redo the wiring.
3- It is an impairment of social interaction. Autistic persons lack intuition which others take for granted. When young, they seem to be standoffish and weakly responsive to stimuli, such as their name. Because of these problems, they learn to get around them by being manipulative. In family, they are more likely to bite the hand that feeds them. Most do not even know it. If their autism is mild, growing older allows them to become less obvious. Nothing is cured, it simply hides.
Common sense deficiency can be masked but it cannot be changed.
4- It is impairment in communication. Speech is slow to develop and once developed becomes manipulative. This generally resolves itself after the first 10 years of age. In some, it never occurs. In a few others communication is enhanced.
I have placed the problem of lying (manipulation) as a part of autism. As the neural development disorder happens, the afflicted person, generally unknowing, begins to fabricate stories to make them appear more normal. Even though they do not know, they have the disorder of a defective common sense, they do sense discomfort with those who are normal. To cover this, they accommodate or lie, to make it better for them. The fib is a tool and not the little white lie to make tears go away. It becomes easy to lie because they do not have the common sense to know they can be easily found out. Why are you late?
Oh, I had a problem with this and that, when they did not. Why did you not do your homework? Oh, I had a headache or I forgot my books. The autistic politician can lie all day long and not comprehend that others are keeping track and are able to point out the lies. It is not important to them. The immediate satisfaction the lie gives them is what is important. President Obama fits this perfectly.
5- Autism certainly has a restriction of interests. Normal stimuli may tend not to be normal to them and they will ignore or avoid. Their skills in sports suffer and good grades are elusive.
Here you find the child who becomes addicted to visual stimulus such as Game Boy and TV or Computer games. With age they can mask these things when they finally accept others concern and disapproval. In this day and age, electronic stimulus provides a great example of this restriction of interests.
You have seen them or heard of them….the kid who is mesmerized by Electronic games.
Even today, he or she can spend all day playing computer games, especially car driving ones. Their common sense is in most ways disabled. My wife told me of the time she first rented an apartment. It was in a large complex and down below her was a young lad who left the door open and watched TV cartoons all day. She never saw him do anything else.
Two ladies would come, now and again, to see to his basic needs. His only comfort was a blanket. Clearly the ladies were related and more than happy to have him there rather than with them. In this electronic world with its speed, with its make-believe, with it‘s out of world attractions, an autistic person can find all manner of restricted interests which make him or her comfortable. I would love to be able to study the childhood of Pelosi, Obama etc. Remember Obama told us, in one of his books that in College he chose his friends carefully.
So carefully that other students in his class never heard of him.
Sounds like restriction in interests to me.
6- Autism often results in repetitive errors. Here is the child who stacks those darn ole cans only to have them fall and does not have the common sense not to repeat the act.
Here is the youth who lines up objects for no apparent reason and then destroys the line, only to do it again. Here is the Leftist with political choices. He or she makes poor choices, which is also a c