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.
Well well well, welcome to the club, From post #69 link
CDC records show that the recent increase went from .5 in 1000 cases to 6 in 1000 now in a very short period of time. Within a few years and they have no explanation. Quite an increase.
That’s exactly how I’ve alwyas classified him- the Howard Stern of (political) talk radio.... A real jack-— on nearly every front
ping
>>>That’s exactly how I’ve alwyas classified him- the Howard Stern of (political) talk radio.... A real jack-— on nearly every front
He’s Talk Radio’s idiot savant.
You said something that was an overgeneralization, but more importantly was completely off-topic.
1. Am I a moron? It’s difficult for me to assess personally. I do not for instance consider myself competent to judge diagnoses of autism. I do however feel competent to judge when someone is making a fool of themselves.
Are you a rude arrogant sycophant?
2. Please allow me to clarify. KSFO is the station my car radio was set to. At the time Dr. Weiner was on that station, when I got off the train at night and started the truck he was usually the first thing I heard. I’d usually leave him on until I got out of the parking lot and hit the first stop light. I had heard his show on KGO before that. He has never been one of the talk show hosts I listen to on a regular basis but I think I’ve developed a pretty good idea of where the guy is coming from.
3. My definition of “a conservative” is someone who supports the rights of individuals over the rights of the collective, believes in free markets, representative government, traditional values and is a nationalist but usually not to the extreme.
I was around UC Berkeley in the early ‘80s and I can tell you that, with the exception of one South African geology prof, I knew of no publicly know conservative professors in the sciences at Cal at that time. I spent most of my time around an island of sanity on the Cal campus called Etcheverry Hall. If I’m not mistaken Dr. Weiner would have been down at Tollman, below the parking lot on the other side of the street. If he had been a publicly avowed conservative at that time I think we would have heard about it.
This doesn’t mean that he wasn’t keeping his views private (if he wanted tenure he had better) or that they haven’t changed over the years. However, given where he came from, given the way he came into talk radio at the time, given his penchant for green rants and given the fact that “Dr. Savage” is just the kind of name a lib who wanted to put on a conservative persona would choose, I have reason to suspect that he is not really a conservative.
Do you have empathy for "all the families" but not Michael, or for Michael and the other families, or you are offended by Michael and all the other families ~ or what?
All America wants to know your real position.
Frankly, I am wildly indignant about these comprehensive statements that end up being internally inconsistent with reality. Just aim me in any direction eh.
You supporting Media Matters now? And CAIR? And La Raza? And the Homo Mafia? And the S.F. Board of Supervisors? And all the other countless lesser know mentally-disordered liberal organizations and now 'The National Review' that are clamoring to get Savage off the air?
I was a kid in the 70s and I was defiant, had a bad attitude, didn’t care or respect authority, etc. If I was growing up today they would drug me up six ways to Sunday in order to make me more ‘mutual’ as it was said in the old tv series The Prisoner.
Not me! I’m busting out in the next laundry truck!
Pls see post #102
Don't be making stuff up about this problem.
Nope- despise all of those outfits... But I listen to Weiner often enough to know he’s a FRAUD... If he didn’t have 8 million listeners, I’d laugh about this...but, he does, and he’s influential... And as a result, I take notice
I too was a kid in the 70’s and it was great times back then, and I to was defiant and cause my parents alot of grief, but that is what we did. Do you remember the Brady Bunch clothes we had to wear back then? They should of drugged me for that!! /sarc
eperience. ?
Oh, the medicated crowd that espouses medication and the ones that thinks every child has Autism - just ask them. Get real. Check the CDC for facts and figures. Sorry that everyone wants to blame their child’s lack of popularity on something beyond their control that can be fixed by drugs. I guess there is a drug to fix everything.
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