Really? (A Rant)

The "Are you kidding me?" rage face with a caption that says "Are you kidding me?"

I saw this post on The Mighty* on Urban Decay's Razor Sharp eyeliners. The eyeshadows are bold metallics and come in a container that resembles a liquid lipstick tube. Urban Decay was accused of glamorizing self-injury by advertising them via swatches. I do not think this is the case. Horizontal swatches on the inner arm are very common among makeup lovers to preview a product before wearing. Across the board, they (including myself) have varying degrees of familiarity with self-injury.

While I did take some issues with the lipstick shades Manic (neutral-ish dark red) and Psycho (bright red), I take no issue with these because of the ubiquity of horizontal swatches on the arm to test makeup. I cannot believe that someone had the nerve to look for a nonexistent issue with this method of advertising. None of the shades resemble iron-based blood except for maybe Fireball. It bothers me when people make loose associations like these because:

• Not all self-harm is indicated by horizontal slashes across the inner arm.
• Swatching this way is convenient and it's pretty much universal among makeup lovers to do so.
• Urban Decay is known for having makeup with edgy names. It is one of their trademarks.  
• "Razor sharp" means a myriad of things from literally sharp (especially of an edge) to things like "precise" and"clever". Misconstruing the name of a largely positive idiom in order to point out nonexistent issues just wastes peoples' time.
• Makeup swatches are not intended to imitate self-injury. Creating self-injury effects with makeup is stage/costume makeup and not swatching.
• These are eyeliners. Of course they will make stark lines when swatched. That is what they are supposed to do.
• The whole "issue" with Urban Decay's Razor Sharp eyeliners is based off of misconstruation in general.

Tubes of Urban Decay Razor Sharp eyeliner and swatches. Urban Decay Tweeted "Ready for some Razor Sharp Swatches, UDers? #UDAllNighter".

I read the post out of curiosity and found it to be a complete waste of my time and energy and an overreaction based on a few spurious connections. The thing that bothers me about the advertising the most is that the tube order is inconsistent with the swatch order, but the fact that someone had the nerve to make a fuss based on some very loose associations makes me question this person's intentions. Did they actually care about the effect makeup swatches of his nature have on people who self-injure or did they just want to raise a fuss over a few spurious connections?

*Linked with a rel=nofollow attribute
 

Abstract Nonsense

I'll be rather blunt. I know I'll get a lot of hate for this, but feel free to hate me. It's not like you think anything else of me, right? It's better that I say this than let it weigh on my chest and kill me.

My grades are increasing. I'm about to celebrate my birthday with my friends...if I even have friends. I am arranging and want to compose something for flute ensemble. I got into my school's fine arts conservatory. I get to go to prom early (Joy Prom). However, none of those things can prevent me from ignoring the pain I hold inside like a rock. Nothing is ever good enough for me, so why should I try to live up to my own quixotic standards? Everything I do becomes a fantasy.

You see that girl over there? Sitting near me in class? The one with a great voice, great grades, and everything she could ever want? That girl is a monochrome puppet and a media monkey. The way she's living seems like plain out fraud to me. Keeping up an image that doesn't match what's inside? What a pitiful industry If she's supposedly so intelligent, why doesn't she notice how I feel? How is she able to memorize the parts of an anatomical heart, but be completely oblivious to what weighs on someone else's emotional heart?

I want to die. There's no fun anymore. I'm tired of it all. However, I don't have the guts or the means to follow through on my desire like all my other imagined futures. I've even drafted a suicide note for the Internet. You can go ahead and accuse me of seeking attention. I won't care. Go ahead and tell me it's "just a phase". It's not like I'm worth anyone's time anyway. People have come and gone out of my life like wisps of wind, apparitions, wraiths. I feel a vague wisp of a connection only to later disappoint myself with their build-a-friend factory lifestyle. But it's better than nothing, right?

But all I want to do is let out and cry. I have no one to bleed my pain onto. If I can follow my passion and do well in school at the same time, why do I feel so lonely?  Why do I feel like crying? Why do I feel like dying? It's a totally irrational desire considering my current circumstances. It doesn't make sense. I know other people feel this way, then why do I feel so isolated? I sound so pathetic as I type this. It's all just a bunch of abstract nonsense.

Song: Abstract Nonsense

Artist: Kagamine Rin (Dubbed by Shellah)

Language: English Dubbed from Japanese

This is NOT Temperament!

(This is a full-on diatribe directed at a certain someone who has officially infuriated me. In this post, I abandon my usual composure and rant about a certain popular Asperger's blogger's "temperament system." You have been warned.)

I'm linking to the original using a rel=nofollow attribute because this information is blatantly erroneous and potentially harmful. (Date of Access: February 21, 2016) Quoted text from the article is in blue.

There are nine different types of temperaments in Aspergers kids:

• Distractible temperament predisposes the youngster to pay more attention to his or her surroundings than to the teacher.
• High intensity level temperament moves the youngster to yell, scream, or hit hard when feeling threatened.
• Hyperactive temperament predisposes the youngster to respond with fine- or gross-motor activity.
• Initial withdrawal temperament is found when kids get clingy, shy, and unresponsive in new situations and around unfamiliar people.
• Irregular temperament moves the youngster to escape the source of stress by needing to eat, drink, sleep, or use the bathroom at irregular times when he or she does not really have the need.
• Low sensory threshold temperament is evident when the youngster complains about tight clothes and people staring and refuses to be touched by others.
• Negative mood temperament is found when kids appear lethargic, sad, and lack the energy to perform a task.
• Negative persistent temperament is seen when the youngster seems stuck in his or her whining and complaining.
• Poor adaptability temperament shows itself when kids resist, shut down, and become passive-aggressive when asked to change activities.

I can see how you tried to understand Asperger's and temperament. However, most of these "temperaments" are descriptions of behavioral problems and not actual temperaments. Temperaments include strengths as well as weaknesses, assets as well as inhibitors. Certain temperament types do lead to certain behavioral problems, but temperaments in and of themselves are not behavioral problems.  Neither are behavioral problems temperaments.

I don't know how you came to nine specific "temperaments". I know that the enneagram has nine types within its system, but this hodgepodge of behavioral problems does not even begin to resemble enneagram types, even with a ton of stretching and twisting of these descriptions. This leads me to think that you did not study what the enneagram is or any system, for that matter. The rest of the post also gives off this strong "Asperger's is extreme Si" vibe. Why bother creating a "temperament system" when you don't even bother with the fact that people exist in a variety of temperaments?

The descriptions themselves look like they have been Google translated from another language. If someone originally wrote these in another language, you should have the basic human decency to credit the person who wrote it in the original language and mention that the text was translated from another language. I saw no such credit to any original author. If this is the case, you just stole someone's intellectual property without at least crediting them. If that is not the case, then this is just plain incoherence. This is a prominent website, so I expected better quality work than this. Please have the decency to name your work what it actually is. "Nine Types of Asperger's-Related Traits and Behaviors" would NOT have caused me ANY issue.

You have a degree. Please AT THE BARE MINIMUM take the time to look up information about other temperament theories before coming up with your own. The "low sensory threshold" thing is not a temperament. It is a neurological issue and, quite frankly, the only item on your list that is not a behavioral problem or merely a temperamental trait. People of a variety of temperaments can be intense, but for different reasons. For someone with an M.A. that you so publicly display, I am flabbergasted at the blatant misuse of the word "temperament" throughout your constructed system (and I am NOT at ALL selective about temperament systems). I know that everyone makes mistakes, but this is just a display of willful ignorance.

It is frustrating for me to maintain what little composure I have after reading this. A bit of research (as in: reading ONE article at the top of a web search) on the thing you were reporting on (and I use the terms "research" and "reporting" VERY loosely) would have prevented this atrocity of a "temperament theory" from coming into fruition. This is even worse than Keirsey's ADD hoax (and THAT was terrible).

Not only have you created this atrocity of a temperament theory, but you misuse the word meltdown as well. Meltdowns are not manipulative behaviors like tantrums, yet you cited "to get attention, get someone to listen, protest not getting their way, get out of doing something they do not want to do, punish a teacher for going away, for power, for revenge, fear of abandonment, etc" as meltdown causes. This shows that you do not know what meltdowns are and have, again, failed to do the simplest of research, which can simply to ask autistic people and those who know them for their input on meltdowns. The difference between a meltdown and a tantrum is basic common sense for anyone who knows remotely about autism. For being an "expert", you wrote one of the most willfully ignorant articles I have seen on the Internet. What I have drawn from your article is the following: (basically TL;DR)

Condescending attitude towards aspie students (continual use of "youngster")

Lack of knowledge of temperament

Not knowing what meltdowns are

Overall lack of research

Possible intellectual property theft 

Asperger's temperamental stereotypes despite the fact that you attempted to make a temperament theory

Overall, the only information I derived from this article was that you do not know what temperament theory is. I received no helpful information, just sheer lack of research. In conclusion, if you want people to use your resources, do your research! Again, I use the term "research" VERY loosely, so your research can be as simple as a quick glance at any kind of temperament website like Fighunter or 16personalities or actually getting to know the people you are reporting on. The education methods you mentioned also do not work for every single student. Not everyone operates well in the same strictly-controlled, sensory-sterile environment, something you should know very well as someone reporting on education. However, since you did not bother to take into account the aspies that need an open-ended approach, such as myself, that just speaks to your lack of professionalism in this article. Not everyone will trust you just because you have a degree that you likely display for the sake of looking credible. Some people actually read your work, so write accordingly!

Sincerely,
A Repulsed Choleric-Sanguine ESTP Aspie

Additional Note: I don't know about the overall credibility of the website itself, but this article is definitely on the lower end of things. Correct me if I am wrong, but this site appears to be intended to appeal to desperate parents stuck in cognitive function loops. Other material on the site might be okay, but don't use this site as your predominant source for Asperger's information.

The HTML went haywire, which explains the weirdly-colored text.