'Forgotten' disturbances in 1990s Britain.

[NoraB]

Here you go, the BBC is a pretty reliable source:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc...a-50695593.amp

Yes, he got off, but it seems like a pretty weak defence to me, and he wouldn't be the first rich, powerful man to get away with something others probably wouldn't.

Guy's a raging egomaniac, too, arguably it goes with the territory but I don't view it as making him any sort of role model.

I have to agree with you that shit-hot (albeit sweaty) lawyers were the difference here..

I can see (now) why you reacted the way you did, and it's very rare for me to use someone as an example without researching them..

I still want to see the positives with Elon because he's just as flawed as the rest of us, only the entire world gets to see his f*ck ups. He has done remarkable things and no doubt will continue to do so. I can understand intense passion in one's interests and to have them rejected is epically hard, especially for autistic people.. Elon shouldn't have said what he did, or at least, he should have just owned it and not try to justify it. But, I still admire him going public with the autism because a lot of people will reject him on that now. Like a woman I know who rejected 'that boy with the lovely voice' when she heard Boy George was gay. Elon just stuck it to the haters, and even though he made a very poor choice in trying to justify his action re the 'pedo' comment - I do see his qualities too.

You wouldn't want to be his lawyer would you?

[BlueIris]

I wouldn't want anything to do with the f***er. I might be less militant about this if he'd ever made any attempt to apologise, but autistic or not, have no respect for people who punch down.

[NoraB]

I wouldn't want anything to do with the f***er. I might be less militant about this if he'd ever made any attempt to apologise, but autistic or not, have no respect for people who punch down.

Re Musky, we will have to agree to disagree because there's intentionally being an @rsehole and there's just not understanding the 'rules', and I don't know enough about the bloke to make a judgement call.

Apparently Elon has apologised for the comment, and that it was 'said in anger' - which I get because I've called folk a few choice words when I've seen red. What I don't know is how sincere that apology was towards Unsworth or how much of it is Elon's lawyers saying, 'FFS, just apologise!!'

Unsworth slagged Elon's device off and told him to 'stick his submarine up his arse' so he wasn't exactly innocent in all this was he? It's just that an autistic reaction can, and often is, disproportionate - which is exactly the issue we've been talking about on this thread..

[pulisa]

I know this may be controversial but I do think that sometimes a diagnosis of autism can be "bought" by the mega wealthy to excuse a deeply flawed character.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I know this may be controversial but I do think that sometimes a diagnosis of autism can be "bought" by the mega wealthy to excuse a deeply flawed character.

Robbie Williams tried it to explain his past bad behaviour didn't he? Or at least hinted about it. I remember because someone wrote in the comments section of the paper "no he's just a bell end"

[pulisa]

Robbie Williams tried it to explain his past bad behaviour didn't he? Or at least hinted about it. I remember because someone wrote in the comments section of the paper "no he's just a bell end"

Yes I remember that, Terry.

I'd want to avoid Elon Musk like the plague whether he's autistic or not.

[Lencoboy]

I'm starting to find quite a few of these tales quite disturbing, especially those suddenly 'self-diagnosing' as being on the spectrum, especially as a cover up for their past a**eholery.

I fear the wheel might eventually come full circle and all of us Auties tarred with the same brush as no-good nutjobs, and reviled by certain factions of our society in a similar fashion to ethnic minorities, particularly by the likes of the BNP and EDL supporters.

Having said that, the BNP hardly ever seem to get talked about nowadays, plus the EDL seem to have at least kept low-key more recently, AFAIK they haven't been 'on tour' with a major city rally/protest since about 2017 or so.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Lenco, I suspect someone who is a member of a racist group will be just as ignorant regarding many other things including mental health. I've long believed these types of people, plenty of them around my way all my life, overlap into other groups such as football hooliganism. And violent crime in general. They scoop up the disenfranchised. The same for those with anarchist tendencies on the left who are in the middle of a punch up over this week's issue of protest.

Basically not nice people. They will already dislike people who don't conform to their narrow expectations. So why care what they think?

I understand your concerns over autism being misportrayed by a minority. The same affects people across mental health in general. But more open-minded people are willing to learn. They won't so easily fall into the mindset of the ignorance found in racist groups.

BNP got ousted by UKIP and splintered off later into the various Britain First, EDL, etc. Post Brexit UKIP just got closer to the old BNP. They are an irrelevance these days just as they were pre Griffin.

[Pamplemousse]

I'm starting to find quite a few of these tales quite disturbing, especially those suddenly 'self-diagnosing' as being on the spectrum, especially as a cover up for their past a**eholery.

LB, this appropriation has been going on for years; usually nice middle-class parents describing their child as "dyslexic" (or for extra pretence, "dyscalculic") when in fact they're just ashamed to admit their child is just plain thick.

[Lencoboy]

Lenco, I suspect someone who is a member of a racist group will be just as ignorant regarding many other things including mental health. I've long believed these types of people, plenty of them around my way all my life, overlap into other groups such as football hooliganism. And violent crime in general. They scoop up the disenfranchised. The same for those with anarchist tendencies on the left who are in the middle of a punch up over this week's issue of protest.

Basically not nice people. They will already dislike people who don't conform to their narrow expectations. So why care what they think?

I understand your concerns over autism being misportrayed by a minority. The same affects people across mental health in general. But more open-minded people are willing to learn. They won't so easily fall into the mindset of the ignorance found in racist groups.

BNP got ousted by UKIP and splintered off later into the various Britain First, EDL, etc. Post Brexit UKIP just got closer to the old BNP. They are an irrelevance these days just as they were pre Griffin.

I know I'm veering off into politics once again but even UKIP don't seem to carry the same weight as they did even just a few years back, as they pretty much bombed during the recent local elections. Perhaps they were nothing more than just a whim/passing fad during the early-mid 2010s.

Even gobs**te Farage seems to be less newsworthy of late, despite him renaming his evermore-whimsical 'Brexit' party 'Reform UK' last year.

I know Britain First still sporadically indulge in their raucous shenanigans, but I'm still surprised (in a positive way) that the EDL have seemingly remained in hibernation since about 2017, what with all the gazillion other 'protest' groups that have since abounded in this country (e.g, BLM, XR, Kill The Bill, and not forgetting the endless antivaxxer/anti-lockdown brigades).

Also, surprisingly, we haven't seen any May Day protests in this country for several years now, despite still being very much an annual ritual in much of mainland Europe, or if there have been, they've been kept fairly low-key.