Please Be Patient I Have Weaponised Autism - Meme T-Shirt

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Building off the Gab autism archetype, weaponized autism is the harnessing of hyper-focus and talents of “autistic” people. This “weapon” can be used to advance the interests of the alt-right, including harming their enemies, opponents, or people they see as undesirable. Phillips J, Yi J. Charlottesville paradox: The ‘liberalizing’alt-Right,‘authoritarian’left, and politics of dialogue. Society. 2018; 55(3):221–228. doi: 10.1007/s12115-018-0243-0. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

Hookway N. Entering the blogosphere’: some strategies for using blogs in social research. Qualitative Research. 2008; 8(1):91–113. doi: 10.1177/1468794107085298. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] 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. Gillespie-Lynch K, Kapp SK, Shane-Simpson C, Smith DS, Hutman T. Intersections between the autism spectrum and the Internet: perceived benefits and preferred functions of computer-mediated communication. Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities. 2014; 52(6):456–469. doi: 10.1352/1934-9556-52.6.456. [ PubMed] [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] Our team has also been concerned with the ethics surrounding reporting and dissemination of our findings from this study and from our larger study. We are aware of the potential to cause harm in the greater autistic community by highlighting an association between autism and engagement with online hate material, when our best information suggests that autistic people are much more likely to be targets of online aggression than perpetrators (Ashburner et al., 2019; Campbell et al., 2017). We have attempted to mitigate this concern with careful use of language in our reporting, with special attention to suggestions made by our autistic coauthor (JR). 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]Perry B, Scrivens R. Uneasy alliances: a look at the right-wing extremist movement in Canada. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 2016; 39(9):819–841. doi: 10.1080/1057610X.2016.1139375. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] Conway M, Scrivens R, McNair L. Right-wing extremists’ persistent online presence: History and contemporary trends. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism Policy Brief. 2019 doi: 10.19165/2019.3.12. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] What values and assumptions held by Gab posters are underlying the term “weaponized autism” and how it is used? Our analysis was complicated by obfuscating language used within Gab, which is among several known communication tactics in alt-right spaces (May & Feldman, 2018). Gab, like many online spaces dedicated to alt-right or white nationalist interests, deliberately use humour, sarcasm, irony, and “playful” imagery (including memes) to obscure their intentions to spread hate (May & Feldman, 2018). These so-called “LULZ” (an adaptation of laugh out loud, or LOL) tactics are employed to rebrand and obfuscate fascist ideology and allows users a level of deniability when called out for their hate. These tactics work to make their offensive material more palatable to the mainstream, enhance their recruitment of young people and people who would be repelled by overtly violent or racist material, facilitate identification of insiders (those who know the vernacular) and outsiders (those who do not), and ultimately allow groups to “hide in plain sight” (May & Feldman, 2018). These tactics also pose a challenge to discourse analysis. Humour, sarcasm, and layers of irony are designed to leave many statements “open to interpretation”. Because of these tactics, extended immersion in the data was required to develop confidence in detecting the intended message of a post. The Gab archetype of an autist did not emerge in a vacuum. Rather, it is rooted in some portrayals of autism in media. As mentioned earlier, a weaponized autist, as discussed within Gab, is not necessarily a person with a formal diagnosis (though it can be). The image portrayed within Gab aligns closely with the cultural figure of “nerds’’ depicted in popular culture; specifically, a person who is male, who fails to fit hegemonic standards of masculinity, a computer user, is technologically brilliant, but is socially inept (Kendall, 1999). In addition to the “nerd” stereotype, the media has offered many portrayals of autism. Journalistic portrayals of autism have tended to offer a negative or tragic view of autism and to portray autistic people as asocial, or even antisocial (Huws & Jones, 2011). Early entertainment-media portrayals of autistic people have been criticized for depicting people who were either subhuman or superhuman with nothing in between (Maich, 2014). Today, autistic characters are featured in a growing number of movies and television series (Nordahl-Hansen, 2017). Despite the growing popularity of autistic characters, autistic people are generally left out of both the production and the casting of these characters, and the characters are criticized as being archetypal rather than authentic (Nordahl-Hansen, 2017) with said archetype often matching that which is portrayed in Gab.

Korobov N. Discourse analysis: Combining rigor with application and intervention. Qualitative Psychology. 2020; 7(3):326. doi: 10.1037/qup0000168. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]Willis R. Observations online: Finding the ethical boundaries of Facebook research. Research Ethics. 2019; 15(1):1–17. doi: 10.1177/1747016117740176. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] Let us praise all the fine meme war soldiers on the Right side of history! Your weaponized autism is appreciated and will not be forgotten Each of these posts collapse autism with both social ineptitude and technical competencies. Interestingly, the reference to the risk of being on their “bad side” enables the weaponization: it is this implied potential for retaliation along with technical skills that makes autistic people useful to the movement. Ashburner J, Saggers B, Campbell MA, Dillon-Wallace JA, Hwang YS, Carrington S, Bobir N. How are students on the autism spectrum affected by bullying? Perspectives of students and parents. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs. 2019; 19(1):27–44. doi: 10.1111/1471-3802.12421. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] Munn, L. (2019). Alt-right pipeline: Individual journeys to extremism online. First Monday, 24(6), doi:10.5210/fm.v24i6.10108