this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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672
‘Slippery slope to eugenics’: advocates reject Robert F Kennedy jnr’s national autism database in US (www.irishtimes.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by zaxvenz@lemm.ee to c/news@lemmy.world
44 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Autism researchers and advocates in the United States are pushing back against the creation of an autism database that is meant to track the health of autistic people in a major research study.

https://archive.ph/R4kmB

all 45 comments
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[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

I used to say during the lockdowns "if eugenics even sneaks back into mainstream, it will bo not through crappy doctors waiting the concentration camps to reopen for experimentations, but through gymbros". The very reason why MAGA voters trust RFK Jr. is due to photos of him being half naked and shredded, so here we are...

[–] Captainautism@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I’m an aging autistic, creeping towards my 50s. So, my ability and desire to mask is quickly fading, and my disabilities are getting more pronounced. My wife and I decided it would be best to apply for disability. I did this right before the worm-brained meth addict decided to go shindlers list.

I think I’m fucked.

[–] altphoto 2 points 13 hours ago

But if you drink the same silver pills you'll have that unique RFK voice. Well it won't be unique if RFK also has it. And you won't need a tan anymore! You'll practically be transitions! Just like transitions glasses, with enough silver in your skin you'll change colors out in the sun! Yey! Everybody wins!

[–] conicalscientist@lemmy.world 43 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

There isn't a slippery slope. They are doing it. Do you need an executive order called "WE'RE DOING EUGENICS"...

I'm tired of the edging. The perpetual brink of disaster. It's here. There are no more red lines. We passed them a long time ago. This is authoritarian America. They are doing the things. Enough with the edging.

[–] burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago

im climaxing from fascism!

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml -3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Autism registry can be used to target people with autism, invade their privacy, increase stigma, and take away their rights. But I don't see how this is eugenics. Autism isn't even entirely genetic.

[–] Kaput@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Do you think they will care whether it's entirely genetic or not? For Now they blame the vaccines, later they will link it to genetics and try to prevent the spreading.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

You said it's eugenics. Anyway, yeah, it's plausible the registry could be used for eugenic reasons some day but personally I think it's intended for all those other reasons. Let's not slippery slope fallacy.

[–] Gregg@lemm.ee 85 points 1 day ago (3 children)

This is eventually for all mental health diagnoses. He’s already floated the idea that people “addicted” to antidepressants will find new purpose on “wellness farms”. Out with migrant labor in with the new “mental” caste.

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I use a low dose of antidepressants for a traumatic nerve injury. These things are used for more than mental health.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago

With the way Antisocial Personality Disorder is worded...

If Nazis were in power and you said you'd be ok punching a Nazi to stop them from deporting a US citizen to a death camp...

You just qualified for a diagnosis.

Actually fought back? Even if it was just showing up to a protest?

Also a diagnosis.

And that's just what would actually qualify as a diagnosis, they'd just lie about all types of shit.

Like, they're clearly not fans of due process, it's completely plausible they'd have judges or even "law enforcement" rubber-stamping files and claiming it's real.

They can (and looks like will) throw any random label on anyone to justify their actions

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Anybody resists and we brain-staple them.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 106 points 1 day ago (3 children)

One of the dangers of pretending the only victims of the Holocaust were Jewish, is it ignores loads of other groups they started with....

LGBTQ, mental/physical disorders, immigrants, etc

There's this strange belief among right wingers that as long as you don't go after Jewish people, everything is fine.

So we're seeing everything happen just like it did 80 years ago.

[–] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago

Gotta cull the weak and undesirables in your pursuit of the Master Race. What did you think it was all about when he made IVF so much easier?

[–] SteveNashFan@lemmy.world 7 points 23 hours ago

As a Christian, I really wish more people would read history and realize they're wielding a double-edged sword... I wonder how many conservatives have The Hiding Place on their shelf?

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago (3 children)

What's the sense of memorializing an actual historic holocaust if we all go on to allow another one to happen in real time?

What's the sense of saying 'never again' when it is happening right now?

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 3 points 18 hours ago

Don't worry, people are signing petitions! I'm sure that's all that was needed for Hitler and his Nazis to stop the holocaust of disabled people too. No need to panic. Just write your name down on this list.

[–] thiseggowaffles@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 day ago

Considering the "never again" crowd are doing their own, it's pretty clear that the term in general was bullshit.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What’s the sense of memorializing an actual historic holocaust if we all go on to allow another one to happen in real time?

We weren't...

The entire point of the comment you replied to is we never were

[–] Eldritch@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

You and many others like yourself heavily Amplified propaganda bullshit. Attacking the candidate that wasn't the fascist in a two-way race. Enabling a path to victory for the fascist by just a few percentage points.

We cannot rely on people like yourself for solidarity and simple self harm prevention. They have a point. Democrats fucked up. We expect that of them. But you fucked up too. Though that hasn't stopped you from lecturing people as if you were right.

[–] DicJacobus@lemmy.world 18 points 21 hours ago

the US has been taken over by what is essentially a rehashed version of the business plot, (Read Fascist sympathetic Oligarchs), and you thought we weren't going to go back down the Eugenics road?

[–] Hegar@fedia.io 61 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A purpose-built expressway is not the same thing as a slippery slope.

[–] lupusblackfur@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

➕ 💯

Came to say the same.

An existing actuality is not a 'slippery slope'...

🤷‍♂️ 🤦‍♀️

[–] Signtist@lemm.ee 10 points 23 hours ago

But if we point out that it's happening, we'll be called alarmists! No, it's better to just keep saying things are going to happen, so people feel like they still have time to do nothing about it.

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

Another aspect which is not being discussed - consider with the Cass report, the UK is now requiring that transgender children be evaluated for autism.

There will be a desire to diagnosis transgender men especially as autistic - confused girls who have been “tricked” due to their vulnerability.

This is a Trojan horse for more than eugenics. This will also be used against transgender people - to say that you cannot be trans if you are autistic.

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

from Gattaca to Asshattaca

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 15 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

If there was ever a time that weaponized autism was needed.

[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 10 points 20 hours ago

Every smart person in this country is the direct associate/friend/partner of someone with an autism diagnosis or has a diagnosis themselves. Many with that diagnosis are highly functional and intelligent. Many have positions of some power.

What I mean is, anyone that is abhorred by this and has risen anywhere close to a lever of power in this country needs to do something about this and all of it now. The troubles are not coming. The troubles are here.

[–] Freshparsnip@lemm.ee 8 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I'm a Canadian with autism and I'm terrified that eventually the fascists will come here and come for me

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 2 points 15 hours ago

Same here.

[–] jellygoose@lemmy.ca 9 points 20 hours ago

Entry 1: Elon Musk

His autism causes him to make nazi salutes. He should be the first to go.

[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 4 points 18 hours ago

Eugenics War, when?

[–] Mk23simp@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

This whole situation just makes me laugh because in order to do eugenics with that database, RFK would have to believe that autism is genetic - which it is, but which he doesn't believe.

I still don't want the Trump administration to have an autism registry, but it's such a farce that the guy who doesn't believe autism is genetic is the guy doing it.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

because in order to do eugenics with that database, RFK would have to believe that autism is genetic - which it is, but which he doesn't believe.

I don't know why people still think fascists give a shit.

This shouldn't be funny, because that glaring contradiction will be ignored, and talking about it is a waste of time.

[–] Mk23simp@lemmy.blahaj.zone -2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I don't think that RFK Jr. is personally a fascist. He's in league with fascists, which is the main reason why I am still heavily against the autism registry.

I think that RFK Jr. is extremely mentally ill and deluded. I think he is probably a true believer in what he says, it's just that the stuff he believes is batshit insane (and can do a lot of damage because of that).

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 hours ago

I don’t think that RFK Jr. is personally a fascist. He’s in league with fascists

That makes him a fascist.

If you walk into a room and sit at a table with 9 fascists, then you've got a table with 10 fascists.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 day ago

He wants to do eugenics in the same way that Trump wants to deport "gang members".

The filter is going to be arbitrary and going to be used to target people that they disagree with.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago

This argument just furthers the stereotype that RFK Jr is rational. What he believes is as simple as what he wants to be true at any given moment. It is not bound by logic.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

Oh hey, finally a "book" I'd burn

[–] Blaster_M@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Star Trek is a post-post-apoc setting - the world fought the Eugenics Wars a century before man creates the Warp Drive and estabishes first contact.

The question is, will we have an actual Eugenics Wars that eventually stems from this?

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 16 points 1 day ago

Star Trek started with the Bell Riots in September 2024, so I think we're a little behind schedule.

[–] JustOneMoreCat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know someone who is trying to get their young kid evaluated and potentially diagnosed and now they're having second thoughts. I don't know how they're putting this registry together but I wouldn't want my kid on it

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 21 hours ago

I'm an adult trying to get evaluated for ADHD (and possibly/probably autism as well) and I'm having second thoughts. That's the healthy, sane reaction to the prospects of being put on a list by a man who has proposed "wellness camps", while living under a government actively exploring their options for creating concentration camps both foreign and domestic.

[–] Kompressor@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago