Im still feeling it from last night so I have no thoughts on todays comic other than I get the feeling.
I don’t get it. Someone acting like an asshole pisses her off, and someone acting like a champ doesn’t, and she doesn’t understand?
Is it supposed to be a hot take that we shouldn’t judge people by their actions?
I thought the intent was obvious I guess; the comic artist seems to be saying “being a pretentious dick puts people off you, be kind instead.”
Which like…yeah agreed 1000%.
I get the message, I’ve had to re read it a few times for it to not come off that she’s trying to ask why that bothers her.
I think what she is trying to express is she sees someone and her gut says he is a dick or nice and then she sorta sees them being mean/nice and being a generally nice person she is trying to figure out if they are being mean/nice or if her initial reaction is influencing her and the time it takes to be like. Ok. thats it. this guy is sorta a dick or yeah this guy is pretty cool.
i get this feeling all the time too because of my neurodivergence. multiple studies have proven repeatedly that neurotypicals reliance on “gut feelings” has a HEAVY impact on how they regard neurodivergents and that’s led to thousands of experiences of being treated like both of these guys in this comic strip.
it makes me wish that people would pick up a book on human behavior or atleast accept that your unconscious biases have a bigger impact on how you interact w the world than your intentions ever will.
I rely on my feelings all the time. I mean im not going to tell a neurodivergent to pick up a book and learn about human behavior to act differently than they do. Similarly other people, even if they are, gasp, neurotypical, also will be who they are. Neurotypicals are not some sort of uber race who can modify their behavior any more than a neurodivergent can. Now given that you can’t just run on autopilot and do need to think a bit outside yourself which I think is what the artist is portraying. She has feelings but is self evaluating her feelings. Not everyone can do this and some can do it to a greater degree than others but we need mutual understanding and behavior is a responsibility for everyone to work on to have a pleasant society.
… we need mutual understanding and behavior is a responsibility for everyone to work on to have a pleasant society.
this is the crux of it all: you don’t have to tell the neurodivergent to pick up a book because they are the only ones who have the burden of behavior modification (aka masking) for that pleasant society to exist. on the other hand, neurotypicals don’t and won’t since thier overwheling majority status automatically reinforces whatever conclusion they come up with.
the kind of evaluation taking place here doesn’t come from an objective and thoroughly researched science; it’s nothing more than exploring feelings and that’s why i said something. if i had a nickel for every time a neurotypical employer “evaluated” themselves like this, i wouldn’t need to perpetually find work like the other 80% of neurodivergents that can’t keep a job.
self evaluation is always good, but fruitless if not done with the guidance of experts; hence the “pick up a book” part of my previous comment.
I guess we can agree that people regardless of current terminology, should read more books. Im not so sure if I care for the whole neurotypical/divergent thing though. If I was a kid today I might have been given all sorts of drugs but I grew up and got through life and learned how to related to people and I don’t know if I would have done as well if medicated. I have disadvantages but also advantages and this is the case for everyone. The thing is that no one is typical. What percent of the population is homosexual, or can’t do eye contact, or can’t handle heights? Real small. What percent taking all these rare things into consideration have one or more of them? I bet almost all. The rarest type of person is that one that appears to have no issues. Stays in great shape physically and mentally and always makes rational decisions and whose emotions always correspond to the situation appropriately. Good luck finding that. Now granted I know its a spectrum. Im lucky I got just enough of the stuff to get through and do alright as I have relatives who did not do nearly as well with the genes. How much is the genes and how much is environmental factors that send one over the edge? I can tell you this. The direction our country is going we will see a massive increase in mental illness and individuals will not be able to fix it, as you pointed out its our social structures. Businesses, government, programs, etc that can mitigate this and maximize the number of productive members are in our society.
