To be a weaponized autist is to be valued. Weaponized autists are held up as heroes within the Gab posts. Many posters express admiration, appreciation, and affection for these “soldiers” for their cause. It was hard for me to accept! Asperger's had been on the table for a long time, but I clung to the other possibility of ADD instead. I don't know why I was so much more afraid of autism than of ADD, but I wouldn't be surprised if 4chan's slurs played a part. What makes weaponized autism so appealing to Gab posters is that it is seen as an all-powerful, omniscient force with limitless reach. It is highly prized as a sophisticated and advanced tool in the alt-right arsenal and perceived as an “unstoppable” means by which to secure the salvation of white, western culture. The side effects of weaponized autism were still not fully understood in 2017, much like the side effects of nuclear weapons in 1945 Huws JC, Jones RS. Missing voices: Representations of autism in British newspapers, 1999–2008. British Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2011; 39(2):98–104. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-3156.2010.00624.x. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

While not well studied or documented in academic literature (our search of available literature uncovered only one source exploring this - see Lovett ( 2019) for an exploration of alt-right recruitment tactics), journalistic reports have indicated that hate groups are working online to actively seek and engage autistic people for recruitment (Borrell, 2020; DEO, 2017; Schroeder 2019). Autism advocacy groups and community service organizations have begun to voice similar concerns and are calling for an organized response that is based on evidence and informed by autistic people (Autism Against Fascism, (no date); Braune 2020). Welch, C., Cameron, D., Fitch, M., & Polatajko, H. (2020). From “since” to “if”: using blogs to explore an insider-informed framing of autism. Disability & Society,1–24 you don’t understand I AMweaponized autism. I AMthe memetic autistic nonsense. it’s thanks to autists like me that Trump is your President (if you’re American), it’s autists like me that keep balance within the universe. you’re welcome Donovan J, Lewis B, Friedberg B. Parallel Ports. Sociotechnical Change from the Alt-Right to Alt-Tech. In: Fielitz M, editor. Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag; 2018. pp. 49–66. [ Google Scholar]Saturday is April Fool’s Day and I suggest we make use of it. I want every Gabber, Alt-Right and conspiracy Theorist dropping round after round of weaponized autism on the enemy via social media. Autism Against Fascism. ((no date)). Autism Against Fascism - Home. Retrieved from https://autismagainstfascism.wordpress.com/ Exposure to online hate propaganda is common among Internet users, especially young people (Oksanen et al., 2014). Individual risk of exposure to this type of messaging rises with increased online activity, decreased attachment to family, and experiences of bullying both online and offline (Oksanen et al., 2014), all of which may be more common for autistic people (Cappadocia et al., 2012; Kuo, 2014; Sofronoff et al., 2011). This trend is expected to grow as hate groups increasingly recruit for their movements in online platforms (Perry & Olsson, 2009). The combination of these trends greatly amplifies the risk for certain autistic people to become involved with hate-based groups, which comes with additional risks of engaging in offline behaviours that are potentially harmful to themselves and others. Munn, L. (2019). Alt-right pipeline: Individual journeys to extremism online. First Monday, 24(6), doi:10.5210/fm.v24i6.10108 For these posters, autism is a readily exploitable resource that can be channelled in pursuit of their agenda, and especially as a means for lashing out at those who are considered “the enemy.” Indeed, Gab posters within our data discuss how autistic people can be deployed to advance the interests of the alt-right. The comments reveal a sometimes implicit, other times explicit assumption that autistic people are ripe for manipulation.

Autists can be the most fanatical people you can find. We need “Waffen-Autismus” aka Weaponized Autism. Give those people a cause and something their skills are useful for and watch things get awesome. *NOTE “Waffen” is the German word for “weapons” and is also employed in the name of “Atomwaffen Division,” a defunct neo-Nazi network. Paradoxically, to be a weaponized autist is to be simultaneously devalued. Alongside the expressions of admiration and affection are incongruous sentiments of degradation. While useful and talented, weaponized autists are seen as “strange” and incapable of many “normal” tasks such as maintaining hygiene, relationships, and employment. They are presumed to spend time engaged in “useless” activities (such as online gaming) and to occasionally engage in “unusual” behaviour, such as making screeching “Reee” sounds. In a nutshell many of them are basically super-geeks with some pretty awesome technical skillz. They tend to be politically conservative. You don’t want to get on their bad side :O Who’d have thought the heros of the day would be the weaponized autists of 4chan? Not only are they successfully identifying cowardly masked #Antifa anarchists, but they have analyzed their mob tactics in detail. These guys deserve some love! Lupton D. Discourse analysis: A new methodology for understanding the ideologies of health and illness. Australian Journal of Public Health. 1992; 16(2):145–150. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1992.tb00043.x. [ PubMed] [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

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Literat I, van den Berg S. Buy memes low, sell memes high: Vernacular criticism and collective negotiations of value on Reddit’s MemeEconomy. Information Communication & Society. 2019; 22(2):232–249. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2017.1366540. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] I amconvinced our only plan for victory is convincingly smearing every Dem in 2018 as some type of Sex Offender, GOP obviously won’t do that so we need weaponized autists to spread #pizzagate times 10, but more convincing. *NOTE “pizzagate” is a reference to a conspiracy theory that claimed Hillary Clinton ran a child-sex ring in a pizzeria. Schweppe, J., & Perry, B. (2021). A continuum of hate: delimiting the field of hate studies. Crime, Law and Social Change,1–26 Bogerts L, Fielitz M. “Do You Want Meme War?”: Understanding the Visual Memes of the German Far Right. In: Fielitz M, editor. Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag; 2019. pp. 137–208. [ Google Scholar]

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