I think his reasoning was to see how far the sign holding folks would go for money, and they apparently didn’t really have any limits. Should he have done and shown it on youtube is the thing he can be criticized for

Would that then mean facially blind people can’t kill anyone? Damn

On top of that many are also incapable of defending themselves. Hard to fight for your rights when you aren’t even able to

Going through the endless footage of it on youtube is one the things I always return to. The destruction is unimaginable. The horror is gut-wrenching. Seeing everything just getting washed away is both absolutely terrifying and utterly humbling in a way I’ve never found anything else to be. The best part though, is seeing people survive; encourage and rescue each other.

It is a horrible event that shows both the cruelest parts of nature and the best of humanity. I am so thankful of all the brave people that have posted the footage. It is something that should never be forgotten

a sign of just how little people are willing to give up.

Also telling a lot about how much many people care about transphobia. Or trans rights at all

All words are made-up, that’s how they work! /j

As someone on the spectrum the way I’ve learned to deal with this is basically: A) first reacting empathically (“Oh god that sounds horrible”, “Are you alright?” etc.) B) then bringing up relating things, but trying to always turn the topic back in the end so they can continue about their thing (“Yeah I once hurt my ankle, that wasn’t fun. Your arm must hurt so much”) C) trying to downplay the relating story a bit if possible is usually good, to make sure you’re signaling that you’re not trying to steal the spotlight (“It was hard enough just hopping around for months, I can only imagine how difficult it’s to do stuff with only one arm”) D) if nothing else seems to work, people tend to like being asked questions about them and the thing (“What did the doctor say?”, “How long do you think it’ll take to heal?”)