[ SECRET POST #264 ]

[shahni.livejournal.com]

⌈ Secret Post #264 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35. [ not!secret ]

36.

37.

38.



Notes:
- With luck, I'll be here when this gets posted, otherwise, first comment goes to name that fandom!

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 82 secrets from Secret Submission Post #038.
Secrets Not Posted: 0 broken links, [1] not!secrets, 0 not!fandom, [1] repeat
Next Secret Post: Tomorrow, Thursday, September 27th, 2007.
Current Secret Submission Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: 9.

[annwyd.livejournal.com]

I actually didn't see so much of that in the original secret as I have in some of the comments. But yeah. It really, really bothers me that so many people seem to think that autism = "moaning and drooling and rocking back and forth in a corner somewhere."

But I already commented on that here (http://community.livejournal.com/fandomsecrets/82511.html?thread=13924943#t13924943), so!

Re: 9.

[iamadoughnut.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link, I probably wouldn't have seen your comment otherwise.

I'm bothered about people's misconception of autism, certainly, but I guess I'm also a little bothered by the implication of the secret itself. I don't think fictional characters can be formally diagnosed, per se, but I see no reason why people shouldn't be able to identify types of behavior and argue for an alternate reading of any text.

Hell, I had a friend in an abnormal psych class who had an assignment that was exactly that: pick a fictional character and develop a case history to explain why he has whatever disorder.

9 secret-maker

[(Anonymous)]

Aaah in that case. I honestly didn't mean to imply that people shouldn't be able to consider different angles of interpretation for characters of any literary work! The secret was meant to admit my personal reaction to the general behavior of people in fandom when they attempt to do this. (And considering you're angry over some of the replies, looks like you may share my intended sentiment!)

And, just for the record, one of my siblings is a very sharp high-functioning woman and doing well in college, so please don't think I categorize autism with inability to function. XD I do think it's pretty ironic that my secret about how fandom discussions of autism tend to tick me off... basically resulted in some of that. Ah well, I got to vent!

Re: 9 secret-maker

[iamadoughnut.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I see. That's much more reasonable. It's hard, sometimes, to convey everything in a secret, so you get misunderstandings and it gets to be a whole big mess. Sorry for my own frustration, it just gets nuts. And L is a problematic character... I mean, I won't say I left Death Note fandom because of people's various attitudes toward L, but they sure didn't help keep me around.

I do agree that there's some deplorable behavior in fandom, and that legitimate ideas can pretty easily get sidetracked into fetishizing and serious simplification. Which is maddening because, I don't know, I tend to take pains to emphasize that while you can read L as autistic, you can't diagnose a fictional character unless you're the author and it's just one interpretation that can be made, etc.

So basically I guess I'm apologizing for making assumptions and I'm glad that you think the way you do... and hopefully you'll see this even though it's like a day later. :/