Thursday 15 September 2011

Internet troll jailed

This story has been doing the rounds;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-14894576

A man has been jailed for making offensive online comments about people who have died. It was only today that it has come out that the offender has Asperger's Syndrome (AS). The article above merely mentions it, but this article goes into a bit more detail;

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Internet-troll-jailed-malicious-posts-dead/story-13321429-detail/story.html

It was argued that his AS meant he had no "theory of mind" so wouldn't have known how people would react to his postings. Thing is...does this come under lack of theory of mind? You might get confused about how people will react to things, I have experienced this myself numerous times....but I know that making jokes to a parent about their dead child is going to elicit a fairly bad reaction! Not always being able to understand what other people are feeling, or experiencing, doesn't mean you have no common sense. Also he must have known his actions would have been taken badly otherwise it wouldn't be trolling.

My favourite quote from the article is;

"Drinking alone he leads a very miserable existence"

Welcome to Asperger's :)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but drinking alone is one of my favorite past times. As a newly self-diagnosed AS I realize that I am not miserable but quite the contrary. I am elated when I am alone, drinking and watching movies.
This is the mundane's opinion of an AS's life. They couldn't be further from the truth.