WOW! Everyone missed the point of my last post

Yes i think consuming too much news is harmful but in a subtle and gradual way....pernicious i think is the word 

As an autistic guy I think my propensity to play devils advocate is very much part of my autism. It’s not enough for me for for the right side to win an argument, it has to win it for the right reasons. The arguments must be tested in fire, dissected put back together again and then stress tested for good measure.

I don’t take it personally when others try to take apart my arguments as long as they don’t make it personal and I hope others treat me the same way. It’s just how I am. I like a good argument. It exercise my brain and forces me to consider aspects of things I hadn’t thought of before.

I meant 2016 I know you’re not a time traveller. 

I love that you’ve been here since 2016 and long may that continue. The reason I say it is that I noticed a revived thread earlier that’s only five years old and it made me feel a bit down to see that it’s earliest posts were by people who’ve gone dormant ‘long’ ago or become anonymised ‘deleted’s. It makes me think about five years from now and where we’ll all be, if spared. That span of time is nothing to me these days - a handful of heartbeats - and I find myself often missing people in advance. But seeing that a 2916 person is still here has cheered me up. Bless you for pointing that out when I needed it most. 

Billy87 said:

I really do feel there is something in the water on here at the moment and people are jumping down each others throats about everything. I dont know why, maybe we are all in a hightened state because of some of the things that have happened lately. Hopefully it goes back to how it was soon 

As I stated on the 'Forum Changing' thread ~ it is seasonal thing:

As someone who has been a community member here since about November 2016 ~ it more generally gets tricky as the enervation of Winter becomes in the hypertensive sense the vitalisation of Spring, with the Easter holidays having gotten really problematic in the past due to a lack of moderation during the holidays ~ and of course people decompressing after a life-time of repressed normalised abuse, and as such acting and venting it out to varying extents ~ involving a few becoming mod-fodder and having their accounts deleted, and others in smaller or larger groupings leaving for much safer website support forums, or a quieter life in general.

https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/30280/forum-changing/270925#270925

Me too. 

I did the same, even blocked BBC and Sky News sites from my phone to stop me being tempted to go on them all day! I look at it a bit now but not as much as I used to. Glad to hear its helped your mental health too. I think all these 24 hour news sites and social media really have a far worse effect on mental health than most people realise 

Thanks Shardovan. Thats such a lovely reply! Really made me smile. 

I feel a bit more hopeful now that this place is different from the outside world and Im so glad we can shake hands and forget about it all :-) 

I didnt think of that lol

Thanks Billy. That’s very gracious of you, and I’m glad my sincere explanation and apology helped. God knows I’m a disaster at the best of times with knowing how to behave so what do I really know? To be honest, it was only this second thread, not your original, which made me go ‘now hold on a minute’. But you’ve explained yourself, I accept I’ve been a little over sensitive, and it’s best to draw a line and shake hands. 

could also be a third group that is a mix of both the first and second lol

I would like to say as well that I read your post on the locked thread and I thought it was really lovely and thoughtful the way you explained things and the care and thought you had for everyone

Im sorry if my post came across in any way hurtful or condescending. It certainly wasnt my intention but I can understand why some of it may have. Thats not me at all and I certainly wouldnt want you to feel hurt. Im really sorry if you did

I did feel very hurt by your response as I do think you took a lot of what I said out of context. I dont think I was being hypocritical. The reason I started this thread was because I wrote a previous thread that was very mild mannered and thoughtful saying that I had noticed a few more argeuments on here lately. That thread ran to 74 comments where people had such a bad arguement with each other that the mods had to lock it. I think its understandable that I felt a little bit upset and annoyed by that and felt that people had missed the point of what I was trying to say. 

As for the bit about behaving like NTs, my point was that a lot of the posts on this forum are about how frustrated we are by hurtful NT behaviour and how we don't like how the "normal" world behaves. I was making the point that we are starting to behave in the same ways that we criticise NTs for behaving, which I think is a valid point.

I didn't say "Ill be back when you have learned", I said Ill be back when people have learned to be civil to each other again. I think people used to be very civil on here and lately they have been quite unpleasant to each other. Thats a fair point to make. Surely people being civil and kind is a good thing and something we should all try to be to each other 

As for the argueing about views and opinions on current affairs etc, if people want to do that on here thats fine and its none of my business. I dont control the forum.. However, I think if thats what this place becomes then we will lose a lot of members who really need this forum, not just me. There are plenty of places like Twitter where everyone can do that. There are a lot of autistic people who feel they dont belong in the NT world and I think several of them have been made to feel they dont belong here this week either

Anyway I dont want to fall out with you and I hope once all this has passed we can chat more happily :-) 

We do normally get on well and I never remember you being this way before. That something in the water… you’re not immune. I mean well in pointing it out as you’ve actually said some fairly demeaning stuff there (‘I will be back when you have learned…’) out of understandable frustration. I hope to have pleasant exchanges again with you in the future but there’s no point in leaving the blind-spot hypocrisy unaddressed here. As I say, it seems out of character and I hope you feel better soon. 

Also you say you ‘wasted your time’ reading responses because they weren’t the ones we were supposed to have. I mean it’s a little condescending in terms of how it comes over - to me anyway. And maybe a wee bit hurtful. Our  minds are too simple to understand and respond properly. 

‘Stop behaving like NTs.’ That denies us the right to have any crossover in an already confusing Venn diagram of human behaviour. I don’t think it was unfair to assert that that equates to sounding like ‘only I know what it is to be different and how that should look’ but you’ve said that was not your intention and I accept and appreciate that. 

Im sorry you feel that way but that is a really unfair misrepresentation of what I said.

I made a very valid point that a lot of the debates and arguements on here lately resemble those on Twitter and that myself and many others have come here precisely to escape that. From the likes of my post and some of the replies to it, it seems as if there are other people on here that feel the same way.
At no point did I say "I am the only neurodivergent person on here" and Im surprised and hurt that you have reacted like that and misrepresented what I said as you are someone I have a lot of respect for and you and I have always got on and been supportive of each other.

I am actually in quite a good place mentally at the moment which is why I am not wanting to risk destablising it with some of the arguements that have gone on on here

I really do feel there is something in the water on here at the moment and people are jumping down each others throats about everything. I dont know why, maybe we are all in a hightened state because of some of the things that have happened lately. Hopefully it goes back to how it was soon 

Thanks Billy for this 

That’s totally fair that you don’t want to deal with politics or news topics when here. I often don’t either. But some do want to talk about those things. And are entitled to do so, as autists trying to make sense of a crazy world. 

isn’t the solution to not go into a thread that is overtly political or current affairs-y and instead start or participate in the many others that arent about that. We are a broad church and I think that’s good. 

I know you meant well there Billy but you’ve inadvertently said this: 

‘im the only truly neurodivergent person on here, and the only adult. When you children learn to behave I might be back.’ 

To a forum full of people with imposter syndrome and other issues to cope with, that’s not entirely fair. I do wish you well, and I’ll miss you. Your post does seem out of character so you’re not in a good place clearly and I hope that improves.