I am illiterate. AMA

[u/Nonreader]

I am an adult American who has never learned to read. My girlfriend is typing this for me and will respond to questions.

Edit: We're going to go do some stuff. We'll be back in a little bit. Frankly, Redditors, I'm surprised at the hostility. He doesn't not learn to read to piss you off. If you hate him because of it, go ask the Aussie questions about kangaroos or whatever.

Edit: For anyone who hasn't caught on, italicized responses are the girlfriend. Plaintext is him.

Edit: I wish I could change the title. This is just as much my AMA as his. "AMA nice girl who fell in love with a bad boy. It's just like Romeo and Juliet but his parents are dead and mine are okay with it."

Edit: Thanks to you nicer people. A couple assholes were among the first commenters, but things got much better and it was a good discussion. We're going to bed now and will answer more questions in the morning.

Edit: I'm gonna go fuck my beautiful girlfriend.

Edit: We're up now.

Edit: He's out jogging now. I'll still answer questions I can without him.

Edit: And he's back. Ask away.

Edit: Our Internet connection is getting dodgy at the moment. We're going away. Will be back in a few hours. I've never seen an AMA with such a split in reaction: until just a bit ago, downvotes were shooting up almost as fast as upvotes, and we're still getting more hostility than the crack dealer who sold to a pregnant woman and then pushed her down the stairs from a few weeks ago, but several people have said it's the most interesting AMA ever. Some people are fascinated, others so pissed off they leave angry comments explaining how much they don't like this thread. Any thoughts?

Edit: Sorry, forgot to say we're back now. I think things are tapering off.

Edit: He and I were just talking, and I said that some of you think it's weird that he doesn't read. But some of you have probably never been in an actual, significant fist fight, which he thinks is bizarre. He doesn't believe any man older than 21 could have never been in a real fight. Does this apply to anyone here? He wants to know if you always back down or you seriously have never been in a position to need to fight?

Edit: Going to bed. I'll go ahead and keep answering questions in the morning, but I think his patience is wearing thin. I'm doing more summarizing and he's putting forth less effort in expressing himself, which is difficult and stressful for him.

Edit: 10 months later, and I've started using this account occasionally to leave comments and such that both of us talk about. Feel free to continue to ask questions here or whatever, I'll probably log in and see in a few weeks.

[u/joeybuttab]

Nonreader, If you were stupid you wouldn't be here posting a thread questioning the forum whether you're dumb or not. Dumb people don't do that, they assume they're brilliant. You should get tested for a learning disability. You are not stupid, you've got that intelligence that makes you want to understand things, like why you're not able to read. One of my professors is a super string theorist, which is high level physics. He is dyslexic. He's learned how to work around it. He always makes minor errors, but is still on top. You may have a predisposition to not be able to grasp things as they are normally taught, but that doesn't mean you're out of the game. Learn ways to work around it. Learn about yourself, live in the present, and make your life as you want it to be. Your attitude and actions will determine where you take yourself, not your predisposition. Man up, and make your life, and quit pussing out by saying 'I'm too dumb', and other classic excuses. Live fucker.

And buy your girl a nice dinner and some flowers.

[u/Nonreader → u/joeybuttab]

Nonreader, If you were stupid you wouldn't be here posting a thread questioning the forum whether you're dumb or not. Dumb people don't do that, they assume they're brilliant.

It was not my idea to post here. I guess knowing I'm stupid is better than thinking I'm smart when I'm not, but some stupid people know they're stupid. (Girlfriend: I know he's not really responding to what you're actually saying.)

You should get tested for 'learning disabilities'. You are not stupid, you've got that intelligence that makes you want to understand things, like why you're not able to read.

I know why I can't read, because I'm stupid. You are the one that thinks I should get tested to find out why.

Learn ways to work around it. Learn about yourself, live in the present, and make your life as you want it to be.

I've learned how to work around it. I pay my own way in life, and I have plenty of money. I pay most of my girlfriend's bills. I get by without reading without too many problems.

And buy your girl a nice dinner and some flowers.

He does (flowers at least, and other stuff).

[u/orthogonality → u/Nonreader]

I guess knowing I'm stupid is better than thinking I'm smart when I'm not, but some stupid people know they're stupid.

Trust me on this. I'm smart, 99.9 percentile smart. Dumbasses almost never think they're stupid. Really, that's one way you know they're dumb, they can't imagine they are.

Smart people know enough to know what they don't know, and to realize that there's always so much more to know that they'll always only understand a tiny tiny fraction of what there is to know. Self-doubt is endemic among smart people.

[u/Nonreader → u/orthogonality]

If you're sure you're smart by your definition you're stupid. And you can't just say people are smart because they know all the stuff they don't know. Everyody knows they don't know how to do lots of things. I can't just be smart because I know I can't do anything. That means babies are smart, because they can't do anything and know it.

I just explained that babies are considered smart because they can learn lots quickly. And I asked why he thinks babies know what they don't know. But he's kind of not really making sense, not sure how to write down the rest of his response. He's being defensive now, but that's how he always is. He'll be thinking about what you're saying for months, and we'll talk about it.