Re: PTD was the most-respected of the AUE regulars ...

Le 28/07/2024 à 20:10, Rich Ulrich a écrit :

On Sun, 28 Jul 2024 14:57:29 +0100, Hibou wrote:

>
Yes, I don't think it's peculiar to Asperger's or autism. People often
adopt positions without exploring them thoroughly, commit themselves,
and then feel obliged to defend that commitment, even when it turns out
they're wrong.
>
It's not easy to admit one is wrong, but it has its advantages. It
brings discussion to a halt, instead of prolonging it embarrassingly,
and one gains Brownie points for valuing the truth.

 Consider this combination:  Asserting something that is not true
is LYING.  LYING is very bad, like, a bad sin. So one is careful
in what one asserts.  And one does not want to admit to the
sin of being wrong. This creates a certain internal conflict,
because there is also the notion that a 'sin' should be something
that was intentional; and the original mis-statement is not
something that one regrets.

In Usenet forums, I don't think deliberate lying is much of a problem, but people are often mistaken. It's hard to admit that one is in error; it throws doubt on one's ability. Also, our beliefs are part of who we are; to let one go is to lose part of oneself.

Bill (stats-resident Aspie) would justify his (very rare) backing
down by asserting that there are two different 'cases' and he
was thinking of the other (and more important, somehow) one.

Well, numerous authors - Overstreet and Carnegie, for instance - have written of how reluctant people are to change their minds - and not just autistic people. I expect all salesmen can tell tales about that (Dale Carnegie was one, of course).