What’s your most controversial opinion? **Read OP** **Mod Note in Post #3372**

Frost Spice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375330#Comment_123375330

That's just vile. And so ignorant and clueless. How does he reconcile his outlook with his pal Musk being autistic.

Frost Spice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373464#Comment_123373464

Same could be said about the hostility towards Biden, H. Clinton, K. Harris. All of whom I either dislike or feel ambivalence towards... but some people pretend they're next level supervillains.

What defines TDS? Surely not simply disliking Trump. It's dishonest to act as though there are zero valid reasons to dislike him.

Frost Spice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373458#Comment_123373458

Autism and Aspergers aren't mental illnesses. They ARE neurodivergent states of being.

Frost Spice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373576#Comment_123373576

Who says their kid has autism if the child is just misbehaving?

You can't reason with an autistic child having an episode of distress - keeping them in check is not an option. And you can't completely avoid going out in public with them. Your comments lack empathy, and you talk as though this is something the parents can just easily control.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375346#Comment_123375346

Yep there's definitely a level of discomfort in the autistic community in terms of the language from the administration. I'd also worry on how the language of illness will impact treatment of autistic children, abuse has resulted from that viewpoint.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123373542#Comment_123373542

I don't give a fk about RFK, he's not thinking for me, my opinions are my own. You don't like illness? How about condition, disability, disorder? What it isn't it's not normal, people are suffering from it, and this idea that they are just fine but simply different is wrong and it actually hurts them. We need to keep looking for a cure instead of pretending there's nothing wrong with them.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375773#Comment_123375773

And the reality of autism is that it's brains that behave differently. So you might lessen aspects of it with medications/therapy or whatever else but you're absolutely not "curing" it unless you think you're gonna entirely rewire brains. It might not be the norm but it's equally a variation of people that has always been around, on top of that plenty of great minds throughout history were likely on the spectrum.

And people claiming to have cures for autism have a history of causing plenty of harm. So yep, I think following approaches of providing whatever supports that are needed is far more beneficial than pushing a narrative that there's something wrong with them that needs to be fixed. Plenty of groupings are outside the norm, that doesn't mean they can or are in need of a cure.(Pretty much the same arguments were used for "curing" gay people btw) Searching for a cure rather than trying to understand the fundamentals of it also sounds like a recipe for disaster cause it assumes there's something that can or should be cured.

So you might be giving your own opinions but I'm seeing no indication that you have a particularly good grasp of the subject.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375773#Comment_123375773

Specifically, what will RFK Jr be doing to find a cure? What is it he knows that the world's best scientists don't?

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375864#Comment_123375864

I don't know and I don't care, I'm not a supporter of his and I'm not responsible for what we thinks, says or does.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375838#Comment_123375838

I think it's incredibly patronising and arrogant to assume that people won't want or need a cure or treatment if there were to be one. I know at least one family that will give the world for a cure or treatment that could make their child normal.

Frost Spice

I used to have a neighbour who had a severely autistic child, and life was very very difficult. When I'd be chatting to her, she would get upset by how overwhelming things were. And the poor baby got so distressed on such a regular basis. I agree this mother would have done anything to make things easier for her kid and herself. Not necessarily to "become" neurotypical but just to alleviate the stress the poor child was under.

Kennedy's language is so sinister though. Demonising all people with autism. I mean, bringing work and paying taxes into it? Good lord. This is just gonna embolden a certain cohort to bully a vulnerable group.

lumphammer2

Not really controversial but a reply to what others are saying …… So called Trump Derangement Syndrome being used as an excuse to dismiss valid criticism of the current vile 'American' regime …… dismissing any criticism of this regime as TDS misses the mark entirely …..

1st ….. I don't think Trump is remotely important and is just the salesman puppet …… Project 2025 has been planned for years by fanatics and the Tea Party has been around since 2008 at least …… was it the Ku Klux Klan before that? Probably …..

2nd ….. Trump is not the most unlikeable of its members ….. that honour goes to individuals like Pete Hegseth and Howard Lutnick who are much closer to policy formation than Trump ever was, is or will be …..

3rd ….. dismissing critics of this regime as somehow mentally ill is just plain ridiculous ….. with tariffs, warmongering, trampling on hard earned rights, general unpredictability one has legitimate reasons to be worried …… again with the people around Trump more than Trump himself being the main worries …..

4th ….. the regime is built on hate and negativity ….. hatred of Biden, Obama, etc and opposing most positive movements and making noble ideals like liberty and being awake to the wrongs in the world as somehow 'wrong' ….. their anti 'woke' and anti 'liberal' statements basically mean they want people to be asleep/oblivious to what the regime does and for the people to be unfree ……

Frost Spice

Hegseth - behaves like an alley cat with his infidelities and womanising, but he's a "conservative" and a "christian". If he was a Democrat, his fans would consider him a degenerate.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375864#Comment_123375864

He won't find a cure or a cause because he is not working working from a unknown, he is starting from his opinions. His use of the word toxins is rooted in the woo alternative medicine sphere.

His ideas all come from Andrew Wakefield's discredited study, this study had a sample of 12 children, but yet recent studies based on thousands are ignored. At first they were focused on one ingredient, times was wasted looking into that and it was removed but still they persist. This is also a person who said on Joe Rogan's show that the Spanish Flu was linked to a vaccine. Anything that he presents will be balls deep in the conspiracy fantasy land culture, I wouldn't be surprised if he recommends a supplement for autism.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375871#Comment_123375871

You're repeatedly saying there's something to cure based on autistic people being outside of the norm. Being outside of the norm doesn't mean that it's something to be cured. Should anyone who's outside of the norm be cured? I'd also say it's incredibly damaging for a child and their family to operate under the view that they need a solution that makes their "child normal".. Providing supports from childhood so they develop in the best way which includes acceptance that there's nothing wrong with being outside of the norm is far healthier than holding out hope for some cure that is realisticallynever happening.

Also feel free to check the history of supposed cures for autism. More often than not, it ended up with children being abused cause their parents wanted them to be "normal" which pretty clearly wasn't the most healthy of perspectives and could be outright dangerous.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123374919#Comment_123374919

So what did you mean when you said "Maybe don't bring them somewhere they're likely to act up"?

You were talki g about resturants so if they're likely to act up in a reaturant, you're advocating for not bringing an autistic person. What about shops? Parks? Sports events?

If they're likely to act up, where should the be brought?

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375773#Comment_123375773

and this idea that they are just fine but simply different is wrong and it actually hurts them.

How exactly? They are just different. Why does it hurt them to say that?

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376013#Comment_123376013

The whole thing started because Wakefield had a patent that was competing with MMR so he decided to abuse 12 children to slander MMR. When he was exposed, he just did what grifters always do when called out.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375871#Comment_123375871

Yeah But RFK isn't actually looking for a "cure" for autism. His objective was to stoke controversy. The culture war is the point, not finding a "cure" or treatment or cause or therapies to help autistic people.

The entire point is to get conservatives to pretend to be experts on neurobiology and autism. Last week they were experts on international trade and the bond market. Who knows what it will ask them to pretend to be experts in be next week. American constitutional law, maybe?

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123375867#Comment_123375867

And yet you're here defending him. Curious.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376188#Comment_123376188

Defending him how? I know he's anti vaccine, I am very much pro vaccine. In my argument here I support medical science not ideology or politics. Please explain how I support him.

The discourse on autism is centred around the majority of people affected by it who are more or less able to function normally and not really in need for a cure or treatment. That's fine, but they are the lucky ones. The less fortunate ones are in desperate need for a treatment or cure which probably will never come because people like you decided that there should not be a cure, and we should not consider it an illness. We don't know if autism can be cured or not simply because we don’t know how the brain works so it's very arrogant to assume that it can't be cured. Even using metaphors like their brain is wired differently proves that we don't know enough about the brain, so we should keep studying it, and keep searching for cures and treatments for mental conditions.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376185#Comment_123376185

This is the pretty telling thing, posters who have never expressed an interest in neurodiversity outside of maybe complaining about it are now declaring how we need a cure. Meanwhile they appear to devoid of the most basic of understandings.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376216#Comment_123376216

Cures are for diseases. Autism is not a disease.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376219#Comment_123376219

Indeed. Funny how many people are flooding in to tell us how badly a cure is needed for something which doesn't need a cure.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376216#Comment_123376216

So basically we should treat it as something to be cured because you view it as an illness. Meanwhile experts who continuously research it from plenty of angles including neurology should be discounted cause you've got a feeling it can be cured. But you've got a feeling that there's a conspiracy not to cure it rather than there being no evidence that it can actually be cured. Pretty clearly, optimising opportunities and development from childhood should be the priority rather than parent's vaguely hoping for a cure...

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376219#Comment_123376219

Yeah this is iit. Don't they ever stop to think "it's interesting that I had little interest or knowledge of autism until the other day when it became a culture wars topic"?

Don't they ever realise that they're being told what to get cross about from week to week? And when the next culture wars topic is released, they will forget they cared about autism and move on the the new shiny topic.

I'll bet they laugh at people queueing up for the latest iPhone while standing in the queue for the next culture war topic.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376216#Comment_123376216

@ancapailldorcha I'm very disappointed to read you're the one holding up the research to find the "cure" for autism.

Did you know you're in charge of autism "cure" research?

Cordell

There is no known cause of autism and we don't really know how brain works but we're sure it's not a disease and there is no cure. Now that's such a mix of arrogance and ignorance no wonder it took a culture war to get some people to reevaluate their position.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123376239#Comment_123376239

disease, illness , condition whatever you want to call it it isn't something anyone would want and therefore we should be trying to fix it. Blindness I guess isn't a disease either however I'm pretty sure most people would like some sort of a cure/fix for it.

So all those people with autism who'll never be able to live independently don't need a cure for it , the world should just accept their fate and not try to fix what is obviously a problem.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123378060#Comment_123378060

And none of ye appear to be able to explain anything about this elusive cure… it's just a half assed idea that sounds like it originated on the toilet and you like the sound of it.

Suckler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123378130#Comment_123378130

just a half assed idea that sounds like it originated on the toilet and you like the sound of it.

Close: RFK Jr.

"I did very, very poorly in school until I started doing narcotics," And by narcotics he was referring to heroin.