# I don't get it: Why are there so many "Sperg" accusations on the internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 29, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178 "2016-09-29T01:56:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/1 "2016-09-29T01:56:01Z")
I must be too old, as I grew up without hearing or knowing anyone who had “Sperg” or Aspergers / or “Autism Spectrum” people, as it seems to be more prevalent with millennials. I have read the wiki on what it is, by definition. But I still don’t “get it.” On internet forums, and in podcasts, I see and hear constant references to “he must be a Sperg” or “stop Sperging out” or “Autists, don’t spazz out!”, especially when, on forums, posters repeat the same thing or somehow annoy through their behavior the others. I didn’t recognize any behavior though that was out of the ordinary, even if annoying. The only thing I can recognize for sure is some of the people tend to sort of complain and then repeat their complaints again. I recognize this more like just a complainer, but apparently it is received with the 'Sperg stuff. What exactly is going on? Is this just complainers and trash talk, or on the actual “Spectrum” Why are there so many (or supposedly so many) of these people? Is this really a big millennial thing, and they are mostly under 30 or so? Do “Spectrum” people complain, with the same issue repeatedly, on the internet? I also feel somehow disturbed and sad that this could be true, that people are somehow sentenced to complain again and again on the internet, only to annoy others and then be name-called. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/2 "2016-09-29T02:11:57Z")
In order to insult somebody, they have to be Other. If person A is an asshole who would call somebody a spaz, then person B needs to be something other than an asshole, so they choose Asperger’s instead. Or being gay. Or retarded. Or a Trumpie. Or… the list goes on, but it all boils down to the point that person B isn’t an asshole, he’s Other, so person A feels justified in namecalling. In other words, haters gonna hate. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/3 "2016-09-29T19:11:49Z")
I think it is just trash talk. Like when you meet a a fellow musician after a set and say “That sucked” when you mean the opposite. I would need more context. From the OP it seems mean, but if it is a hand on the shoulder and love is there with a smile, it is all good. Maybe, I have never run into this situation before other than gentle kidding. And expect the same kidding back at me. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/4 "2016-09-29T21:17:15Z")
It’s difficult to quantify, but I’m confident that a significant percentage of self-diagnosed internet 'spergs are actually dorks, retards or gaylords. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/5 "2016-09-29T21:43:37Z")
Psychologists have speculated that some are actually shmos or shmohawks. ---
**Author:** ![TwiSpark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TwiSpark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwiSpark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/6 "2016-09-29T21:48:51Z")
I’m in my 30s but due to certain interests that initially mostly attracted millennial types from the imageboard “4chan”, I’ve interacted with many of such on the internet in the past few years (and had the heartbreak, in my opinion, of watching many of them throw away the rationality that academia had instilled in favour of far left and far right political tribalism, bickering and rhetoric… but I digress) Terms like “sperg” and “autist” are mostly born from 4chan, as far as I’ve observed, and like many things they are a combination of (I’d say rarely just a single one): - Actual ignorance of Autism and Aspergers Syndrome as their real medical conditions; therefore genuinely applying them incorrectly - Opinions that mental health problems are not real and are just one’s personality, worldview or attention seeking behaviours; so having no shame in calling it out - General stereotyping and the correlation=causation fallacy; people with Autism are said to frequently display a lack of social awareness, analytical thought patterns, general “nerdiness” etc and therefore anyone who is a nerd or a bit socially unaware must be an “autist” - A desire to aim pejoratives at people they don’t like or wish to mock/troll (a big chan culture kind of thing) - “Person with Autism” and “Person with Asperger’s Syndrome” are a little too politically correct and clinical for such a purpose so “autist” and “sperg” are born - though “autism” is often used as an adjective. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/7 "2016-09-29T21:55:09Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > It’s difficult to quantify, but I’m confident that a significant percentage of self-diagnosed internet 'spergs are actually dorks, retards or gaylords. Jokes aside, I think there’s a general feeling that most of the people on the internet claiming to have autism or Aspergers are using it as an excuse for having terrible personality defects, rather than because they have an actual medical condition. Which sucks for people who legitimately _are_ on the austic spectrum disorder somewhere, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/8 "2016-09-30T12:42:56Z")
People fear what they don’t understand. Working in Computer Science, I was routinely around people that would be considered Autism Spectrum. Generally much nicer than average folk. In particular, a much higher honesty factor. To people of low ethics, people who are honest cause all sorts of problems. “You do realize that your plan to increase reported sales is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme.” Is that being a jerk or being honest? Remember, a lot of times when you hear some jerk say “Person X is being a Y.”, it’s really the jerk who is being a Y. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/9 "2016-09-30T12:51:10Z")
You can tell what a person fears or hates about himself by how he chooses to insult others. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/10 "2016-10-07T20:53:37Z")
“ass burgers” diagnosis just happened to be a big fad on message boards about 10 years ago, that’s why you “grew up without hearing or knowing anyone who had” it. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/11 "2016-10-08T00:08:43Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > “ass burgers” diagnosis just happened to be a big fad on message boards about 10 years ago, that’s why you “grew up without hearing or knowing anyone who had” it. I don’t know; I don’t recall autism/Aspergers being a thing when I was a kid in the pre-internet era either. Obviously there were kids who were A Bit Weird that we’d now recognise as having something on the Autism Spectrum Disorder, but I also totally get how lots of people could reasonably think autism et al are “made up internet things”, in a sense. I recall the standard defence for appalling grammar/typing/coherence about 10 years ago was to claim to be dyslexic. I mean, we all know dyslexia is a real thing, but it seemed like not insignificant numbers of people on most of the internet discussion boards back them claimed to have it, which clearly wasn’t true. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/12 "2016-10-08T02:05:26Z")
It’s not just the internet. My parents are not internet denizens, and yet they’ve taken to diagnosing anyone who is obnoxious with Asperger’s. These are two people who don’t even know what Asperger’s is and now they’re diagnosing everyone with it. I don’t say anything to them but it seriously pisses me off and makes me hate them a tiny bit. One day I’ll grow the ovaries to tell them to stop. And it also pisses me off that so many people who have the diagnosis (whether formally or self-pinned) ARE annoying and thus perpetuate the stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/13 "2016-10-08T03:37:14Z")
> [@TwiSpark](#): > > I’m in my 30s but due to certain interests that initially mostly attracted millennial types from the imageboard “4chan”, I’ve interacted with many of such on the internet in the past few years (and had the heartbreak, in my opinion, of watching many of them throw away the rationality that academia had instilled in favour of far left and far right political tribalism, bickering and rhetoric… but I digress) > > Terms like “sperg” and “autist” are mostly born from 4chan, as far as I’ve observed, and like many things they are a combination of (I’d say rarely just a single one): > > - Actual ignorance of Autism and Aspergers Syndrome as their real medical conditions; therefore genuinely applying them incorrectly > - Opinions that mental health problems are not real and are just one’s personality, worldview or attention seeking behaviours; so having no shame in calling it out > - General stereotyping and the correlation=causation fallacy; people with Autism are said to frequently display a lack of social awareness, analytical thought patterns, general “nerdiness” etc and therefore anyone who is a nerd or a bit socially unaware must be an “autist” > - A desire to aim pejoratives at people they don’t like or wish to mock/troll (a big chan culture kind of thing) - “Person with Autism” and “Person with Asperger’s Syndrome” are a little too politically correct and clinical for such a purpose so “autist” and “sperg” are born - though “autism” is often used as an adjective. Excellent post. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-it-why-are-there-so-many-sperg-accusations-on-the-internet/767178/14 "2016-10-08T23:17:48Z")
Sometimes “autist” is used as a generic online insult, but it’s mostly stayed in its lane from what I’ve seen. It’s often used against anyone who spends an inordinate amount of time obsessing over an activity unlikely to get them laid or advance in their profession. Or it’s used against someone who doesn’t understand obvious social situations, body language, or fails to recognize sarcasm or non-literal language. It’s considered wildly un-PC, but it’s self defeating given it’s often used in incredibly nerdy communities. It’s like going on the internet to call someone a loser. > [@TwiSpark](#): > > I’m in my 30s but due to certain interests > [@](#): > > certain interests > [@](#): > > **TwiSpark** I myself dabbled in harmony once. Not in 'Nam, of course.