After Elon Musk Called Astronaut Andreas Morgensen A "retard" Today, Comments Have Come Out Of The Woodwork

After Elon Musk called astronaut Andreas Morgensen a "retard" today, comments have come out of the woodwork claiming this doesn't count as a slur because Elon Musk is, supposedly, autistic.

Able-bodied and even a minority of low support needs autistic people seem to believe all slurs, including this particular one, adhere to how white people understand "n-word rules;" you can say it if you belong to one of the demographics it describes. This is, of course, fucking nonsense, and if Elon and his cronies had any actual exposure to the disabled community beyond the hyper-specific bubble of rich white self-diagnosed cryptobro fuckwits who rely on "autism" as an excuse for having no friends, they would know that. Just like how knowing actual black people will teach you almost immediately that the white version of "n-word rules" doesn't actually exist and like all social phenomena the "acceptable" use of any slur relies on nuanced social context that allows the specific community in discussion to spot an outsider like Elon vs. someone who belongs (not Elon).

This is not to say there's anything necessarily wrong with self-diagnosis, often it is simply the best option available to someone and a necessary social ritual to participation in beneficial communities, but Elon Musk can absolutely afford to go through an adult diagnostic process. Additionally, as a free speech absolutist who allows the violation of others' (especially queer, POC and most importantly, disabled peoples') privacy on his stupid social media platform, surely he'd have no issues with showing us his diagnosis. And yet, here we are, with dorks defending Elon based on his "Asperger's Syndrome" every time he does something fucking stupid, despite his behaviour demonstrating he is not like us.