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.
Duh! Banning and burning books is Nazi-like, get your head out of Media Matters a$$ and read your history.........
“Duh! Banning and burning books is Nazi-like, get your head out of Media Matters a$$ and read your history.........”
The bookstore is a private buisness. If they wish to ban certain individuals from their premises, I say “right on”.
Who is burning Weiner’s worthless books?
I see, so how many books have you published?
Thank you for admitting that no one is “burning” Weiner’s silly tomes.
From your post found at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2062188/posts?q=1&;page=51#55 :
“Okay, so lets all support CAIR since Michael Savage is such a bad guy.!!
By the way, most of the things you listed are either false, out of context, or just plain stupid.
Just one example: Media Matters has audio clips of Savage in 2006 attacking the Israelis for not attacking Lebanon hard enough-that item on you list is false.”
1.The List is correct, but it is the Weiner M.O. to say the exact opposite thing minutes later.
2. Am I to understand that Media Matters is now the authority on Weiner?
3. You have failed to show that anything on the List is false, or out of context.
4. To be sure, Weiner says many stupid things, I’ll give you that.
Are there any FReepers who fail to understand how much of an embarrassment to the cause is the personage of Michael “Savage?”
“Are there any FReepers who fail to understand how much of an embarrassment to the cause is the personage of Michael “Savage?””
There are a few.
SAVAGE: They're [Israel] going to lose, it's as simple as that. The same way we're losing in Iraq, they're going to lose in Lebanon, in the big picture now. I don't mean in the short term. In the long term, the only thing that can make a difference is a devastating, catastrophic, overwhelming victory for the Israelis, where nothing is left living in southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River. [...] SAVAGE: I have nothing more to say on the issue. Either Israel wants to live, and Israel frees itself of the Holocaust mentality -- and Israel frees itself of the men who are acting as though they are still hiding in the sewers of Warsaw instead of walking in the clear light of Tel Aviv. And if they want to act like Holocaust Jews hiding in the sewer, I cannot change the psyche of the leadership of Israel. I can't do it. If they want to act like sabras who were born in the Mediterranean and belong there and are willing to fight for it and use all the power they have and crush the bastards and get it over with, right to the Litani River, well so be it. But they're not willing to do that, therefore they're going to lose. So, I have nothing more to say about it. Don't you understand? And therefore, in the long run, the sands of the Middle East will sweep over the Jewish state, and it will disappear, within not your lifetime, perhaps, but eventually the sands will re-conquer what the Israelis built out of the sands -- out of the desert sands. And once again the Arabs will be happy as they go back to their nomadic ways of cutting each other's throat. http://mediamatters.org/items/200607310004?f=s_search
Since you have no transcript and no context for your assertion that Savage is "Cindy Sheehan" on Israel, I will have to conclude that you are either lying, or being very misleading with this assertion. I have listened to Savage for 2 years and he is always very hawkish on Israel.
Spews hatred and vile towards our Commander in Chief during a time of war
So nobody is allowed to criticise the president b/c we are at war? Every conservative must support Bush? We don't live in a fascist state. Savage can sat whatever the heck he wants about Bush.
On April 17, 2007, at approximately 45 minutes into the 1st hour of his show, Weiner said the shooting (at Virginia Tech) indicates our Gun laws are too lax.
Completely out of context. I heard the shows during the VA tech shooting. He doesn't want the mentally ill to own guns, but said if some students had them, the shooter would have been stopped sooner.
During the first 30 minutes of his April 16, 2007 show, Weiner called Prime Minister Blair "Tony the Coward".
Again, we don't live in the soviet union. Since when can't we make fun of public figures?
Also during the first 30 minutes of his April 16, 2007 show, Weiner called the Republicans running for President in 2008 "empty-suits". Weiner singled out Mayor Rudolph Giuliani by name.
This is insane. Giuliani is not a conservative
Weiner advocates cutting and running in Iraq.
Savage has stated his plan many times. Massive airstrikes on terrorist strongholds. Send in Iraqi army to mop up any resistance. Bring troops home, put them on the BORDER. That has been his plan for years. If you don't like it, dont listen to him
Could spend hours refuting, putting in proper context, or debating most of your list. If you don't like Savage, don't listen to him. Apparently he has 8-10 million people who like him.
“So nobody is allowed to criticise the president b/c we are at war? Every conservative must support Bush? We don’t live in a fascist state. Savage can sat whatever the heck he wants about Bush.”
Glad to see you agree with The List.
“Completely out of context. I heard the shows during the VA tech shooting. He doesn’t want the mentally ill to own guns, but said if some students had them, the shooter would have been stopped sooner.”
What’s the missing “context”?
Glad to see you are not arguing with facts.
“This is insane. Giuliani is not a conservative”
Glad to see you are not contesting The List.
“Could spend hours refuting, putting in proper context, or debating most of your list.”
Near as I can tell, you haven’t touched the List.
Savage is a dolt. The fact that he hates most of the same things conservatives hate doesn't give him a pass for spouting stupidity about developmental disorders. Sure, the state schools and lots of parents want to take the easy way out and decide misbehavior is a disorder, but when they do that they call it ADHD or 'conduct disorder'. Autism is not a convenience diagnosis, but a serious brain disorder that damned well isn't going to be fixed by a father dishing out the sort of abusive 'grow-up' talk the loud-mouth of the airwaves advocates. Savage needs to stop acting like a putz and grow up.
You didn’t say that Savage wanted more students to have their second amendment rights and more lenient laws for law abiding citizens. You said he wanted stricter gun laws, when in reality he just wanted it harder for mentally illl to own guns, which makes perfect sense.
Your attitude in terms of my other responses is quite juvenile. Why can’t Savage make fun of Giuliani and Tony Blair?
What are you talking about? Your assertion about the gun laws is misleading at best. You don't think a talk show host can make fun of public figures, which is insane and completely rediculous. You make blanket false statements like "Weiner advocates cutting and running in Iraq," which he does not. I explained his position already in my previous post. I'd say your little list is baloney.
Who among us have advocated this?
The List is as obscure to a Weiner fan as the Weiner fan's understanding of Weiner's own words.
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