So hi! Could folks who are making jokes about Mark Zuckerberg please be aware that comparing him to a robot can be hurtful because
a) if he is autistic you are repeating the same tired old jokes about autistic people having no emotions just because you can't read our facial expressions, and
b) if he is not autistic then you are still doing that, and reminding autistic people of jokes people make about how we're evil/heartless - and at the same time you're comparing us to Mark Zuckerberg. Rude.
Like, okay, Data's face pasted over Zuck's face, hilarious - except that Data is a good person and a relatable character for a lot of good people out there. You're literally making Zuck look *better* by comparing him to Data? If you want to be mean to him you have to paste on the face of someone *bad*, no? Data is awesome.
And like, this one, right.
I have known so many people who stop having facial expressions when they just can't any more. To me this guy doesn't look emotionless, he looks FULL of emotion.
You're just bad at reading facial expressions, I guess. You know, that thing you say we autistic people are bad at...
@cassolotl I posted this on Twitter earlier; Grandin is going on the film The Social Network in dx-ing MZ. I haven't observed him enough. You think him autistic? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwnlWX4iyj4
@marginalie Isn't The Social Network a movie where characters are played by actors? As far as I know Temple Grandin isn't qualified to diagnose autism, and they refer to Aspergers as "mild autism" in this video (which is extremely not accurate).
@marginalie Well I mean until someone says "I'm autistic" *anyone* may be autistic. I am definitely not qualified to judge! If he's having typically autistic-targeting jokes and mockery thrown at him I'm thinking that I/we probably shouldn't rule it out, but I've never really seen him interacting with people outside of that testimony interview thing the other day, and Grandin is talking about a fictional character so that definitely doesn't count! :P
@cassolotl It's certainly illegitimate in that sense but it struck me that, in being more explicit than is the case with all of the tacit / implicit discussions of him as exhibiting autistic traits - including those that refer to his facial expression - it is a starting point for conversation on that theme. The fictionalised version of his life also plays over mainstream ideas of traits of autism being disproportionally present in the tech space and this affects how these issues are perceived.
@marginalie I don't know, I feel like I can't really speculate on his autisticness. I don't know him at all, I've never spoken to him, I know nothing about him.
@cassolotl Of course. I agree that the memes relating to robots / androids etc. are unhelpful and hurtful. I also don't know and have no information on this. Grandin's analysis is misplaced, I think, but I suspect it is simply an expression of what others are thinking and not saying, and such taboos if not tackled head on can lead to discrimination that can impact us in the real world.
@cassolotl She referred to the book and film, so it is based upon him. If she were a professional she would not have made the statement. I was interested in your intuition about him as I thought you were inferring MZ may be autistic.