Posted on 07/26/2008 12:06:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last week, radio talk-show host Michael Savage talked about autism:
I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, `Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.” I’m not an impartial observer here. My six-year-old son has high-functioning autism. He is exactly the kind of kid that Savage attacked.
Savage’s comments were wrong and harmful. Some autistic kids do learn to read and speak, which is why misinformed people may think that they are not “genuinely handicapped.” Yes, they are. Autism is a brain disorder that affects everything from social communication to physical coordination. Autistic people have multiple problems that make it hard for them to do things that the rest of us take for granted. It may take them years to learn how to toss a ball or nod their head.
And even when they can talk, they often have odd speech patterns that instantly mark them as autistic. Other kids taunt them with the very words that Savage used. If they respond verbally, their speech problems will draw even more taunting. If they respond with their fists, they run the risk that authorities will label them as “violent.”
Once in a while, parents take the approach that Savage recommends. It never works. Screaming insults at a handicapped kid is not child-rearing. It’s child abuse.
Conservatives need to speak out against Savage. Many news stories label him as “conservative” or “right-wing,” which may prompt some people to think that we agree with him. Savage has a long history of disgusting comments, which has led David Klinghoffer to speculate that his act is a giant liberal put-on, a “lefty’s cartoon mental picture of a ranting right-wing caveman.”
The liberal website Media Matters has spearheaded the backlash against Savage’s autism comments. Understandably, conservatives might be uneasy about siding with such an outfit. Savage has tried to exploit such feelings by casting his critics as PC leftists. But just because the folks at Media Matters oppose child abuse, it doesn’t follow that we conservatives should accept it just for the sake of disagreeing with them.
Besides, liberals do not have a corner on concern for autism. California’s 1969 Lanterman Act was a landmark in serving people with autism and other disabilities. Its sponsor was a Republican, as was the governor who signed it: Ronald Reagan. In 2006, President Bush signed the Combating Autism Act. Its author was Senator Rick Santorum (R., PA).
Savage has cited respectable commentators who suggest that many kids with the autistic label are merely late talkers. His defense fails on two counts. First, these commentators don’t speak in the hateful language that he has used. Second, although they make their argument in good faith, they get things backward.
When you first notice that your child has a speech delay — around his second birthday — autism is the last thing that you want to think about. Autism is devastating and frightening. It’s more comforting to think that your kid is just starting late and will catch up soon. Clutching the “late talker” security blanket, some parents wait months or years before admitting the possibility of autism.
At that point, they may indeed conclude that a formal diagnosis could be important in getting help. States and school districts often pay for the assessment. Every autism diagnosis means thousands of dollars for services that the federal government mandates but does not fully subsidize. With tight budgets, the authorities have no incentive to encourage overdiagnosis. Once in a while, a child may incorrectly get the autism label, but underdiagnosis is probably a much bigger problem.
We need more study of the causes and prevalence of autism. At the moment, though, the issue is Michael Savage’s attack. He has since claimed that he is a nice guy who wants help to go to those who truly need it. Nonsense. If he cared about autistic kids, he wouldn’t have spewed words such as “moron” and “idiot.”
And he shouldn’t claim to be a conservative. He has cheapened political discourse and hurt defenseless children. There’s nothing conservative about that.
—- John J. Pitney Jr. is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College.
Savage doesn’t pull his punches. I like that, and it’s something we need more of in this mamby-pamby feminized nation.
And he’s right, autism, ADHD, etc. have become rackets to line the pockets of doctors, psychologists, social workers, etc., in much the same way global warming is a racket/scam.
Tell you what. Take autism of the SS disability eligibility list and watch the numbers of autistics fall.
This victim entitlement mentality has to end.
Absolutely! Watch out as you will be drawn and quartered by the MCS group, the “Medicated Children Society” posting here on FR. Every child they know is Autistic, just ask them.
If Savage was talking about ADD or ADHD, I would agree with him 100%. Those are over-diagnosed.
Autism is another matter.
If a kid is acting out and really just needs a kick in the ass, they’re mostly likely going to be miss-diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. Most of the time, when a child is diagnosed with autism, it’s a serious and real health problem.
Didn't hurt anybody but some vested interests. Didn't hurt them much. Political discourse is already dirt cheap.
Michael Weiner is a phony, cynical opportunist. If liberal talk show hosts could get a bigger audience, that is what he’d spew.
He’s an embarrassment to the conservative movement.
Pray for discernment.
Being a spastic geek is now a brain disorder?
Its all fine...all the dialogue and controversy over this autism
issue has been rich from all sides. What is extremely offensive are the calls from some to remove Michael Savage off the air which is a stalinist, leftist tactic to silence
one’s freedom of speech and ideas. May we all be judged by the words we speak but NEVER let our voices be squashed or censored like the Chi-coms do it. Free speech in a free nation! Turning the radio dial works every time for other selections.
Not nearly half as wrong/harmful as the daily comments of Reid/Pelosi/Murtha/Schumer/NYTimes, etc, etc.
It seems as if a lot of conservatives, especially the big-city, blue-state ones, have become so p-whipped by the liberals any conservative who actually speaks his mind bluntly is horrifying to them.
Hmmm, that’s interesting.
Only for any poor soul who takes Savage seriously, as if he has anything to add to the discussion.
I've known a couple of autistic kids. One was(is) much older than 2 or 3. To suggest that expenditure of a life is an act...well, you would need to be as goofy as Savage make such a connection.
Still, I doubt Savage believes it. Heck's bells, there was a time some years ago when I listened to Savage because I thought he actually made a scintilla of sense. Then, after the fifth or sixth time he spun into some tangential rant about some bark at the moon, I realized he sells his wares as do professional wrestlers.
Now, I used to enjoy professional wrestling. To this day I think the best of the wrestlers of those days took seriously their duty to be entertainers, salesmen. The marginal wrestlers did little except provide a supporting cast. If Savage took his audience seriously, he might improve at least to the level of supporting cast. After all this time, though, I don't really expect it.
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