Aspies For Freedom

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I didn't sign the petition.

Yes, the article is offensive- but I have seen sites this and they are all full of crap. I agree with whoever said there should be limits as to what you can put on joke sites, but there aren't, and you will find no end of bored teenage chavs writing offensive stuff just to see what happens. I remember seeing an extremely offensive article about Down Syndrome on Uncyclopedia, and another about obesity, but at the end of the day they are written by chavs, very few people read them, only drunk people take them seriously and the writer him/herself may not even mean what he/she put- half the time it's just a rant, or a dare, or to look cool for their mates or to simply see if they'll get a colourful backlash.
There is no point campaigning to get it removed- if everbody who would be offended by something they read on those sites protested about it, half the planet would be in chaos.

The article is just some bored teenager who hasn't got past the 'pull my finger' stage trolling. Infantile-yes, ignorant-yes, but also harmless and nothing to get wound up over.

flardox Wrote:


uncyclopedia for example although not exactly a article i like is OK because it does mention at the top it is a joke and does not have the same kind of abuse that ED is spouting


It does. I mentioned in my previous post a Down's Syndrome article that was on there a while back. It was more offensive than the aspie one in ED. It was talking about, I think, how to kidnap a person with Down's syndrome, and included the line "tempt the downie freak over wth sweets"- and that was one of the nicer things! It went on to describe trapping the Down's syndrome person in the boot of your car. If there ever was a sick article. That was it.

All joke sites will be absolutely crawling with ignorant crap. It is not worth taking it personally or giving it the time of day.

Although I have just realised that thewriter of the ED aspie article flamed the OP when he/she tried to take their article down. I think that could be grounds for complaint.

flardox Wrote:
I will not say this again

GET OFF THIS WEBSITE TROLL!


Easiest way to get rid of him is to stop feeding him, Flardox.

flardox Wrote:

erkolos Wrote:


also Planet*louise

the website is actually run by GROWN MEN who are responsible for typing out the artiucles and ETC

thats why it has to be deleted


So it's a small group of people writing every article?

I assumed it was like Wikipedia where anyone can join and put anything they like.
Are uncyclopedia articles written by a small group or anyone who wants to arse about online.

I also assumed ED articles were made by bored kids because a lot of the humour on there is very juvenile. I went on recently and none of it was really funny- it just seemed to be an excuse to call various groups of people f***tardsRolleyes

Hugbox Wrote:

flardox Wrote:
who needs petitions when you can send hacker? *smiles evilly*


Most of the people behind ED are hackers.


i would, at this point, remind you that his, nor my, opinions are representative.

Hugbox, please just leave. what are you gaining from coming here and attacking us?

Hugbox Wrote:

pikajedi4 Wrote:
really hugbox, mocking us in our own sanctuary?

you fail at trolling.


Hay, you called this crusade and brought it to ED's site.  I'm just here for the lulz.


read back, you'll find i am one of those advocating leaving it be; the only feasible way we coule ever hurt you would be to somehow stop your revenue, which is not possible, other than what we ourselves can do.

ocampo Wrote:
Guys... do not feed the trolls.

Read and report. Easiest, fastest thing to do now especially as EvilZ is on here near enough daily and is a mod. No point letting the idiots get to you.


Agreed in general terms, but so far this guy has just stated his case. I know we've had trouble with E.D. people before, but I'm not going to start censoring people just because of group identification.

I'm not a fan of the E.D. article either, but I honestly think that it's not worth bothering about. There's a tendency on this site for people to make a big deal about very small issues, and neglect the big ones.

If someone says negative things about autistics or aspies, and they aren't in a position of influence, send them a couple of notes. If they ignore them or insult them, just leave it alone - the only thing that making a big deal about the issue can do is give an unknown site a lot of publicity.

I will say one thing about the articles, though - if you ignore everything about free speech, whether or not it was offensive, and all the other issues, one thing remains:

The humour is still crap.

pikajedi4 Wrote:
AS is (or was, it seem to be becoming less so) a popular "look at meee!!" condition, as was ADHD a few years back.
we have had a few like that come through here, some false, and some genuine.Some couldnt deal with it, mostly the fakers; those who could...well, EvilZakkie, the moderator? i remember when he joined, he was very immature, and look at him now! you wouldnt believe its the same person!


I feel that I have to defend myself a little here - I believe these are the threads Pika's referring to:

http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthre...#pid129902
http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthre...#pid128787

I still stand by the things I said back then, and I guess everyone else will just have to draw their own conclusions about whether or not they were "immature".

Personally, I don't think I've changed much at all.

Hugbox Wrote:
I suspect ED has a negative attitude towards Aspies because the majority of people creating internet drama claim to be diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.

I've seen a lot of internet drama and can't remember seeing anyone blaming it on AS. Your mileage may vary, but you won't have me believe this is "the majority of people creating internet drama".

Quote:
They use this disease to deflect criticism of their social tactlessness, and they aren't considerate of how they're affecting others with their extreme behaviours.

It's not a disease.

pikajedi4 Wrote:
to be fair...I may be confusing you with someone else :nervousgrin:

but the point stands. we have had a lot of people come in here immature, very angry, and they mellow out after venting. read my first posts, i was sooo aggressive, i was a right little trolling git.


*grins* No probs - I was a bit confused...

flardox Wrote:

ocampo Wrote:
Flar... just ignore it. It'll die down in time. Leave them be; don't respond to childishness. If they're sending you abuse, then report them to their email providers.

Its not that they've won; its that you're too intelligent to stoop to their level anymore.


thanks ocampo

ok if any mods are viewing this thread I'd suggest it is closed to

(A) stop ME from going on another rant about E.D (lol Tongue)

(B) to get rid of any attention from E.D


I can't speak for the other mods, but I'm only going to close down threads in very rare cases. Rant if you like, don't if you don't.

The attention from E.D. hasn't really been a big deal - If there's a trolling post, it gets deleted, no problem. If there's a non-trolling post, then I figure E.D. as the accused has a right to plead its case.

Regarding the legal stuff on free speech, it doesn't really apply to appealing to specific companies - you can ask an ISP to stop hosting a website if you want, and they are perfectly within their right to do so.

However, it's still a really bad idea. If people try to organise a petition, they will generate a lot of publicity for a site they dislike, make them a decent chuck of money from advertising revenue in the meantime, and if the site gets pulled down, it will usually just get put back up somewhere else.

When I debate against E.D., I debate against the idea that it's a "valid parody" - but this doesn't mean that it's a good idea to organise a petition against them.

I think the point above is pretty easy to make, though - insults aren't the same as parody, end of argument.

ocampo Wrote:
Flar... seriously mate, just leave it. Live and let live; there's loads of stuff on the internet I hate, and for the most part, I just ignore it. The Internet is free for everyone to post whatever they want. They could be posting that kind of stuff here, in our haven, and they're not. I can totally see where you're coming from but when I google 'aspergers' its not a parody site I get coming up on the first page. People go to these parody sites for a million and one reasons - some do go because they're idiots who really believe whats up there, others go just to have a laugh. Until they start invading on our territory then leave them to do it in their own space away from us, and vice versa. They're coming here in response to your going there, and all you're doing is getting into a war of words for nothing. And getting yourself stressed for nothing. Not worth it!


Seconded - this is a nothing that's been exploded into a something. Desu's posts weren't offensive or deliberately nonsensical.

At the end of the day, Flardox, you've got to take responsibility for your own posts. I've only seen one actually offensive post on this thread so far, and that was you telling this entirely reasonable poster to piss off. If it hadn't been responded to so many times, I probably would have deleted that one, rather than Desu's.

You've called out Encyclopedia Dramatica, and you can't now deny them the right of reply. That's the way it works.

normally_impaired Wrote:
Read the disclaimer on the ED site, it clearly states that everything on the site is for nothing more than comical value, and that many of the articles have been written by the people who they are making fun of.  That's right, there's a good chance that this article was actually written by someone with Asperger's as a way of venting their emotions about what they don't like about themselves, or how aspies are looked at in general.  As far as I'm aware, there's no law that says you can't make fun of yourself, I do it all the time, I tell my friends that I have *** Burgers, why? it's funny to us.  Seriously, you can't have a disorder that sounds so much like *** Burgers and not see even the least bit of humor in that.

Also keep in mind that NTs don't often understand how our brains work, they may not understand that some people don't get jokes as well as they do.  I myself often forget that not everybody has Asperger's.  When someone can't figure out why their computer isn't working and it's because it's not plugged in, I find it absurd that someone could be so ignorant of what is blatantly obvious, then eventually I realize that it's only blatantly obvious to ME because that's how MY brain works.


I think that just because the majority of us think that doing anything to E.D. would cause more trouble than it's worth doesn't mean that we have to say that what they're doing is worthwhile, useful, or acceptable.

For example, some people think that drive-by egging of strangers is funny. Everyone can agree that it would be stupid to assign police to egg control, but that doesn't mean that it's a valid form of humour, or that the victim simply didn't "get" the joke.

In the above example, if the car had the words "throwing eggs at strangers is for nothing more than comical value", it wouldn't make it more acceptable. Ditto to the thrower "finding it funny".

E.D. is a site for insulting people, and nothing else. It's a good idea to pay no attention to it, but that doesn't mean it's not a bad idea to encourage it.

normally_impaired Wrote:
All I'm saying is that in any scenario, there may be more motives to what you see than what would appear at first.  

Personally, I liked the article a lot, but then again I got all the jokes, I often laugh at myself, and I don't take insults which were intended for comedic value to heart.  Keeping in mind that it was intended to be a joke throughout the entire time I was reading the article, I honestly was not at all offended by what it said, in fact, I was laughing the whole time.


The motive was quite simply to annoy people with aspergers, and laugh at their reactions. I don't see how you can come to any other conclusion by reading the article.

normally_impaired Wrote:
If you don't like what the article says, or other articles on that site (have any of you even looked at any of the other articles to see if maybe there's one you like?), then don't go to the site, but trying to get it shut down basically says that you feel that not offending YOU is more important than other people having fun in their own ways.  It's saying that if they are annoyed at the way you act, that they have no right to say so, but if you don't like their actions, blasting them to hell is perfectly acceptable because you have Asperger's and they don't.


If you re-read my earlier posts, I said that it would be a bad idea to try to get the site shut down - But if someone says that it's a "valid" or worthwhile form of humour, I'll debate them on it. See my earlier egg-throwing example.

I'm quite happy to avoid the site, but once a site is out there, there's often no avoiding it. These people have a "right" to say anything on their own site, just like extremist christians have a "right" to picket gay funerals - but I have right of reply, too, and I'm saying the article is offensive for no reason.

You'll also notice I haven't said "because I have Aspergers" anywhere in my debate. If I was part of a bicycle club, and they put an article up saying people in bicycle clubs have sex with goats, then I'd react to it the same way: Which is to say I'd ignore it, but if someone said that it "fulfilled a valid need to vent", or "it was funny", I'd point out that they were wrong.

normally_impaired Wrote:
Have any of you even looked at any of the other articles to see if maybe there's one you like?


I'm quite familiar with the site, and to be honest, the other articles are more the reason why I have such a problem with the site (have you seen the one on "rape", for example?)

normally_impaired Wrote:
I fully understand that many of you will not agree with the opinions I stated here, and it's your right to disagree with me, and to say so.  Although I do have an official diagnoses of Asperger's Syndrome, from a fairly well known neurologist, I have been banned from multiple Asperger's based groups for my opinions, like that Aspies SHOULD NOT be exempt from the same insults, judgements, or jokes that everybody else is subjected to, not just from ED, but from everybody.

If you say to an NT who is making fun of you for Asperger's that they shouldn't be because you have Asperger's, that tells them that you don't have a sense of humor and take everything literally.  Now I fully understand that taking most things literally is kind of what we do, it's not what most NTs do, so assuming that a joke is intended as a direct insult basically says to the NTs that you have no sense of humor, which is something that most NTs do not respect, and will probably entice them to continue trying to see how far they can get with you.

Rather than taking it all as a direct insult, try to consider that there may be a different motive to it.  My suggestion would be to re-read the article, but rather than reading it while thinking of it as an NT trying to piss you off, try reading it but think of it as a fellow Aspie trying to get some humor out of their own life and that of others, you might even find it funny.


I agree that we shouldn't be exempt from the same insults as everyone else. This is not the same as saying that we should except every insult that is thrown at us. I wouldn't support an Encyclopedia Dramatica article of the same tone directed against any group.

It isn't anything to do with "taking things literally", either, or anything to do with the possible neurotype of the author. Show a random article to an NT, for example, and see if they're offended.

I dislike Encyclopedia Dramatica as a general rule, not simply due to the aspergers article.

The articles are designed to get an "offended" reaction from the groups being targeted. If there is an alternative motive, then it has failed - take the offensiveness out of the article, and it's still crap.

And, to restate, I don't think anything should be "done" about this - no petitions, no editing, no going to their site and stirring them up. But this doesn't mean that I have to agree that the site is "good" or "valid" in any way.

pikajedi4 Wrote:

Ian Wrote:
I'm just hoping AFF's name isn't dragged through the dirt because of this crap.


hm. i doubt that it wont be.


Well, if it is, it wont be here...

The unwarrented editing thing is an Encyclopedia Dramatica internal issue - I was prepared to let this the ED people present their side of the case about whether or not the article was worthwhile, but I'm not prepared to have their internal politics spill over to this site.

AFF is not behind these edits - Flardox is. If you want things resolved, resolve them with him. If you want to chat about it in public, do so on your own site.

This thread is now closed.

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