Powerful Men Are Using Neurodivergence As a Smokescreen
But we can see right through it.
By now you’ve probably seen it. There is something surreal about watching the CEO of Palantir defend ICE on live television while looking like he has not slept since maybe the bush admin. Alex Karp’s now-viral interview is one of those clips you have to watch twice just to confirm you didn’t imagine it. He jitters, he paces, he moves in extremely strange ways, and he does all of this while defending a company that builds tools used to arrest and disappear immigrants in the night.
The internet joked he was coked out which, honestly, is a generous interpretation. Because what happened next was somehow stranger. Instead of addressing any of the criticism of Palantir’s role in surveillance or state violence, the company announced a “neurodivergent fellowship,” inviting applicants who “relate” to Karp’s inability to sit still or think in straight lines. Suddenly his on-camera unraveling became a brand asset, a marketing pitch, a kind of aspirational neurodivergence to justify the irresponsible actions of one of the most powerful men on earth. And then under the posting was a disclaimer saying this was not a diversity program, which confirmed my long-held suspicion that the people who hate DEI do not actually know what DEI is. They just know they are mad about something, and it must be a woman or an immigrant’s fault.
