Episode 131: You're Just An Asshole

CW: N@zis, brief mention of sexual assault

It's been a while since I've dropped this many f-bombs in an episode. You've been 
warned.

Note: I cannot confirm or deny that Elon Musk has autism, but whether he does or doesn't isn't really the point.

Transcript

TRANSCRIPT OF “YOU’RE JUST AN ASSHOLE”

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MALE VO [00:03]
This is Bad Attitudes.

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LAURA [00:20]
Hello, friends and strangers! Welcome to another episode of Bad Attitudes: An Uninspiring Podcast About Disability. I’m your host, Laura.

I had to pivot my plans for this week’s episode because this is untenable and must be addressed.

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As always, I want to remind you that disability is not a monolith. My experience as a disabled person is going to be different from the experiences of other disabled people. I am one voice for the disabled community, but I am not the only voice.

[02:04]
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We’re a week out from the dark day known as the inauguration, but things went to hell immediately. During the festivities, Elon Musk, you know, the man behind the man (I use the term “man” loosely) gave a speech during which he gave not one, but TWO very clear Nazi salutes.

Surely, none of us are surprised and if you are, you shouldn’t be. The only acceptable excuse is if you were living with Brendan Fraser in a fallout shelter.

The Nazi salute is bad enough, and it is epically bad. But, to make it worse, people are defending Musk because he’s autistic.

MOTHERFUCKER.

And just as a happy sidenote, people are also using autism to defend Neil Gaiman from the sexual assault allegations against him.

I repeat. MOTHERFUCKER.

Autism can excuse behaviors like misunderstanding social cues or having a meltdown because you get sensory overload. NOT being a rapist or a fucking Nazi! Approximately five and a half million US adults are on the autism spectrum, but Musk is the only one advertising himself as a member of the Third Reich.

Just a few months ago, people were attacking Gus Walz for loudly celebrating his dad, Governor Tim Walz, at the Democratic National Convention, and when it was posited that he might have autism (he doesn’t; Gus has non-verbal learning disorder) a lot of people backed down, but a lot of people didn’t. You couldn’t excuse a kid loving his dad because of autism, but you’ll excuse white supremacy, fascism, ableism, and a whole lot of other bad shit for the same thing?

Oh, right, it’s okay because you agree with him.

It doesn’t bother you because it won’t hurt you.

I mean, you don’t really AGREE with him, but, you know, maybe he has a point?

In the words of Alexander Hamilton: Sit down, you fat motherfucker!

Even if autism made a person more susceptible to the allure of Nazism (just to be clear, it DOESN’T) it’s not an excuse for shitty behavior. Disability is not a pass to be an asshole. Sometimes, you just end up with a disabled asshole. 

And, like, tell me you know nothing about Nazis OR autism without telling me you know nothing about Nazis OR autism. I’d ask you to guess who was high on the list for first the camps and then the gas chambers, but since you’re idiots who clearly never learned a thing from history, I’ll just tell you: DISABLED PEOPLE. Disabled people were among the first targets of the Nazis. We focus primarily on the Jews because they were disproportionately affected, but they were not the first. For the love of God, read a fucking book.

So many of you voted for this, and the worst of it is, you don’t even understand what you voted for. You accuse the left of fearmongering, but it’s right in front of your faces. Musk is giving actual Nazi salutes but you can’t admit that that’s what you asked for, so you bend over backwards to try to find a way to excuse it. You blind yourself to reality, ignore the fact that you voted against your own self-interests, and attempt to blame anyone but the people at fault. YOU. YOU are the people at fault.

Now I and all the rest of us have to live in abject terror of what’s to come while you bury your head in the sand. If you cast a vote for this, there is blood on your hands. Not specks, gallons. Even Lady Macbeth is horrified.

Elon Musk is autistic. He is also a terrible person. But he is not a terrible person because of autism. I’d guess it has more to do with his parents or being radicalized at a young age or power’s corrupting influence. Or the money. It definitely could be the money.

But it is not fucking autism.

If you used autism to try and excuse Musk’s abominable behavior, you owe an apology to the entire autistic community. Well, the entire disabled community. Well, the world. I mean, you owe us an apology anyway, and, boy, the reparations you will be forced to pay will be STEEP.

I cannot and will not sit idly by while right-wing apologists attempt to blame villainy on disability. Disability does not make villains. Villains exist regardless.

Make no mistake. Musk’s supporters, even while using disability to excuse his behavior, will do their damnedest to turn the disabled community into villains, just like they’re doing with the gay community and the trans community. We will be blamed for burdening “normal” people. We will be villainized for stealing resources from hard-working Americans. It’s already happening. It’s happening quietly, but it’s happening. We aren’t in the crosshairs like the trans community, but we have been before and we will be again.

One of my biggest fears, ironically, is that my fear will silence me. That I will be so afraid of potential repercussions that I’ll stop speaking out against Trump and Musk and all of their cronies. The only way I can keep going is with your support, knowing that you are out there listening to what I say, and that’s it maybe making some kind of a difference. 

I don’t have a hit list, but if I did, Elon Musk would definitely be at the top. Without the puppetmaster, the puppets don’t do much.

Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you in the next one.

[08:04]
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