

Meet Alex: New York's Youngest Hustler - pdsull
http://nymag.com/news/features/41539/

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zeantsoi
The depiction is decidedly not indicative of Williams Syndrome.

Rather, what I'd take away (from a cursory level, anyways) is not his glibness
and glaringly ostentatious demeanor-- it's his glibness and glaringly
ostenation demeanor <em>at such a young age</em>.

Rarely would we encounter such a young individual with such brazen behavior
that he feels not that he's merely <em>able</em> to operate with an adult's
social capabilities, but that he's in fact <em>entitled</em> to operate in
such capacities.

While I realize that this boldness and brashness can be jealously misconstrued
as simple pomp... this kid has true (thought perhaps not intellectual) genius
and is certainly nothing akin to anything as depraved as, say, a Paris Hilton.

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jsmcgd
I think he's probably literally psychopathic. I say this as someone reading
who's been reading Wikipedia about the subject for about 5 minutes.

My official diagnosis is that he is a Factor 1 psychopath exhibiting symptoms
of Narcissistic Personality Disorder for positive effect according to PCL-R
Model of psychopathy.

Alex behaviour demonstrates a strong correlation with the known symptoms of
psycopathy including: glib and superficial charm, grandiosity, need for
stimulation, pathological lying, conning and manipulating, lack of remorse,
callousness, poor behavioral controls, impulsivity, irresponsibility, failure
to accept responsibility for one's own actions.

I recommend that he eats humble pie three times a day before he gets his just
desserts, after all you are what you eat.

I'm off to pop a few jealously tablets.

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zeantsoi
Sociopathic, perhaps... but psychopathic? I'm not sure he fits the description
even based on the symptoms you've listed. \- Glib and superficial charm: Is
there any other sort of charm? \- Pathological lying: Yes, there are
depictions of lies (lady in the swimming pool), but are they substantively
pathological? \- Conning and manipulation: These are mistaken for being the
same thing; from the article, he is certainly a manipulator, but perhaps not a
conman. \- As for lack of remorse, callousness, poor behavioral controls,
impulsivity, irresponsibility, and failure to accept responsibility for one's
actions... couldn't these be symptomtic of adolescence as well???

That said, I agree that this kid needs a dose of humility, and I'm sure he's
going to get it in spades over the next few years.

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jkkramer
I read about a condition recently that was like the opposite of autism: people
with it were extremely socially adept. Sounds like this kid has it.

Can't find a link at the moment; maybe someone else has read about it?

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Darmani
Williams Syndrome.

One of its major symptoms is also mental retardation; while the article didn't
delve too much into that sector, not mentioning mental retardation is a bit of
a glaring omission.

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tlrobinson
I have to wonder if the attention he gets is _because_ of his age. He
certainly wouldn't get away with a lot of the things mentioned in the article
if he were, say, 20.

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Kaizyn
Good point. However, if he builds enough contacts between now and when he's
twenty, that won't be much of a problem.

~~~
sethg
If he has a trust fund to support him for his entire adult life, then he's all
set.

Otherwise, at some point he's going to have to do more than hang around, look
cute, and do occasional odd jobs for free. I saw no evidence from the article
that he's prepared for that aspect of adult life. It doesn't seem like his
parents are even trying to prepare him.

~~~
tlrobinson
The article states he works for free at the Nike store and others because of
child labor laws.

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sethg
So when this becomes a _Law and Order_ episode, will the kid be the victim or
the murderer?

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blader
I love this kid - he knows what he wants and is able to get them without
whining to his parents.

I think the parents have done a pretty good job.

~~~
alaskamiller
Sure did! With this type of enabling behavior at such a young age, who knows
what might happen? He might be president one day!

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mattmaroon
My bet is on alcoholic.

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blader
The two ain't exclusive.

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alaskamiller
Great parenting skills.

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brk
Not now, but maybe when he gets older and has kids.

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edu
Well, not precisely a role model.

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herdrick
Poor kid. His life will suck.

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create_account
Why has this gotten so many votes?

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sspencer
He's like a tiny Paris Hilton. Except even more worthless, if that's even
possible.

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pius
Haha, more like _Perez_ Hilton.

~~~
pius
Or maybe Turtle from Entourage.

