Let's Go Brandon!

June 12, 2022 1:01 AM

"This is a sweet little innocent autistic 9-year-old boy who saw a flag and a bunch of signs with his name on it — and he really thought people were rooting for him," Brundidge said. "He got brave. He got courageous. He did stuff he thought he would never do. Because he thought he saw a sign of support." Last week, Brandon got another nudge of support from someone with experience in "Let's Go Brandon" messaging — President Joe Biden.

How nine year old autistic Brandon found courage through an insult thought up by people too gutless to just say fuck Joe Biden.
posted by MartinWisse (19 comments total)

Paywalled...
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:27 AM on June 12, 2022

“Reader view” worked on my iPhone.
I hope people can find a way to read this. Excellent flip of the script! We need to take this phrase back,
for all the Brandons in the world.
posted by gryphonlover at 4:30 AM on June 12, 2022 [5 favorites]

Right now, the Brundidge family is heading back to Texas with an RV loaded with a thousand copies of "Brandon Spots His Sign" that will be donated to the summer reading program in Uvalde. A child who knows how it feels to be encouraged by strangers is extending the same kindness to children traumatized by last month's school shooting.

Yes, more kindness and rays of hope, please
posted by cynical pinnacle at 4:57 AM on June 12, 2022 [6 favorites]

Heartwarming, but I am a little afraid for the boy. The people with those signs are dangerous and violent and do not have his best interests at heart. I hope he never has to rely on them for actual kindness and help.
posted by bluefly at 5:06 AM on June 12, 2022 [20 favorites]

Amber Ruffin did the absolute grand champion no-doubt-about-it takedown of "Let's Go Brandon."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:15 AM on June 12, 2022 [16 favorites]

To sum up quick for people before the non-paywall link is available:

A Minnesota family was visiting family in Texas. One of the kids - named Brandon - has autism and sometimes feels anxious in new situations, and since he was in an unfamiliar place, he was on edge. But he started noticing all the signs on lawns that read "Let's Go Brandon", and innocently assumed they were directed at him - and read them as signs encouraging him to try things, like jump in a pool, try taking the training wheels off his bike, and suchlike.

He would happily say "I spotted my sign!" every time he saw a "Let's Go Brandon" sign, and his mother eventually wrote a kids book about the whole experience called Brandon Spots His Sign. And shortly after its release, Joe Biden wrote to Brandon with a show of support himself.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:45 AM on June 12, 2022 [7 favorites]

I’m not going to say this didn’t happen, but it feels like glurge to me, and there’s something unpleasant about jumping on a Uvalde as a chance to promote your self-published book.
posted by betweenthebars at 6:34 AM on June 12, 2022 [6 favorites]

there’s something unpleasant about jumping on a Uvalde as a chance to promote your self-published book.

Strongly agree. This is a cute if maybe over embellished story but dragging Uvalde into it is questionable.
posted by jeoc at 6:52 AM on June 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

Let's go (away) paywall!
posted by chavenet at 6:56 AM on June 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

I’m not going to say this didn’t happen, but it feels like glurge to me, and there’s something unpleasant about jumping on a Uvalde as a chance to promote your self-published book.


The article starts with a picture of Brandon holding the copy of the letter Biden wrote him. It ends with:

Right now, the Brundidge family is heading back to Texas with an RV loaded with a thousand copies of "Brandon Spots His Sign" that will be donated to the summer reading program in Uvalde.

emphasis mine on donated.

They are giving the books, for free, to a place that is historically POC who cops not only refused to help those, but who actively made it so others could not help. Handcuffing and pepper spraying parents who were just trying to save their children. I struggle to see how giving books to people in Uvalde anywhere is a bad thing, even if it is a bit of self-promotion.

Thank you, MartinWisse, for sharing. This is a really great story of someone who unwittingly subverted an original message from bad to good. I am glad someone on the spectrum built more confidence out of something that was only intended to be negative.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 7:08 AM on June 12, 2022 [29 favorites]

Heartwarming story.

The cynicism here is breathtaking.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 7:52 AM on June 12, 2022 [13 favorites]

MetaFilter: The cynicism here is breathtaking
posted by briank at 8:02 AM on June 12, 2022 [17 favorites]

Do autistic people find this story "heartwarming"?
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:30 AM on June 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

I mean, I suspect the kid may feel differently about it once he gets older, and I'm not clear on why the parents felt the PR push was necessary, but end of the day it's their thing to handle, not mine.

Since you asked for an autistic person's opinion.
posted by a power-tie-wearing she-capitalist at 9:51 AM on June 12, 2022 [18 favorites]

Do autistic people find this story "heartwarming"?

Are you running a survey?

Obviously I can speak only from my own subject position.

Thanks for checking!
posted by Ahmad Khani at 10:35 AM on June 12, 2022 [6 favorites]

Important context from the Star Tribune story:

Three of the four Brundidge children have autism. Sheletta Brundidge wrote two children's books about her two youngest — Cameron and Daniel — celebrating their adventures in a world where not many Black youngsters with autism get to be storybook heroes.

She hadn't been sure Brandon would get his book this year. Not when the sort of people who fly "Let's Go Brandon" flags were howling about critical race theory and drawing up lists of books to ban from school libraries.

I don't think the self published book thing is their way of cashing in. I think this is money they spend on their kids to make their kids feel special.
posted by OnceUponATime at 11:01 AM on June 12, 2022 [18 favorites]

Do autistic people find this story "heartwarming"?

I asked the two in my vicinity and one said "that's cool" and the other (who is known to have a bit of a "flaming sword of vengeful justice" approach) said that they should have taken one of the signs for the kid since the people there were otherwise using it to be mean anyway.

So...at least not opposed?
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 12:59 PM on June 12, 2022 [4 favorites]

Mod note: A quick note: this terse comment with scare quotes about "heartwarming" threatens to set the rest of the thread on a certain trajectory of anger and defensiveness, which seems entirely unnecessary. If you are going to comment, please try to actually use your words to explain your own feeling, thoughts, or reaction, if different than someone else's, rather than drop a sort of snide hit and run apparent attack about their response. It's fine to say something like, "I do wonder what the reaction has been from autistic people"; not so great to seem to suggest that another member doesn't care about the feelings of autistic people because they found the story positive.
posted by taz (staff) at 11:09 PM on June 12, 2022 [9 favorites]

Thanks Taz.

I'm as cynical as they come (probably not) and this story made me a little misty.

Is it a little bit hokey? Sure! The Best Of The Web often is.
posted by djeo at 12:46 PM on June 14, 2022