Alright my fellow speds, there's been a lot of discussion about what the fuck might be wrong with Lou's brain, and instead of doing anything productive I've been thinking about that. Someone also mentioned Occam's Razor ("The simplest explanation is usually correct") as well as Hanlon's Razor ("Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity") so I've tried to apply both here to fatty. My theory is this:
Lou has the mind of a literal 7/8/9-year-old child in an adult's body.
I think this explains pretty much everything we've noticed about Lou's behaviour and psychology in one go. I used to work a job that required some understanding of child brain development, though I wouldn't call myself an expert. So let's examine the evidence:
1. Lou has limited cognitive ability.
- Lou is exceptionally stupid. He can't understand satire or grasp any kind of complex concept.
- Lou is prone to absolute, black-and-white thinking so severe that it impairs his ability to function or use basic logic. He has accused trans people of being TERFs, even though that is logically impossible.
- Lou has a very limited theory of mind. Whilst he understands that other people have different viewpoints to him, his understanding is extremely unsophisticated. He is incredibly bad at coming up with convincing lies because he doesn't really understand what makes a lie believeable. Children understand what lying is from about 3 or 4, but usually don't get good at it until about 11 or 12. Most 12-year-olds are better at telling convincing lies than Lou is.
- Lou is incapable of self-reflection. He cannot see patterns in his own behaviour. Children generally can't do this until they're about 10.
- Lou's "art" is at the level of about a 7-year-old. His "writing" is more sophisticated in terms of grammar, but his creativity and imagination is limited and has no art or flair to it. I'd say he writes at about the level of a 12-year-old. 95% of his "artistic" activity consists of colouring things in, badly.
2. Lou has severely retarded emotional development.
- Lou is incapable of delaying gratification. He will buy toys as soon as he has any money and not think that he might need that extra to feed himself tomorrow. Most children understand delaying gratification by the age of about 10.
- When Lou is caught doing something he shouldn't his first instinct is to lie. When that is called out, he throws a literal tantrum and destroys his social media accounts, like an enraged child smashing their toys. Most children grow out of that by about age 12.
- Lou has little to no patience when he can't get his way. When he can't work his new toy, he discards it rather than try to learn. I don't think he has ever gone more than two weeks between announcing that he would like to own a new toy some day, and obtaining it. His freakouts at Amazon and Grubhub when he doesn't get what he wants from them RIGHT NOW are about on the level of a 7-year-old.
- Lou will resort to violence when angry or frustrated.
- Lou has no adult interests. He likes cartoons, video games (which are mostly too difficult for him, hence his very low playtime in 95% of his vast library of games except games like Animal Crossing which basically have no fail state), superheroes, children's films and TV.
- Lou has no attention span, hence his constant purchasing and discarding of new toys.
- Lou is intensely narcissitic and prone to rage when his ego is even slightly bruised. Whilst Narc Rage is a thing in adults, the sheer destructive nature of Lou's tantrums makes them seem more like those of a small child.
- Lou has no adult social skills. He cannot keep adult friends, only people who are as dysfunctional as he is. He pesters people constatnly to get their attention the way a small child would. When his behaviour causes him to lose friends, he finds it completely incomprehensible and does not reflect on or change his behaviour, he just starts crying like an upset child.
- Lou idolizes Wonder Woman the way most 8-year-olds idolize superheroes, just thinking that they're way cool with no real understanding as to why beyond their appearance and great power. 8-year-olds like Batman because he has a cool costume, he punches people and the Batmobile is a cool car. Lou's love of Wonder Woman is similarly superficial.
- Lou has exactly the diet that an 8-year-old would choose if left to their own devices. Pizza, Sloppy Joes, Burger King, Spaghetti-Os, every meal, every day. Instant gratification with no understanding of the long-term consequences.
- Lou cannot manage his own health. Lou descended into obesity and diabetes, as well as losing several teeth, entirely from his own self-neglect. To stay healthy, Lou would require constant supervision and having his meal choices made for him, just like a small child.
- The number of friends he has (or at least Twitter followers) is how he measures his self-worth, like a 9-year-old does.
- Lou does not understand that money donated for food should not be spent on toys, because once the money is in his possession he considers it "mine". Such a simplistic view of "mine" is rarely found in children older than about 9.
- He is obsessed with his birthday and Christmas, solely because he thinks he will get new toys.
- His greed is unending, he always wants MORE and he wants it NOW. Lou needs to be told 'no' just like an 8-year-old, except nobody does because he's 37 and we all see where that has led his life.
- When Lou is annoyed at someone, he gets nasty and personal with no idea how much hurt he will cause, then when called out he will wildly flip between self-pity and self-justification. This is 100% the behaviour of a small child. Witness his interaction with Suedeer for a prime example.
3. Lou has little to no conventional sexual function or understanding of sex/romance.
- Lou, to my knowledge, has never expressed any sexual/romantic interest in another human being of any age or gender.
- Whilst he is physically sexually mature, his sexual interests extend only to masturbating to cartoon characters.
- He has no idea what his sexual orientation is and has never mentioned it. He claims to be Trans but makes no effort to present or transition, and he has admitted to having no gender dysphoria. I don't think he even knows what it is but it's something the cool kids have so he wants it too.
4. Lou does not understand the adult world and hides from it.
- Lou depends entirely on his mother for clothing, food and shelter. He's banned from cooking in the kitchen himself because he's not safe. Most children can carry out basic cooking tasks by about age 10/11. He also can't be trusted around his nephew because he might lose patience with him and assault him. Most children can be trusted unsupervised around younger siblings/relatives from about age 11.
- Lou has no idea what money is worth. Given his age, this cannot be chalked down to inexperience of the world, I think this is a cognitive problem. Most children understand money better than Lou does by 11 or 12 years of age.
- He simply does not comprehend where money comes from. He doesn't understand how hard people have to work for it or what a big ask he is making of people when he asks for their money, in return for nothing. It's simply beyond his understanding.
- I think Lou's reticence to get a job is not just laziness - I think he's terrified of the responsibilties and new things he would have to learn. Deep down he knows he's not smart enough to hold down even the most basic job.
- His understanding of politics, economics and ethics are cargo-cult at best - witness his willingness to engage in racism, sexism, transphobia and antisemitism when angered despite claiming to stand against those things. Most people have the self-awareness to not do this by their early teens. He doesn't understand his ideology, he just parrots what he hears to get into the good books of those who might give him things.
- Even before the pandemic, Lou never left his room. He just wants to play with his toys all day every day and has no further ambitions, just like the typical 7-year-old.
5. Lou has very little sense of self.
- As a consequence of his lack of self-reflection, Lou has no idea who he is besides a general idea that he is in the right, just like a 7-year-old child.
- This is reflected in his perpetually unfinished fursona. Lou doesn't understand who he is to the extent that he cannot even create a self-insert character. Any distinguishing characteristics the fursona has come from external media (especially Wonder Woman) and they are all completely superficial (such as their clothes). Even the most basic 13-year-old DeviantArt autist making the most generic Donut Steel the Hedgehog fursona can at least give it a few interests, likes/dislikes and broad personality descriptors. Lou is incapable of that.
- Lou cannot identify the kind of person that he is besides listing his interests, because like a small child his brain isn't developed enough to be consistent in his personality.
- Lou claims to be trans but clearly has no idea what it really is. I think it just extends from his lack of any real self-understanding, and he read somewhere that people who feel like they don't understand who they are might be trans, and he latched onto it.
Right, the people from the Group Home for Incurable Autism are coming to take me away. Make of the above what you will.
