this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

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[–] renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net 169 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Telescopes cause autism, got it.

[–] mrmhm@lemmy.world 104 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Radio telescopes are notorious for that because they're on the far end of the spectrum.

They’re literally a tool designed for hyper fixating.

[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

As they say take my upvote and GTFO.

[–] MaxPow3r11@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So...what I'm getting is

we need to make space illegal?

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago

Quad City DJ's are in danger

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 15 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

No no, you've got it the wrong way round: autism causes telescopes

[–] DakRalter@thelemmy.club 4 points 2 weeks ago

You're right. First I was autistic, THEN I got a telescope. Evostar 90mm refractor, thank you for asking.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Autism telescopes causes, got it.

[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 2 weeks ago

No, no no, it should be; causes autism telescopes.

[–] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

I thought it was the planets that were making autism.

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago

Please don’t give ‘em ideas…

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 59 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I wonder what happened in the 1890s to scare that many left-handed people back into hiding..

[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My late 70's experience probably didn't help. My first grade teacher tied my left hand to the desk. The next year they stopped doing that. I later found out the school district lost a long ongoing lawsuit and it hit them where they kept their heart. In the wallet.

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My grandmother had her left hand tied to her high chair or behind her back by her mother before she even went to school. People are fucked up.

[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I've heard the stories. Thing is some of the most creative people I've ever met were left handed.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Ain't that what they say? That creative people are left-handed? 😁

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

That's the general thing yeah, but I'm pretty sure that they were already doing that BEFORE the dip..

[–] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

Probably the same reason there's so much more breast cancer since the invention of the mammography machine.

[–] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wasn't Pluto "discovered" around the time autism was first "diagnosed"?

[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

Aha! So it was Pluto causing autism and the push to reclass it as a dwarf planet was an attempt to reduce its power!

[–] Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The Science Vs. podcast just did an episode on this.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2eKgmLJZrEKTbVzCVYzp0u

Spoiler: It's exactly as the meme describes. Autism rates are rising not because more people are becoming autistic, but because we’ve expanded the definition and improved how we recognize and diagnose it.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

improved how we recognize and diagnose it.

Well, we at least have changed how we recognize and diagnose it, I'm not totally convinced it's 100% an "improvement". We've kind of jumbled up a whole bunch of people under a common umbrella and diluted the implications of the term, to the point where it tells you negligible practical information when someone is described as "autistic" or "on the spectrum".

[–] Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's a totally fair concern and is one of the points the episode addresses. Researchers acknowledged that the definition has broadened, but they also emphasized that it reflects a better understanding of autism as a spectrum. It does make the label less specific, but it's also helped a lot of people. Especially women and people of color. It helped them get more accurate diagnoses instead of being misdiagnosed or ignored.

Overall, it's a stat worth celebrating as it means more people are getting the support they needed all along.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I hope that's the net result, just afraid that so many others will be dismissive of someone asserting autism, particularly with certain folks seeming to think being autistic is a license to be inconsiderate while claiming it also means you are smart and so is worth declaring a self-diagnosis.

[–] Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

There are a few dirks like Elon Musk and Richard Dawkins but I don't think the average person is aware enough of these people to really care

[–] pachrist@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

hey guys! If we stop testing for covid, the number of covid cases will go down!

slowbro.pcx

[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

This is so on point it kinda hurts.

[–] Nangijala 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I remember having a discussion woth someone many years ago who vehemently insisted that mental illness didn't exist until the late 1900s and that nobody were mentally ill nor dealing with disorders before psychology was invented. His conclusion was that mental illness and disorders were made up by psychologists to make money off of people.

Some levels of stupid are so severe that you just can't do anything but sit and stare in disbelief after awhile.

[–] Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

Did he not ever read about the Romans or any other country with a monarchy

[–] bappity@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

somebody get that graph of left handed people

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 weeks ago
[–] propaganja@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

"Probably"? Can someone point me in the direction of something slightly more conclusive? Cuz it could be that.. but I could totally also believe that it's chemicals and shit in our food and environment.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 2 weeks ago

Have you thought maybe there was just some errant cheese on the stench coil?

[–] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

People still believe that long debunked "study" Wakefield did? it's because autism is more recognised now. my mom recently got diagnosed and she's in her 50s

[–] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Everytime a magat brings this up I always hit them with the counter conspiracy that it’s the microplastics

[–] plyth@feddit.org -1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Do we know if autism is genetic? Otherwise the question is not entirely wrong. There could be a cultural influence that we should figure out.

[–] ewenak@jlai.lu 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Whether autism is genetic is not related to the question at all. More people are diagnosed with autism because we have better tests now than before and we test more kids.

And finally we also broadened what is considered autism.

[–] plyth@feddit.org -1 points 2 weeks ago

Whether autism is genetic is not related to the question at all.

How do you know? It can be both.

[–] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the factors is ‘we stopped beating kids’. Back in ye olden days, they’d hit kids until they stopped being ‘weird’. You obviously can’t do that today.

[–] Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

Autism is almost certainly genetic. It's prevalent at such a young age, seen in similar proportions across many different social groups and nations.