Savagely Irresponsible
Nationally syndicated radio talk show host Michael Savage, whose show airs in the Grand Strand market on WRNN (99.5 FM/1450 AM; M-F 8-11 p.m.), has come under fire from autism advocate groups for recent inflammatory comments he made on his show about the neurological disorder.
Among the comments, as reported by Newsday:
"You know what autism is? 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."
Newsday also reports that Savage called the disorder the "illness du jour," and suggested that children do not have a father around to tell them to stop acting like a "putz."
OK, Jim, breathe. Breathe deep. Now proceed.
In the interests of full disclosure, know this:
- As I’ve mentioned in this forum previously, I am the parent of an autistic child – and yes, I’m proudly “around” 24/7 to help my wife and two older sons care for our youngest.
- Like Savage, my political beliefs fall strongly along conservative lines.
- Unlike Savage, I cannot use a highly rated, national radio platform to spew ignorant statements.
From the parental standpoint, news anchor Jim Watkins of CW11 in New York (and also the parent of an autistic child) does a far better job in his blog of responding to Savage’s rhetoric than I ever could.
From there, I’ll simply add two points. First, after reading and hearing the Savage comments and letting my initial anger subside, I wondered aloud how Savage and his Talk Radio Network team would spin this, and suspected throughout it would eventually be along these lines. If Savage is trying to say that too many parents are loosely using the “autism” label as a lame excuse for their child’s behavior, when the child in question is not actually afflicted with the disorder, then he might actually have a point. If so, the execution of that point was horrendous at best.
The other point relates to the “free speech” argument I expect to hear from many when it comes to this topic: You’re correct – for every citizen in this country, free speech is an inalienable right.
But uninformed, factually erroneous free speech – especially when it reaches an audience of millions of registered voters, and influences their right to vote on laws that can help those truly afflicted – is not just wrong.
It’s dangerous.
This man needs to be locked in a room alone, and left their to rot. How dare he !! I have a 13 year old with autism .... high functioning thank goodness because we’ve worked so hard with him since he’s 17 months old and couldn’t walk, talk, etc.
NO PARENTS ASKS FOR THIS - NO CHILD ASKS FOR THIS.
Some days I cry .... asking why ... why us, why my child. It’s 24/7 high maintenance and continued learning every day. But I take a breath ... think about others who have children who don’t talk, don’t communicate at all, disabled, etc and we thank our lucky starts that our son is capable of doing most things - just not good socially with his peers.
MICHAEL SAVAGE (WEINER) .. both last names fit you well!
Go get a life - be happy, you only go around once and you obviously are a taunted, miserable person inside and out who hates everyone and can only communicate by being nasty.
YOU HAVE A DISABILITY FAR WORSE THAN OUR SON.