Vaknin views narcissists, including himself, as able to interact with high levels of social skills in situations where impressing someone they look up to is important to them. As he says: narcissists appear sociable and socially even highly capable when they are interacting with someone whom they regard as having potential to fulfill their desire for admiration, power and other “narcissistic supplies.” At the same time, he points out, once a narcissistic person has begun to devalue the other, self-absorption and deficits in their ability to experience empathy emerge. These features bear striking resemblance to the features of someone with Asperger's.

In what possible universe do ASD people "appear socially highly capable" and "able to interact with high levels of social skills in situations where impressing someone they look up to is important to them" lmao. And what the hell is this shit about "narcissistic supply," most autistic people in my experience are bad in social situations and very much want to avoid being the center of attention because we're worried we'll fuck up.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 9 points 3 days ago

He has some interesting perspectives. He's also been accused of being Mossad, and I've read several online comments accusing him of being abusive to people who have emailed or written him. But I've seen some decent takes from him, too.

I think he's like most humans, wrt your comment: he views things from his own lens, and has trouble seeing through others'. This could be especially pernicious in a person with a diagnosed personality disorder, which is also a spectrum disorder. I'm just not sure, considering my first paragraph, where that may be, bearing in mind these are allegations and I've seen nothing that seems conclusive.