Lorakan's Lighthouse

 Autists should be aristocrats, free to pursue whatever goal pleases us. This arrangement would be for the good of the world, as Autists naturally innovate and produce art when given freedom. It is a shame that Autists are largely stuck in wage slave jobs where we become too exhausted to do what comes naturally to us. No autistic person should be forced to work a typical job. Call it reparations from the daily struggle we face to make it appealing, or call it something else, but it is time we, as a people, get a hefty basic income. No longer should we be facing the boot of impoverishment just because we choose to follow our goals. It is time that the Autist be free to pursue whatever we want. And, as compensation for this arrangement, the world will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It is a win-win trade. As a small percentage of the population, it would not be a hardship on the budget to make this a reality. And what we produce will contribute to world GDP. I am not sugges...

 I heard a person speak of the value of a painting in terms of human life. This fellow posited that a painting is never worth a human life, nor 10 paintings, nor even the entire Louvre is worth blood. I found this take to be both cowardly and ridiculous, and it made me curious if this was his real opinion or just a virtue signal. Wars have been fought for far less. And humans die from causes much less noble by nature. Perhaps it would be fairer to posit that people would rather die protecting Starry Night by Van Gogh than die from cancer.  The truth is, most people die ignobly from natural maladies. It is quite clear that the loss would be softened if parties hurt by it knew that the individual died for a reason; that reason being to protect something both precious and beautiful. Even the killed individual should feel better knowing he died for something. Dying for nothing, as most people do, is a tragedy. While dying for something is an honor that should be welcomed and celeb...

 Imagine this: you pick up a thought to do something, something great. This something is so fantastic that it soon comes to occupy your every thought. Relationships take a back burner, and when you do talk to people, it is just about your obsession. Sounds autistic. And, perhaps, it is autistic. This is why autistic people are so overrepresented amongst great people. We obsess over ideas and work tirelessly at them until they are accomplished. At least, that is the stereotype. But unfortunately, it is not true for all of us. Many Autists are too consumed by societal rot to attempt to accomplish anything great. And this lack of trying is a shame, as it is our natural behavior to be innovators. So, my hope, nay plea, is for Autists to get their heads in the clouds. It is time for us to get off our asses and get working. It is time for us to prove our worth, not to neurotypicals, but to ourselves. It is time we aspire to become Nietzschean Ubermensch, creating our own values and shunn...

  When one bites into a ham, a momentary pleasure is experienced. This pleasure is dwarfed by the terror and abuse the pig experienced, but predators tend not to care. An average pig in America produces 160 pounds worth of meat . So that begs an unanswerable question: how much meat did Hitler produce? I am not talking about cannibalism and how many bodies he produced (though up to an estimated 60 million people died ). I am talking about how much pleasure Hitler produced through his atrocities. And, while it can't be measured, we can try to list some of the sources of pleasure that WW2 created. The first pleasure that Hitler created was for the German people. He created a mythos, a propagandized past, and, furthermore, he created an idealized version of the future. Even for Germans who despised Hitler, an exhilaration was created regarding the sense of urgency needed to combat him. Revolutionary planning is a source of pleasure. Fear can also be a source of pleasure; just look at h...

Image of a pogrom where 600,000 Jews were killed, by Issachar Ber Ryback  Before the birth of Israel, Jews came together in little towns known as Shtetls. These Shtetls were small villages in Eastern Europe with a majority Jewish population. Non-jews also inhabited these towns and intermingled mostly peacefully, though sometimes tensions strained and conflicts broke out, resulting in deadly pogroms. Even so, these towns were centers of Jewish culture and even had their own language, Yiddish, a combination of German, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Tragically, the Holocaust wiped out nearly all the Shtetls in existence. A small number existed up until the 70's , but emigration to Israel and America caused these settlements largely to vanish and lose their Jewish character. Now, what does the Shtetl have to do with autistic liberation? A lot, actually. Autistic culture can only grow if we have our own ethnic enclaves. And, as a hated minority, we can see the threat that living in such enclaves ...

 In today's society of infinite entertainment, getting distracted is not only common, but, perhaps, unavoidable. The attention-seeking nature of the web and other media is like a toxic relationship stopping you from accomplishing your goals. Of course, one wants to create art, but boredom (a controlling partner) drives you to psychologically manipulative means of entertainment. Products such as social media and video games are designed to hold your attention for as long as possible. Concern for your welfare was never considered. Free yourself from this trap, Autist! We are a people with a special ability to create. We cannot allow our natural ability to go to waste. We owe it to ourselves to aspire towards greatness. We have it within us to do the hard thing. Instead of letting our boredom guide us towards pointless endeavors, let us conquer our boredom and accomplish something beautiful. Whether it be making an art piece or taking a stand for the autistic people, let's always ...