About goats and Neurotypical (assuming) reactions to them.
It's really interesting to see a goat videos from blogs that are dedicated to goats. And I think: "Baby is being themselves" *like, reblog*, ♥♥♥ Continue. And then I see how, on another version of the same video, assumedly Neurotypical people appreciate them and make jokes about their behavior (which I understand is in jest) and it seems like people identify with goatie's playful nature. Which I do as well, but I personally strongly identify with goats for many reasons. But mostly in that in abstract ways, they are like the equivalent of another animal that is hardwired to be autistic by birth, or rather, they have visibly autistic attributes that I identify with. In other words: I see goats being themselves, I don't pick out what they're doing specifically as particularly peculiar or amusing. Their mannerisms are so like mine that I don't pick them apart and anthropomorphize them. They just do what they do and I appreciate them for it, goaties are my family. And all the kids consistently have those attributes throughout the variation of the goat species family. And so the juxtaposition between people making fun of goaties and identifying with their childlike attributes to how I view them-- very seriously (as I take myself) even if I'm lighthearted about my love for them: it's very similar to the disconnect I feel when I don't understand things in the neurotypical world, in many situations. Mostly I guess I don't under understand why a certain way I or another person behaves would be made fun of or seen as 'odd' or 'not wrong but not right' if we're just being ourselves, as most of the population is encouraged to do. I understand that my mannerisms may make people uncomfortable, they don't like it, may even think it's amusing... for people who have anxiety: My confusion is on par with when someone tells me I'm cute because they think I'm angry or something... or cute when I'm hesitant... when I'm really just flustered about them staring at me while I get my words out and the longer they stare the harder it gets to get the message across verbally. But why??? I would love input from others. My 'why' is by no means rhetorical. (In any context they never are, huh.)