Is Bushie a "pretty smart cookie"?

[King]

Well, compared to a cookie, he's fairly intelligent life.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Don't autistic people tend to over analyze things and overthink situations.

For all of Bushie ' flaws that isn't one of them.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Don't autistic people tend to over analyze things and overthink situations.

Just look 2 and 3 posts back from yours, red, to answer your question.

[Ban my account ffs!]

I already diagnosed Bushie with OCD and being quite histrionic.  You guys chided me for it.

[Lief 🗽]

I doubt Bushie is autistic. He's been diagnosed for Tourette's and OCD; don't you think whoever diagnosed him with those would have realized he was autistic as well?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I doubt Bushie is autistic. He's been diagnosed for Tourette's and OCD; don't you think whoever diagnosed him with those would have realized he was autistic as well?

I think we have to find out exactly what they do to people who have the autistic in Oklahoma.  They might be trying to protect him. 

[Brittain33]

Don't autistic people tend to over analyze things and overthink situations.

Insert "some" before things and situations and reconsider...

[Brittain33]

Autism, full stop, to my knowledge includes heavily impaired communication and social skills. I don't know that an autistic person would be able to sustain the communication we see here, but I could be wrong.

Autism spectrum disorder is a much broader category and the signs here are very clear. There are skills inherent in that which Jeff could use to excel at a job because of his ability to focus on details other people miss—CAD is a recommended profession!—and equally and to the opposite, it means that much of the advice and, well, shaming here in response to patterns of behavior he's stuck in is not going to do anything to change his behavior, and is just going to be experienced as cruelty.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Am I the only one finding a bunch of forum users trying to come up with a medical diagnosis for a man they never even meet a bit silly?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Am I the only one finding a bunch of forum users trying to come up with a medical diagnosis for a man they never even meet a bit silly?

No more sillier than anything else that has ever happened in Update.

[GaussLaw]

He's smart, but he's spoiled, with a heck of a lot of hangups. Being smart is not a sufficient condition in and of itself to a "successful" life. Who knew?

Nor is it necessary.  Outside a few fields, extroversion and diligence are far more important.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm not a big fan of internet diagnosis of autism in general, primarily because it's so overdiagnosed (there's a fine line between "autistic" and "being socially awkward and having nerdy interests" that the Internet can't seem to distinguish), but also because it's hard to do so for someone you only know on the internet (though in Bushie's case yes his personal history is more revealing than just message board posts) and also because accusations of that and mental illness in general have become too much of an ad hominem attack thing. But above all no one on the forum is qualified to make such diagnoses anyway. Yeah there's clearly something up with Bushie and he needs to see a psychiatrist about it. But I really hope in addition to that he pays no attention to the anti-Updaters with their own completely unqualified claims.

Also none of the advice given to Bushie has been all that bad, even if not entire what he needs, it's true there's more to this than "Bushie needs to work harder and watch less TV", but if you read Update you'll see people actually have been asking him to see a psychiatrist, and things like trying to steer him away from that A+ Certification thing, which absolutely no one in their right mind could possibly think was even a remotely good idea...which is exactly why literally no one besides Bushie did.

[Brittain33]

Also none of the advice given to Bushie has been all that bad, even if not entire what he needs, it's true there's more to this than "Bushie needs to work harder and watch less TV", but if you read Update you'll see people actually have been asking him to see a psychiatrist, and things like trying to steer him away from that A+ Certification thing, which absolutely no one in their right mind could possibly think was even a remotely good idea...which is exactly why literally no one besides Bushie did.

No one denies that most judgments of his behavior are accurate; that some of the ways that is communicated to him is constructive; and that J Mann has been a genuine hero. But you're not going to pretend that's all that's going on there, right?

[Boris]

There's definitely a dichotomy within Update between giving constructive advice and making fun of Bushie, but Bushie a) never heeds the former and b) is such a ridiculous character that the latter is inevitable. It'd be interesting to see if Update's popularity would start to wane if Bushie were to heed the constructive advice and begin to implement lifestyle changes. But then again, a lot of Update's appeal lies in Bushie's romantic relationships which clearly aren't the result of mental illness - Bushie's fiancées are agreeing to engagements after one date or whatever.

[King]

I don't think anyone intentionally makes fun of Bushie. He can just be so hard-headed sometimes that we throw up our hands and fall into facetiousness.

[GaussLaw]

What kind of disorder is it possible for Tetro, Antonio, and Bushie all to have at once?  Those people (especially Bushie vs. the other two) are so diametrically opposed it's ridiculous! 

(Note:  Don't flame me as a psych-denier.  I'm just saying that autism is one of the broadest-tent conditions I've ever seen, at least on the Internet.)

[WalterMitty]

while ive no doubt that bushie likely has some mental illness, i dont really buy into the autism argument.

yes he has some strange interests/obsessions/quirks.  that doesnt automatically mean autism!!11

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

As I've pointed out before, how many people DON'T have some sort of weird quirk or strange obsessive interest? The truth is anyone who lacks any traits that commonly get accused of being autistic would actually just be a rather boring person.

Plus by the Internet standards for autism there are some jobs that you'd basically have to be autistic to do. Think of accountants just for starters. Is every single scientist working at CERN autistic? The average person off the street would probably find Atlas discussion on weird voting patterns in obscure counties to be more understandable than a CERN scientist trying to explain exactly what they do.

[memphis]

I work with a guy who is legit Aspergers/Autistic Spectrum whatever, and he is nothing like Bushie at all. Bushie is very expressive. He goes out of his way to communicate, say good morning to everybody, etc. These are not autistic traits.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I'm obsessed with money, control and competition. I'm not sure if that's weird or not, but I'm pretty self aware about my own shortcomings and what my weaknesses are. I generally don't let it get in the way of my day to day life, although I am notoriously cheap and most girls I am with know that, but they don't seem to mind.

[Brittain33]

Does anyone share Jeff's ability to tell what day of the week a random date in the past or future falls on?

I'm just curious. I've never encountered anyone who can do that.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It's actually fairly common: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_rule