I'll quote Kennedy's dehumanizing comments for context, that people can compare the two styles of rhetoric:
- "Kennedy said many autistic children were “fully functional” and “regressed … into autism when they were 2 years old. And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”"
- "He also said, “Most cases now are severe. Twenty-five percent of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet-trained, and have other stereotypical features.”"
He's specifically talking about nonverbal kids like mine. I'm sorry, it's a disability, and I'm terrified what's going to happen to my kid when I'm gone. I don't think RFK Jr's policies will help and I didn't vote for them. But the amount of frustration I have towards comments like yours that ignore our worlds is immense. At least RFK Jr speaks honestly and candidly.
The challenges a level 1 autistic person faces are well recognized and good for network TV. finally - finally! - someone is talking about the rest of the population that face far greater challenges.
That's a very strange take considering he's known to spread lies. The very comment you replied to demonstrated that. He says that vaccines cause autism - they don't. He says that "Most cases now are severe." - they aren't.
I wouldn't say his record shows that he is either honest or candid:
The kindness, sincerity and honestly that you attribute to his words are distinctly not there. Otherwise, he wouldn't be pitching pseudo-scientific views after ignoring and firing career professionals in the field. You have an autistic kid. Weren't you still able to recognize the dozen or so absolute falsehoods about autism that he spouted in that half an hour? What's even worse it that his tone and behavior has a very familiar and dreadful analogue from the past. Read your GP's top-level comment. At this point, people are simply ignoring the dozen flashing red lights. Do you really believe that he cares more about people's health than all the researchers who were working on several topics like this, whom he fired?
> The challenges a level 1 autistic person faces are well recognized and good for network TV.
Those level 2 and 3 people you seem to be so worried about are the ones who are going to suffer the most. At least we know how to mask it in public.
He's not "acknowledging their existence" though, he listed a series of very typically human activities and experiences, and then said autistic people don't get to experience them due to their innate differences.
First of all that is false, because even profoundly autistic people do the things he said they don't do.
Secondly, it's dehumanizing because the reason he lied (yes what he said was a lie) was so that the listener would feel sorry for autistic people, and would thereby support Kennedy to do whatever he wants to them to restore their humanity, whether that be a registry, concentration camps (or as he calls them, "wellness farms") or whatever else he has planned.
What would you suggest Americans actually do? They voted this in knowing this would happen.
It’s one thing to shout into a void about some vague disagreement, but it’s entirely different to actually take some form of real action. What should that action comprise?
2. Continue speaking loudly about the various criminal acts of this administration and continue reinforcing the importance of not tuning it out
3. Find promising candidates and fund their run in 2026 to flip the house and strangle the administration with impeachments over their long list of violations of the Constitution
4. Arm yourselves in general before the GOP finally decides they're okay with preventing certain people from buying firearms (specifically "mentally ill" people who don't like Trump, i.e. https://thehill.com/homenews/5200463-trump-derangement-syndr...)
A lot of libs don't know this, but shooting is also extremely fun and gun people are extremely friendly and welcoming. Get a gun, book a lesson at your local range, and enjoy an afternoon learning how to use it. Guns are also a lot of fun for the gear-junkie types that I'm sure are overrepresented here on HN.
EDIT: I changed the order of these, apologies to the commenter below!
#1: Not available in New York - if you're in the wrong red county, trying to apply for a semi-automatic rifle permit means having to argue with the GOP about your "good moral character" and have your permit get denied. This also assumes your county will process your application in a timely manner - mine's a nearly 11-12 month wait to process. Even hardcore red areas are becoming a nightmare to gain access to 2A rights :)
Be more like the Serbians. Don't just let things happen. You have agency. The government is supposed to be for the people, by the people - democracy doesn't only happen once every four years.
if nothing else,vote with your wallet, buy used, eat a bit lower on the food chain, wear t shirts that might get you in trouble, spend more time on personal care so that you have the stamina and energy to help where you see that you can.
You should stop it from happening by any means necessary like last time. Organize. Talk to each other and figure out what all your options are. Do your threat modelling. Then act.
I really believe it’s a messaging problem and a money problem. There is money guiding media to rally around a message/figure and it’s rewarded handsomely in return. That’s the problem to fix.
It should be noted that the Nazis took a lot of US policies from 1920/30s and ran with them just a little bit further. The Nazis were famous for eugenics, but it was quite big in the US as well, see for example:
> Sorry, why should it be noted? What is the relevance of your comment other than whataboutism?
It is worth noting because nowadays the Nazis are treated as evil incarnate, and the Allied side of WW2 the side of justice, but the history of the ideas behind the Nazis does not lie (entirely) with-in Germany. There is darkness in every society (including the US) and certain tendencies, and worth reminding people that these things can take hold anywhere, and not just "over there".
it needs to be pointed out that the medical "profesion", especialy anything related to psychology does not let anyone who comes in, and leave, without a diagnosis.....unless it is someone getting a mandatory check for a security clearance, in which case it's sunshine and happyness. The best anyone else can hope for is ....."inconclusive", nobody gets an all clear, except money and power, for whom, a full psychotic break will be spun into something virtuously overcome and meritable.
History, might not repeat, but it sure as fuck rhymes.
The two year old child of an American citizen was deported last week, so this is already gone completly off the rails.
I'll quote Kennedy's dehumanizing comments for context, that people can compare the two styles of rhetoric:
- "Kennedy said many autistic children were “fully functional” and “regressed … into autism when they were 2 years old. And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”"
- "He also said, “Most cases now are severe. Twenty-five percent of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet-trained, and have other stereotypical features.”"
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fact-checking-robert-f...
He's specifically talking about nonverbal kids like mine. I'm sorry, it's a disability, and I'm terrified what's going to happen to my kid when I'm gone. I don't think RFK Jr's policies will help and I didn't vote for them. But the amount of frustration I have towards comments like yours that ignore our worlds is immense. At least RFK Jr speaks honestly and candidly.
The challenges a level 1 autistic person faces are well recognized and good for network TV. finally - finally! - someone is talking about the rest of the population that face far greater challenges.
> At least RFK Jr speaks honestly
That's a very strange take considering he's known to spread lies. The very comment you replied to demonstrated that. He says that vaccines cause autism - they don't. He says that "Most cases now are severe." - they aren't.
I wouldn't say his record shows that he is either honest or candid:
https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-samoa-measles-kennedy-vacc...
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rfk-jr-disqualified-from-ne...
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/jul/19/robert-f-k...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/01/politics/rfk-jr-fact-check-co...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/debunking-some-of-rfk-...
1 reply →
From context, I thought he was talking about 1 in 31 eight-year olds (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/ss/ss7402a1.htm?ACSTrack...)
The kindness, sincerity and honestly that you attribute to his words are distinctly not there. Otherwise, he wouldn't be pitching pseudo-scientific views after ignoring and firing career professionals in the field. You have an autistic kid. Weren't you still able to recognize the dozen or so absolute falsehoods about autism that he spouted in that half an hour? What's even worse it that his tone and behavior has a very familiar and dreadful analogue from the past. Read your GP's top-level comment. At this point, people are simply ignoring the dozen flashing red lights. Do you really believe that he cares more about people's health than all the researchers who were working on several topics like this, whom he fired?
> The challenges a level 1 autistic person faces are well recognized and good for network TV.
Those level 2 and 3 people you seem to be so worried about are the ones who are going to suffer the most. At least we know how to mask it in public.
I didn’t realise until other people replied to you that you weren’t using dehumanising sarcastically.
There is nothing dehumanising about acknowledging the existence of the profoundly autistic.
He's not "acknowledging their existence" though, he listed a series of very typically human activities and experiences, and then said autistic people don't get to experience them due to their innate differences.
First of all that is false, because even profoundly autistic people do the things he said they don't do.
Secondly, it's dehumanizing because the reason he lied (yes what he said was a lie) was so that the listener would feel sorry for autistic people, and would thereby support Kennedy to do whatever he wants to them to restore their humanity, whether that be a registry, concentration camps (or as he calls them, "wellness farms") or whatever else he has planned.
What percentage of the millions of twiteraty proudly putting autism in their bio would you guess are "non-toilet trained"?
Seeing some of them still wear diapers, I'm going to assume percentage higher than 0%.
PS. I'm aware what it is.
What would you suggest Americans actually do? They voted this in knowing this would happen.
It’s one thing to shout into a void about some vague disagreement, but it’s entirely different to actually take some form of real action. What should that action comprise?
> They voted this in knowing this would happen.
Many of them mocked anyone saying this would happen. And even now, there are people cheering on the idea of ignoring due process.
1. Join up on your local 50501 protest, next one is on May 1: https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events
2. Continue speaking loudly about the various criminal acts of this administration and continue reinforcing the importance of not tuning it out
3. Find promising candidates and fund their run in 2026 to flip the house and strangle the administration with impeachments over their long list of violations of the Constitution
4. Arm yourselves in general before the GOP finally decides they're okay with preventing certain people from buying firearms (specifically "mentally ill" people who don't like Trump, i.e. https://thehill.com/homenews/5200463-trump-derangement-syndr...)
There's a great deal on an AR-15 at Palmetto State Armory right now — only $400!: https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-pa15-16-phos-a2-mid-leng...
A lot of libs don't know this, but shooting is also extremely fun and gun people are extremely friendly and welcoming. Get a gun, book a lesson at your local range, and enjoy an afternoon learning how to use it. Guns are also a lot of fun for the gear-junkie types that I'm sure are overrepresented here on HN.
EDIT: I changed the order of these, apologies to the commenter below!
#1: Not available in New York - if you're in the wrong red county, trying to apply for a semi-automatic rifle permit means having to argue with the GOP about your "good moral character" and have your permit get denied. This also assumes your county will process your application in a timely manner - mine's a nearly 11-12 month wait to process. Even hardcore red areas are becoming a nightmare to gain access to 2A rights :)
2 replies →
Is it peace, to point the gun?
Is it war, to fire the gun?
Look at what the Serbians are doing.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1jc0y...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%93present_Serbian_a...
Be more like the Serbians. Don't just let things happen. You have agency. The government is supposed to be for the people, by the people - democracy doesn't only happen once every four years.
if nothing else,vote with your wallet, buy used, eat a bit lower on the food chain, wear t shirts that might get you in trouble, spend more time on personal care so that you have the stamina and energy to help where you see that you can.
If this is all really the case… which is hard to tell these days. You had better get to know your community quick because things they are a coming.
History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.
You should stop it from happening by any means necessary like last time. Organize. Talk to each other and figure out what all your options are. Do your threat modelling. Then act.
This country needs to crumble on itself, 30% of Americans are still behind Trump, whatever he does. This will not be fixed easily.
I really believe it’s a messaging problem and a money problem. There is money guiding media to rally around a message/figure and it’s rewarded handsomely in return. That’s the problem to fix.
1 reply →
[dead]
> ICE is gearing up to be the Gestapo.
It should be noted that the Nazis took a lot of US policies from 1920/30s and ran with them just a little bit further. The Nazis were famous for eugenics, but it was quite big in the US as well, see for example:
* https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/4694780...
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell
Their initial treatment/segregation of the Jews wasn't much different than treatment of blacks in the US.
Sorry, why should it be noted? What is the relevance of your comment other than whataboutism?
> Sorry, why should it be noted? What is the relevance of your comment other than whataboutism?
It is worth noting because nowadays the Nazis are treated as evil incarnate, and the Allied side of WW2 the side of justice, but the history of the ideas behind the Nazis does not lie (entirely) with-in Germany. There is darkness in every society (including the US) and certain tendencies, and worth reminding people that these things can take hold anywhere, and not just "over there".
1 reply →
it needs to be pointed out that the medical "profesion", especialy anything related to psychology does not let anyone who comes in, and leave, without a diagnosis.....unless it is someone getting a mandatory check for a security clearance, in which case it's sunshine and happyness. The best anyone else can hope for is ....."inconclusive", nobody gets an all clear, except money and power, for whom, a full psychotic break will be spun into something virtuously overcome and meritable. History, might not repeat, but it sure as fuck rhymes. The two year old child of an American citizen was deported last week, so this is already gone completly off the rails.
Wanna bet?
[flagged]
s/out/in/g
...for another senile fool and much worse cronies. Congrats! See you in the camps.