The problem with discussing RFK Jr's attacks on autistic Americans is that we're talking about two separate, but deeply intertwined issues. Kennedy is indisputably pushing a reactionary conspiracy theory about vaccines causing autism to justify a HHS "study" that will undoubtedly "confirm" his conspiracy. Furthermore the Health and Human Services Secretary's comments about autistic people are factually wrong, ablest, eugenicist, and dehumanizing. In other words, even if you believe there's nothing but sheer ignorance and hubris behind RFK Jr's behavior, everything about his fraudulent quest to "fix" autism is insulting, reactionary, and dangerous.
The truth however is that none of this is happening in a vacuum; Kennedy does work for a fascist regime employing eliminationist rhetoric, Kennedy himself has already demonstrated a profound disregard for human lives, and the unhinged eugenicist themes in RFK Jr's arguments about autistic children in particular, do point to an even darker purpose behind his odious actions. Listening to Kennedy speak, one is forced to wonder what he intends to do when, not if, it turns out he can't "fix" the existence of autistic people? Which is why news that the National Institutes of Health is now compiling highly sensitive and identifying medical records, as well as creating "a national registry to track Americans with autism" is extremely alarming.
https://truthout.org/articles/rfk-jr-seeks-broad-access-to-health-records-for-autism-research/
RFK Jr. Seeks Broad Access to Health Records for “Autism Research”
"Disability advocates argue that rather than investing in surveillance-style data collection or reviving long-debunked theories, the federal government should be focusing on supporting the needs of autistic people. This includes funding home care, accessible education, and individualized services. However, the Trump administration has stalled disability rights cases, moved to cut health care funding, and is attempting to dismantle disability protections in public schools."
Hey, if so-called "conservatives" want me to stop comparing the Trump regime to the Nazi Party, they should stop doing the exact same things Hitler and his minions did on the road to Auschwitz. There are literally no good reasons whatsoever for the US government to be compiling a "national registry" of autistic Americans, and that's without even considering that the HHS Secretary seems to regard them as something less than human and a drag on "productive" society.
The first thing a fascist government has to do if it wants to mass target specific groups of people in our society for confinement, suppression, or elimination is to establish lists of targets; which is why the Trump regime is funneling previously restricted government data on migrants to ICE, and anti-trans eliminationist GOP officials keep demanding the medical records of trans people. Now I'm supposed to pretend its totally fine to give identifying medical data on autistic Americans to a fascist collaborator conspiracy crank who doesn't care if his woo nonsense kills children, and considers autistic people to be broken and in need of fixing? Are you fucking kidding me? There is no way you can convince me that this story ends well.
I can't predict the future, but everything about Kennedy's time in government so far tells me that dismissing him as a woo-reactionary crank is a mistake. We're talking about a guy who claims to be trying to "solve" autism, while simultaneously lying about, demonizing, and dehumanizing autistic people on live TV. Kennedy knows his anti-vax rhetoric is bullshit, he knows that he's not going to "cure" his "epidemic." If he didn't know before he took the job, there were plenty of actual doctors at HHS already who told him so; to say nothing of the numerous advocates, rights agencies, and autistic people themselves who've pointedly told Kennedy how harmful and unwelcome his efforts to "help" have been.
So if RFK Jr knows without a doubt that none of this ends in helping autistic people at all, what's his plan? Let me make that question even easier; can you think of any possible way whatever Kennedy is trying to do is about helping autistic people, or public health? You don't build a surveillance apparatus to monitor a targeted group in society unless you intend to use it. What about anything Kennedy has said or done suggests to you that he intends to use it to accomplish anything good? Right, the best scenario I can come up with is legalizing quack "therapies" to prey on parents willing to try and "torture the autism out" of their kids, and every other scenario I can think of is arguably even more fascist, eliminationist, and terrifying.
Everything about Kennedy's behavior so far points towards something horrifying and sinister; RFK Jr isn't your drunk uncle, he's a danger to us all that must be stopped before its too late to dodge a eugenicist nightmare.
| Totgesagte leben länger – wie RFK Jr. einen gefährlichen Anti-Vaxxer-Mythos wiederbelebt
