I am a firm believer in free speech, however there comes a point where the boundaries of tastefulness get breached. While it may be OK to do that in the privacy of your own home, it clearly is unacceptable on the radio. Yes, I know it can be argued that no one is forcing us to tune into the various that fill the airwaves, Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, Howard Stern, Mike Savage, etc, I still think that their shows are completely unnecessary streams of vomitus.
Mike Savage has managed to invoke the ire of everyone involved with the debilitating disease of Autism.
The National Autism Association had the following to say:
The National Autism Association (NAA) today joins thousands of parents around the country in demanding an apology and retraction from radio talk show host Mike Savage for his July 16 broadcast in which he stated that children affected by autism are “brats,” and that bad parenting is to blame for a “fraudulent” epidemic now affecting one in 150 children.
The Mike Savages of the world are completely off base. The question I have is why would you want to attack those that are defenseless? This kind of action is abhorrent to decent people everywhere.
In addition to a public apology and retraction of his words regarding children and families impacted by autism, NAA asks that time be allowed on the Savage show for a truthful portrayal of autism, its effect on families, and the advances in research that are offering hope for recovery to those dealing with autism.
Well, you can pretty much guarantee that that is not going to happen. These Shock Jocks are exactly that. The idea of one of them saying they are sorry is about as likely as Ralph Nader becoming president.
It is a sad world that we live in.
Simon Barrett
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26 users commented in " Shock Jock Mike Savage Savages Autism "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackYou know Imus said it best when he commented that his mistake was attacking people who had done nothing wrong, were not in a public position, and in effect were defenseless. Shock jocks are great for attacking people who lead public lives, but when are they going to learn going after the private citizen who has done nothing wrong will immediately bring America to the side of the clear underdog. We like when the bully beats up another bully but no one likes seeing a bully beat up a little kid. Apparently Savage did not learn that lesson in school…
Let’s be kind to Mr. Savage. He is, afterall, menally ill. Let’s see what Imus does with this.
I find it ironic that you trash Don Imus in this column when he has long been front and center with his efforts to fund autism research.
Imus was the biggest media influence in getting the Combating Autism Act passed in 2006.
Ok - he should be fired.
Imus is a hero to autism & the community
Mike Savage is awful in every way
How can such an ignorant person (Savage) have his own radio program? Only in America can money pay for ignorance. Maybe he should get a raise.
Your headline is inaccurate. Savage alleges that many children are misdiagnosed as being autistic. That is not the same thing as “savaging autism.”
What evidence does Savage claim? What counterevidence does the NAA offer? I have no idea who’s right. (No, I don’t automatically assume that professional organizations are right 100% of the time. Medical professionals were wrong when ages ago they claimed AIDS couldn’t be transmitted via saliva.) Let’s have a real debate here, folks.
FYI, I have never seen or listened to Savage.
I had to go to Fox News to find out Savage’s most startling claim - he said that 99 percent of autism is misdiagnosed.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,387662,00.html
For the record, Savage tells his side of the story here:
http://michaelsavage.wnd.com/?pageId=1126
NAA should be challenging Savage to back up his cliams with documented studies before demanding an apology. Savage should be citing such studies without having to be asked, just as Rush documents his news sources on the air and on his site. A pox on both the NAA and Savage houses.
As much as I hate to agree with Mike Savage, he is very right. I have worked with special education as well as life support students in public schools. The first day that I returned home, I easily drew the conclusion that most of these kids don’t actually have learning disabilities…they are just brats who lack structure in their lives and probably run the household. I would recommend a good, firm spanking and some good ‘ole fashion chores. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe there ARE children that DO have autism, but I feel like people are REALLY stretching who does and who doesn’t. Thimerisol IS a factor, but are parents themselves too stupid to research and know the real facts now a days about immunizations? YES. Are parents gonna take a single doctors diagnosis are run with it? YES. Are people going to continue being so stupid that they put toxic medications in small children for non-existant problems? ABSOLUTELY. People need to get educated. People need to get real and know that pharma companies and most doctors don’t care about your health, they care about your money. It is a cycle. Conventional medicine is the #1 killer in the USA and has a higher number than all american casualties of war together. In the last decade alone, modern medicine has killed 800,000 people in the USA. Oh, your kid has autism, you can keep returning to my office for the REST OF YOUR LIFE and my friends, pharma companies, can profit too because for the rest of your life you can take this medication. WAKE UP.
you know i suck with words, and getting my point across, but for a journalist type person, mike savage is way worse off than me. if he wants to say the austism dx. is used to much and the kids are getting over fed medication then say that, calling my kid a brat was un-called for. most parents like myself dont want to medicate their autistic children, we want to teach them by working with them, and by being patient. my son was only medicated when he was in school, it was the staff that did not want to deal with him, i finally got so sick of it, i pulled him out of school, took him off all the medications and now after 3 years he is doing better, he still paces the floor constantly, talks out of turn, gets way to excited in certain situtations, but i figure that is how he was made, were all different and if i take my time and work on his short comings i notice improvement slowly but surely. it is the outsiders that cant deal with the our kids odd ways. teachers and any one that deal with any kid or adult who is a little slower or as they see as irratating want a magic bullet to make that kid/adult to conform to their way and with a quickness, thus applying the pressure to the childs parent and doctors to get that done. i hope that all parents of autistic children understand that in those cases and times when it is necessary to medicate our children that the medication is only a tool,not a cure. it is like having a flat and putting one of those donut tires on your car, it is only ment to give you some time and a small window so you can get the real work done. my child is not medicated now, however someday he may need them again, will cross that bridge if and when we get to it, but as in the past with any medication use, we will go in with eyes wide open.
It is just unreal he would call autism a fraud and a racket…i wish he would have spent a day in my classroom…then he’d have some insight as to how these children act, react…what a nasty, nasty commentary. Michael please read all about Autism at TRCB you know what are the main causes for autism.
I am a teacher at a middle school in Maryland, and unfortunately I have to argee with Mr. Savage. In my 22 years of professional experience, I have seen several parents demand accomodations, modifications, etc. for their “autistic” child with no verifiable documentation.
My school currently has a situation where “Johnny” disturbs the entire school on a regular basis, threatens to blow up the school because “My pizza is yellow!” and so on. When he is finally remoived from a classroom, the other children say, “Good, now we can learn something.” Mom threatens to sue us if we make any attempt to control this little monster, and Dad threatens to sue us for not using physical restraint. The real kicker is that NO legitimate documentation has ever been provided to our school to verify that “Johnny” really and truly has autism.
In the meantime, “Johnny” smirks and laughs when he gets away with all this nonsense. You want to protest about his rights? What about the rights of 500 other kids whose education is denied on a near-daily basis thanks to “Johnny” and his manipulative parents?!?!
I am sorry. I am the parent of a 5 year old autistic child who really behaves well because we work with him constantly. We do not medicate, we do not let him run the house, we set strong boundries! He receives speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy, all of which have made him a very happy and well adjusted child! I do believe that there are parents that say that their child is autistic to cover up their lack of judgment in the raising of their child. But for that man to say the things that he said… He doesn’t have a clue what we went through to get where we are now. And that teacher from Maryland has no business teaching if she thinks that all children with autism are the same as that boy. She is as stupid as Savage.
I have son with severe autism who is ten and doesn’t have language it took several years to get a diagnosis. It is a hard diagnosis to give out. The reason why I believe they call it the autism spectrum is because no two cases are the same. I don’t believe doctor’s want to hand out the diagnosis without some of the characteristics that are specific to autism. There are OCD’s, language delays and development. Do I believe there are false diagnosis maybe we are human not infallible but these children, adults and families who do have autism in our families can’t take the negative publicity because it takes away from our children. Services are hard to come by and we need them. A child with autism needs 35 to 40 hours consistance programing to gain autonomy. California is one of the better states to be in as well as Wisconsin, and New Jersey. However, California has approximately 400 teachers who are NCLB compliant to teach these children. We don’t need bad press the refridgerator mothers who I got to hear in Wisconsin they just got the door open for autism that was years ago and we still have a long way to go. Could misdiagnosis occur sure in any illness. However, I have given up my home twice for my son and am about to have my computer turned off and my phone. Since, I took a loss on my home to maintain services for my son. I also got my masters in Autism Specialist at the University of Whitewater so people don’t make money off our children. Be proactive and learn and don’t judge. I am not going to judge Mike Savage I am just going to say whether there is credence to what you say it hurts people more than it helps. Good luck… On your debate this is just my opinion everyone has one…
Me again… I just read the above post about the teacher from Maryland. I am also a teacher who teaches children with autism and I love it. I worked at a NPS where we took in the hardest cases. I enjoy a good bite like the best of them. However, we as Special Education Teachers are not equipt to say whether a child has autism or not unless we have been on a team to diagnos the child. If a parent says a child has autism let them have the benefit of the doubt because I have worked with some very verbally and physically aggresive children with autism. I’ve had windows broken out, desk thrown, and then my classroom became a calm because we were consistent and gave them a safe haven. Working with a special needs child we need to individualize there care and whether that child in your class has autism or not it is obvious that something is wrong. So as a teacher it is our job to find out what works with that child and how to keep the rest or our students safe. I have worked with sexual offendors, developmentally disabled, emotionally disturbed and have loved every population. I give you Kudos for having a hard student in your class but try and get to the root of the problem and work on that. You have to develop some trust relationship. The Girls Boys town program works. Behavioralism does work I had to use this a lot when I worked in care homes. My favorite is when a fragile X girl I met for the first time split her head open on cement. I had to do planned ignoring and when I went out to my car I cried. This went on for a month and finally I extinquished the behavior because I gave no credence to it. So if you need help with that student as a teacher/ learning disabled person you can see I am. I seek it until I find some solution. I didn’t hide behind my disability I embraced it and people on the spectrum who are higher functioning want to be seen as something else. That is not in the cards for my child but it is what drew me to special education. It is hard work but I find myself fortunate to be able to work with this population. I commend you on your hardships in the classroom with this boy. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t autistic it just means like you said,” You haven’t seen the documentation. I no longer have my son’s since I moved twice but make no mistake he is autistic and I am proud of it. However, if I needed to get it for his school. I would contact the Birth to Three program and seek it. If you want more paperwork ask. As a mom with a disabled son I always want to accomodate the people working with my child. As a teacher I want to give the benefit of the doubt. Since, I am good with my population but suck at paperwork one of my fellow teacher corrects mine. Help is out there just look for it. Again, good luck…
If you would like to hear a Radio show on Autism where I interview an author, a man dedicated to reaching out and delivering a new way to think about Autism Spectrum, a man who in fact has Aspergers, then please go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/QuantumRadio/2008/04/08/Autism-and-the-God-Connection-author-Bill-Stillman
William Stillman is the author of The Soul Of Autism and what an amazing and beautiful perspective he can share with you. William Speakman is like the Horse Whisperer. He is able to sit with ANY child who has Autism, or any of the spectrum, and let you know what is going on inside of them. I am hoping to have him back on air on my other radio show Mission Unstoppable July 29th. Check the http://www.instituteforquantumliving.com website to see the confirmed date. Coach Frankie Picasso
I will be brief because his opinion and yours mean very little to me. Just barely enough for me to write this(only cuz I’m bored)
First, Megan(who said she worked in Special Education and agreed with Savage, and all kids need a spanking) Quit whatever it is you’re doing and go be a clerk in a grocery store, you have no business being in education. Where I live, two teachers with the same opinion as you were arrested for beating autistic children and tying them to chairs with tape and rope, oh and biting one of them.(Two seperate incidents, close school districts)
Second, this guy Savage said 99% were misdiagnosed. Well, this may be true, but the fact that autism is such a WIDE disorder and the medical field supposedly knows very little about. Maybe their haste in diagnosing a child benefits the structure of that child. The chance there would be that it could also hold him back but I think the chances would be slimmer. My only point is, I am not a doctor, I am not a person whose opinion matters, I am just a parent of a child who is severely autistic, and for Savage to say something with only an aggravated assumption can only make me yawn and write this. Let the doctors do their thing, he can keep bitching about people parking in handicap parking spaces.
Bullies!!!!
I don’t have time to get into this as much as I would like, my autistic son needs me…..
In this world with teachers and other bullies like Savage having those kinds of feelings freaks me out. The fact that I have to send my child off to school scares me enough!! Could you people who have issues with “US” tell where you work so we will never have our children around you?? You shouldn’t be around children, nevermind humans.
Walk in our shoes for a day….
Mike Savage is a loudmouth that gets paid to say outragous things. On this issue he really earned his paycheck. As the parent of 6 children including one delightful 4 year old boy who has autism I was shocked at Mikes assertion that 99% of autistic kids just need a good beating and be told to stop acting like a fool. My 4 year old son cannot speak, and cannot understand when he is spoken to. Mike is welcome to come visit my home and impart this wisdom to my son, If thats what it would take for me to be able to have a conversation with my son I would even let Mike be the one to give the spanking. But guess what, autism is not treatable by the methods that Mr Savage perscribes in his rant.
My wife and I decided to have a little fun with this. I have an aerial advertising company in Reno NV and we decided to fly a sign over the local radio station that hosts Mike Savages show. The sign read “MY SON HAS AUTISM MIKE SAVAGE IS AN IDIOT” I figured that since he has the right to call my son a brat I can voice my opinion about him. The local new channel picked up the story and it was shown on 4 consecutive newscasts. We used Mikes ignorent comments to bring autism to the the minds of a lot of people in Reno and Northen Nevada.
The silver lining in all the bruhaha surrounding the gaff Mike made is this, there were a lot of people that actually KNOW what they are talking about on autism that were given a chance to speak and educate the public about autism and the effect that it is having on our families and our community.
What’s next? Others suffering with neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s or Muscular Dystrophy just need to “Cut it Out”?
Michael Alan Weiner, better known by his pseudonym Michael Savage, must be on OxyContin. He’s just another loser shock jock trying to gain audience with idiotic statements. Now he’s desperately trying to explain away his idiotic statements on autism save his nationally-syndicated talk show and his big paycheck. I guess wasn’t making enough $ with his Ph.D. in nutritional ethnomedicine. Berkely should revoke his Ph.D. for spouting this garbage on the radio. I’ve never listened to his program and I never will.
As a mother of two children both of whom have neurological disorders and Autism being one of them, they suffer enough problems in there daily life, to have to put up with a pig ignorant attitude like this from Mr.M.Savage, clearly this….(lets just call him a loud mouth for now)has no understanding of this brain disorder or any alike, I sincerely hope that no one in his family is ever diagnosed with Autism or any other neurological disorder, as I very much doubt they would get any kind of support from him, and he apparently has a PHD, well all I can say about this is if he can get a PHD then any animal in a zoo could get one also.
Savage isn’t the only TRN show spreading ignorant lies about autism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5j4MSlKdw
I agree with Micheal. I know several people who have chosen to blame bad behavior or stress of life, on their child’s state of mind. I think that every parent needs to STAND up and BE A REAL PARENT!! You know in the 60’s-80’s everyone has ADD or ADHD.. And no one was on drugs! And now you cant even get through on day without hearing a pathetic mother go on about how awful her life is because of “autism”. When I know that it is because of lack of parenting. If these parents to their roll seriously and punished their kids accordingly, there would be no problems. I deal with a mother on a day to day basis who has a child with autism. And for 8 years, she has used it to blame all her life’s problems for it. She is pathetic to do that. And then she passes it on to the rest of the family and they all think that ALL their kids have problems. Give ME A BREAK!!!! I think Michel is RIGHT!!! I think if there was a dad, or mother who actually taught their children discipline and manners, autism wouldn’t even be considered.
GROW UP AND BE A REAL PARENT!
Amanda, I am not going to start slinging mud at you personally, as with your kind of attitude I actually pity you!
Maybe and this is just a maybe, if you could live in an Autistic childs footsteps for just one day, then you may be able to see exactly what these children have to deal with on a daily basis.
Have you spent more than a few hours with a family and their Autistic child, sorry let me rephrase that, have you spent time with EVERY Autstic child and their family in the world? if not, then you can not possibly generalise, which is what you have done, like Mr Savage.
You say “give me a break” let me tell you Amanda it is the families and these children that need a break from comments like yours that make there lives more difficult than they already are.
Anyway this comment will not even hit a spot in your brain because you already have a narrow mined attitude, and normally with narrow minded people they “think” that they are right and everyone else is wrong, I suppose you would even argue with science??
Wow… Amanda my son doesn’t have language at ten. I wait to hear his voice. He goes to a functional school from 7:45 til 1:30. Then he gets home at 2:00 and has therapy til 6:00. My son works more than normal people. If you think I want a son with autism you obviously think I would like to die of cancer. My son has no control of his nervous system. We teach him by breaking down a skill and teach that skill over and over. I have commitment for my son I have sold my house twice and traveled across the country to seek out services he needs to give him better automony when I die. I am saddened by your comments because when I die I can’t protect him from people like you. I hope and pray no one in your family had to deal with autism because I definitely wouldn’t have chose this path for my first born son. I cry for the person he would have been without autism. I cry every night and will til the day I die. Please, don’t work in the care giving services you give me nightmares for my son in the future.
I cry for all of our children and adults dealing with this disability and other disabilities as well.
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