Please stop with the romantic gaze toward the antisocial spectrum. As much as those on the antisocial spectrum do not care to live life any other way, we must keep in mind that the ‘disorder’ – called such for a reason – causes some real inconveniences at times for those with the disorder as well as those around them. Jail-time, bodily injury, financial ruin, and many other negative effects of the disorder can be found without looking very intently. Why on earth the non-antisocial would admire these traits (looking at you true-crime tumblr) or actively seek to incorporate these facets is beyond me. We need to drop the fascination and want of the brains of others and embrace the inner workings that make us unique. Neurocide.
Let’s consider a truly dreadful condition such as mental retardation. No sane functioning person would want to emulate those poor souls, now would they? Sure, it must be fun to live without the capacity to appreciate the intricacies of the living world. It must be fantastic to live in a completely dependent fashion. Oh wait. No, it is probably not. What about schizophrenics? Are we positing that there are those that wish they had paranoid delusions all the time? Why then, is there such a focus on the antisocial? We have kids that claim to have ASPD and we’ve got some delusional adults trying to incorporate antisocial features into their own toolset simply because they think it is the cool thing to do. All of this is madness.
Others try to become something they are not simply because a few of the pieces fit. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. That is, by pure chance many on this earth will share some commonality with an antisocial individual. It is only when the commonalities add up and a professional is able to determine, without doubt, that the traits equal a disorder. I understand the pain in not knowing a label for the way one works. However, we must keep perspective. By embracing a diagnosis that one is not, they risk changing their behavior for the worse – arbitrarily. Some personality combinations do not have a name, and that should be fine. I suspect most of the people gravitating toward the antisocial spectrum have strong identities of their own. As such, there is simply no excuse for commandeering a label that is unnecessary.
Leave well enough alone and destroy any envy of another’s brain – especially if that bundle of synapses is disordered. Celebrate your own individuality. And, for God’s sake, don’t seek explanations for what is not there. Willing oneself a disorder is a losing and delusional battle. Kill the love of another’s brain.