Elon Musk Knew What He was Doing
Asperger's Syndrome, Nazis, and the signal Musk sent on Monday.
If you see something, say something. Isn’t that what we were taught?
I saw a Nazi salute. You did, too. So did white supremacists.
But wait! Maybe it was actually a Roman salute! That’s innocent, right? Wrong. The Roman salute is colloquially known as the Fascist salute. In fact, in the late 19th century, American children were taught to salute the American flag with a similar gesture called the Bellamy salute, but this was changed after it became evident that Mussolini’s and Hitler’s use of the Roman salute looked eerily similar. At that point, the American government had the good sense to say “hey maybe we shouldn’t do this anymore, since we do not support fascism.”
But wait! Maybe it was Musk’s Asperger’s Syndrome that caused him to lose control of his body, and that we should have compassion and grace for this neurodivergent man who has done so much for science and who doesn’t mean any harm! How could he? He’s autistic—but like, the good kind!
Honestly, I’m not sure what I am most upset by: the fact that he clearly did what he did, the fact that so many people seem hell-bent on defending him, the fact that white supremacists took it as a signal of solidarity (or trolling, or both!), or the fact that autistic people are now being scapegoated because Musk’s “Asperger’s” caused him to lose control of his arms at a most inopportune time.
It’s that last point, however, that I feel the need to speak on.
The History of Asperger’s Syndrome
After a stint on Saturday Night Live in 2022, Elon Musk self-identified as having “Asperger’s Syndrome,” in defense of his somewhat awkward demeanor on the show and borderline abusive behavior behind the scenes with the writers.
This term, “Asperger’s Syndrome”—which, notably, was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 2013—is a now outdated term used to describe the condition of an autistic person with (seemingly) low support needs and often with a high IQ. Sometimes they’re also referred to as a “high-functioning autistic” person.
The problem with the term “Asperger’s” is that it was named after Hans Asperger, a Nazi-adjacent Viennese doctor who, in WWII studied autistic children. Asperger was tasked with determining what value, if any, these kids would bring to society. Turns out only the boys with a high IQ were acceptable; they were curious and creative and perhaps, even geniuses. He called them “little professors.” The rest of the autistic kids were out of luck. They were, he reported, a scourge to society and a burden to their families. So they were killed. Just like everyone else the Nazis deemed unworthy of life.
Asperger managed to accommodate himself to the Nazi regime and was rewarded for his affirmations of loyalty with career opportunities. He joined several organizations affiliated with the NSDAP (although not the Nazi party itself), publicly legitimized race hygiene policies including forced sterilizations and, on several occasions, actively cooperated with the child ‘euthanasia’ program. The language he employed to diagnose his patients was often remarkably harsh (even in comparison with assessments written by the staff at Vienna’s notorious Spiegelgrund ‘euthanasia’ institution), belying the notion that he tried to protect the children under his care by embellishing their diagnoses.
Hans Asperger, National Socialism, and “race hygiene” in Nazi-era Vienna
While knowledge of this brutal history didn’t directly lead to the removal of the term Asberger’s Syndrome from the DSM (it was removed in 2013 because further study of the autism spectrum led to the syndrome’s classification under the broader umbrella of autism), the term is generally no longer used by autistic adults. Yet there are, in some spaces on the internet, still subsets of autistic people (mostly white men) who prefer to refer to themselves as having the Asperger’s profile. For some, this is a way to distinguish themselves from the highly stigmatized term “autism;” for others, it is a way to also affirm that they are part of a special caliber of humans. They believe that that they do not have a disability like other autistic folks with greater support needs, but in fact, they have reached the next level in human evolution: they see themselves as morally and intellectually superior to all others.
This is called “Aspie Supremacy.”
Morgan Foley, an autistic adult educator, has a great video on this:
As a late-diagnosed autistic woman who was funneled through gifted and talented programs in the 90s, I will say this: Aspie Supremacy—like any other so-called supremacy— is complete and utter horseshit.
Look, I have compassion for autistic folks who have felt othered and like outsiders for most of their lives—me, too. Even high-masking neurospicy women like myself find it difficult to connect with people and understand this world which has been built to benefit and celebrate neurotypical functioning. In middle school I fully embraced my identity as a “reverse snob” (thank you for that helpful term, Sweet Valley Twins); it felt good to look down on the popular kids, telling myself I was smarter, more virtuous, better. It’s a self-protection mechanism in the face of bullies and mean girls. Middle school is tough! But thankfully I’ve learned a lot since I was 13; now, my experience of feeling othered has deepened my compassion and my capacity for empathy. Because yes, autistic people do, in fact, care and feel for others.
And yes, autistic people with any basic awareness of history know what a Nazi salute looks like.
Listen. I don’t have proof that Elon Musk is an Aspie Supremacist, but the fact that he openly supports Germany’s far right AfD party should be data that gives us pause. And there are enough white supremacists and white supremacist sympathizers in the MAGA movement and surrounding Trump to convince me this is something we need to pay attention to.
Also—did you notice what he was saying right before he made the salute?
"This was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization. This one really mattered. Thank you for making it happen! Thank you."
A fork in the road of human civilization.
Eugenics and scientific racism are concepts still quite popular among some groups of Americans, particularly those on the far right. It would not surprise me at all if Musk is among them.
For anyone believing that Musk’s gesture was simply a forgivable—albeit awkward—physical manifestation of his autistic brain: your ableism is showing. Musk is fully capable of understanding what he did. He knows to whom he was signaling.
Recommended:
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Elon Musk’s Autistic Anti-Patterns
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Germany’s leader says Musk’s support for European far-right is ‘completely unacceptable’
Elon Musk’s Salute Sparks Criticism From Foreign Leaders And Democrats
Thank you for sharing this information
I saw the salute and it was disturbing