Savage on autism: "A fraud, a racket. ... In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out"
SUMMARY: On his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage claimed that autism is "[a] fraud, a racket. ... 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.' "
On the July 16 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage claimed that autism is "[a] fraud, a racket." Savage went on to say, "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.' " Savage concluded, "[I]f I behaved like a fool, my father called me a fool. And he said to me, 'Don't behave like a fool.' The worst thing he said -- 'Don't behave like a fool. Don't be anybody's dummy. Don't sound like an idiot. Don't act like a girl. Don't cry.' That's what I was raised with. That's what you should raise your children with. Stop with the sensitivity training. You're turning your son into a girl, and you're turning your nation into a nation of losers and beaten men. That's why we have the politicians we have."
Savage also stated: "[W]hy was there an asthma epidemic amongst minority children? Because I'll tell you why: The children got extra welfare if they were disabled, and they got extra help in school. It was a money racket. Everyone went in and was told [fake cough], 'When the nurse looks at you, you go [fake cough], "I don't know, the dust got me." ' See, everyone had asthma from the minority community."
Talk Radio Network, which syndicates The Savage Nation, claims that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches at least 8.25 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it one of the most listened-to talk radio shows in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.
From the July 16 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: Now, you want me to tell you my opinion on autism, since I'm not talking about autism? A fraud, a racket. For a long while, we were hearing that every minority child had asthma. Why did they sudden -- why was there an asthma epidemic amongst minority children? Because I'll tell you why: The children got extra welfare if they were disabled, and they got extra help in school. It was a money racket. Everyone went in and was told [fake cough], "When the nurse looks at you, you go [fake cough], 'I don't know, the dust got me.' " See, everyone had asthma from the minority community. That was number one.
Now, the illness du jour is autism. 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.
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."
Autism -- everybody has an illness. If I behaved like a fool, my father called me a fool. And he said to me, "Don't behave like a fool." The worst thing he said -- "Don't behave like a fool. Don't be anybody's dummy. Don't sound like an idiot. Don't act like a girl. Don't cry." That's what I was raised with. That's what you should raise your children with. Stop with the sensitivity training. You're turning your son into a girl, and you're turning your nation into a nation of losers and beaten men. That's why we have the politicians we have.
And he said to me, "Don't behave like a fool." The worst thing he said -- "Don't behave like a fool. Don't be anybody's dummy. Don't sound like an idiot. Don't act like a girl. Don't cry." - Savage Weiner
Why didn't he listen to his father?
YES, he can be treated: BY EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US BOYCOTTING HIS SPONSORS, CALLING FOR THEM TO PULL THEIR SUPPORT OF HIS "SHOW", AND EMAILING EVERYONE WE KNOW, HITTING UP EVERY DISCUSSION BOARD AND ADVOCACY GROUP WEBSITE AND LETTING EVERONE WE CAN KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE.
If he's looking for attention & publicity, I ask for your help in insuring that he gets the worst possible kind.
Insulting and Defaming disabled childeren, their parent, families, teachers and therapists - all of whom work hard to help them overcome this incredible obstacle is beyond the pale, even for Savage. To remain silent is to advocate it.
We have free speech in this country, but that doesn't mean your speech has no consequences. Please join my efforts in calling for a boycott of any company that sponsors this filth.
I'm all for it Nice Guy, but how can we make it more successful than CAIR's campaign against the advertisers? I agree money is the bottom line, but there are significant numbers of people out there who are determined to be morons and support morons like Savage. I think history is going to be very unkind to Savage, until he is just forgotten. But in the meantime, as long as he is blowing hot air through his voicebox, he is inciting intolerance, and I know it will turn to violence.
So, someone come up with a specific plan which will drain him of the necessary funds to continue. His followers are lower to lower-middle class and with gas and food prices what they are, probably cannot afford to contribute to his "Free Speech" fund (of course it is a Hate Speech Fund, which he needed when he called on "all hunters in America to rid this country of the Islamic vermin which have infected it." I was listening that day. I wish MMFA would have made available the clip about "hunting down the Moslems" in the US, but they didn't.
Anyway - for the plan - what is it?
Is there a national organization for families of autistic children that could provide help?
He (Savage) is planning a release of his autobiography - is there a way to address this with the publisher?
Savage was a supporter of electing G.W. Bush, our nefarious President, who could be legally indicted for murder, according to a new book by Vincent Buglioso.
Shouldn't he (Savage) be held accountable, as a media personality, for supporting disastrous policies (i.e. the Presidency of GW Bush) which have resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans and untold numbers of innocent Iraqis? For contributing to the installment of a political cabal that has damaged our constitution and civil rights? There should be some form of accountablity for public personalities.
How about the city of San Francisco, which has passed resolutions condeming him? Is there something they can do that has more teeth in it?
I went to your web site link and they agree with Savage. "Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a "spectrum disorder" that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. There is no known single cause for autism ". Which leads me to believe that doctors will condemn a child as autistic without full knowledge of what it is. Considering the close ties that the medical society and pharmecutical society have with each other, I have to give great credence to the worry that false diagnosis happens very frequently. Considering also the complicated and drawn out testing procedures to properly diagnose this disease would also lead me to believe doctors will quickly brand someone autistic without full testing or confirmation. Which is my belief as to why the large increase in autism cases have occured over the last whatever period of time. Doctors have become overworked and speed/accuracy have suffered from this.
But, you all can continue to hate/ridicule Savage for announcing his opinion. It is what this site is designed for--hate/ridicule. Why let a little thing like fact get in the way of your hatefullness.
You've demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge on the topic. Doctors DON'T just slap a label on a kid. That's utter nonsense. The testing is invovled and complex, as is the disorder, which is why familes are refered to specialists and that testing is covered by most insurance. (Although the needed therapy afterwards rarely is!) PCP's do not generally diagnose autism.
As for "condemning" a child... That's also nonsense. It's people like you and Savage that make this diagnosis a "condemnation." Is the REAL WORLD, having that diagnosis gets that child the spcial services and accomodations they need to funtion. In this day and age, it is only to the cild'sbenefit to have that. And while there may be some over-diagnosis, a little extra, specialized speech therapy or special education never hurt anyone. DO you wnat them to function in society? Or get stuck in an institution? Who do you think pays for that, BTW? If you're going to pay either way, we may as well do it RIGHT.
You're twisting reality around to fit your own ignorant outlook. You've read a website. Big deal. I'VE LIVED IT FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS. And believe me, you have no %uckin& idea what you're talking about.
Unfortunately, not only does it exist, it has a name. "Diagnosis shopping" is when a parent deliberately seeks a doctor to assign a particular diagnosis. While the reasons for this are beyond the scope of my post, I would definitely not suggest doctors "never" slap a diagnosis on a child.
I think the real problem is vernacular. Rather than slap we should say predisposed to assign disabilities over other physicians.
August, you're so naive. We live in a culture that coddles children and offers no support to parents who want to instill good values and discipline in them. Take my daughter for instance. Just because some pointy-headed, smartest-guy-in-the-room-type 'doctor' claimed that some 'bloodwork' proved that my girl has 'diabetes', do you think I took his word for it? Of course not! I told my kid to stop acting like a fool and regulate her blood sugar. After all, if she doesn't regulate her own blood sugar with her own body, who else is going to do it -- the government? I expect more from my own child. I told her to pick up those insulin levels by her own bootstraps. This is America! I've never felt more ashamed of her than when I discovered that she was failing miserably at her responsibility to control her own insulin production. But it was a critical moment for me as a parent: if I let her shirk the responsibility to produce hormones and regulate blood sugar for herself now, pretty soon she'll be blaming the world for her problems, begging for handouts from taxpayers, and then before you know it she'll be a welfare queen.
Pfff. Doctors.
wow. My "opinion" is that this guy should leave the medical diagnoses to doctors and stop blaming parents. What are we, in 1983? Linking autism to welfare is so asinine. This must be satire. It has to be.
If Mr. Savage had a child with Autism I am sure he would end up in prison for child abuse. He just has no clue...
Peoples' "beliefs" about what is and what isn't are not FACT. Everyone who BELIEVES that Autism is a function of social "welfare" or "orphanage dumps" or whatever needs to get educated and actually read about what causes it.
It is also asinine to say this is a class problem. It is prevalent in affluent classes too, but there just aren't as many of them. Get real people.
Herein lies the problem: you are not capable of discerning what a physician needs to make a proper diagnosis. That, combined with blind faith in the "talk show host" and his opinion, make you doubly dangerous to otherwise intelligent matters. Sure, you may be trained and qualified in some field, but that doesn't mean you or Uberreichminister Savage have one wit of what's going on since the only important thing is "his opinion."
Btw, has your doctor been able to schedule you for that arm shortening surgery yet? I can hear your knuckles dragging from here. Be sure to ask for the Limbaugh Special in which they throw in opposable thumbs gratis.
Philib,
This was so painful to read. I am a mother of an 8 year old son with autism. His autism is severe- he has repetition in his speech (what little he has) and his behaviors are difficult. It took 3 years to get him diagnosed! No doctor was willing to slap him with a diagnosis until they were completely positive that was what it actually was.
I encourage you to do more research on the topic. Please go to autismspeaks.org where you will get good, solid information on the topic.
If autism was a simple thing like telling my kid to behave, he would have been "cured" when he was 1 1/2. Sadly that's not the case.
I spent last night email every autism support and advocacy group I could find. I hit up discussion boards (for what good that does) and I've contacted people I know who distribute Autism related material to familes via email.
If you want to help boycott this f^cknut, check this site out:
http://www.savagestupidity.com/boycott.html
They list his sponsors and help people presuure them to pull their ads. And t looks like it works - several sponsors have done just that. (Tempur-pedic is metnioned rigth up front.) So START by helping these guys out! Sign their petition, send out their letters! This goes beyond politics. This is about basic human dencency.
You can also check out: MichaelSavageSucks.com
or contact: info@savagestupidity.com
Yes. He has insulted and defmaed my childeren, me, my wife, my sons teachers and their therapsists. He has done the same to hunereds of thousands others in the same situation. He has dismissed the herculean efforts made by my two boys (and the hundereds of thousands like them) to learn to speak, socialize and function in ways that most of us take for granted, and to overcome their disability. These kids work harder than you and I are even capable of, let alone a lazy hack like Savage. This kind of rant has no place in a civilized society.
(And don't tell me about FREE SPEECH. If the FCC or any branch of the GOV'T were to go after him over this, I'd be first in line to defend his rights. But even "free" speech still has consequences, and those are felt in the FREE-market. And yes, this man needs to be punninshed, as do all those who profit from this crap, and the way to make that happen is by "speaking" with your own hard earned dollars, and encorage as many others as possible to do the same.)
I am the father of three autistic children, and I actually agree with him. I think more than a little autism today is social dysfunction brought on by commercial orphanage kid dumps called day care.
Hey, you know what? You're right. Words are just harmless, meaningless things. Arbitrary symbols. Collections of sounds and squiggles on paper. Signifiers without significance.
You've opened my eyes. I'm going to start breaking any law that's inconvenient to me because, after all, laws are just words! Who cares, right?
Next, I'm going to randomly tell people that they're ugly. Or maybe I'll start telling the people that I love that I actually hate them. Just for fun, you know, because it's not like any of this would hurt anyone -- it's only silly words! They've never done anyone any harm.
Oh - better yet, I'll walk up behind someone who looks rich on the street and tell them that if they don't give me their money, I'm going to kill them. That'll be a good laugh, won't it? Wow, it's great what you can do when you see that words have no influence over people's lives. Thanks for enlightening me.
I'm finding it a lot easier to find lists of companies that pulled their support or have issued statements saying that they refuse to sponsor this crap. Sad thing is: Those lists are mainly generated by Savage's supporters who are trying to get people to punnish those companies! (So they're fighting - we should fight back!)
Will I actually have to LISTEN to this @$$hol@'s show just to find out who advirtises? *shudder*. LOL.
I want to see MMFA have a "demand an apology" thing for this a$$hol@ as has been done for just about every racial and sexist comment ever made. This rant goes so far beyond ANY of those. He's defaming families, insulting childeren, criticizing parents (many of whom deal with things every day that he couldn't evn imagine), criticizing disabled childeren... I have NEVER HEARD anything so absurdly hateful, ignrant and insulting in my entire life.
I HOPE AND PRAY THAT THE OUTRAGE AND BACKLASH IS PROPORTINATE TO THE ABSURDITY AND HATRED AND IGNORANCE OF HIS COMMENTS.
Good article on Savage by Rory O'Connor and Aaron Cutler. May 23rd. roryoconnor.com
Here are some Savage lines from the article:
"The Most Savage Shock Jock of them All" Shock jocks, hate speech and talk radio
On the issue of illegal immigration, he said:
“We, the people, are being displaced by the people of Mexico. This is an invasion by any other name. Everybody with a brain understands that. Everybody who understands reality understands we are being pushed out of our own country.”
On CNN news anchors:
“Wolf Blitzer, a Jew who was born in Israel, [is] probably the most despicable man in the media next to Larry King, who takes a close runner-up by the hair of a nose. The two of them together look like the type that would have pushed Jewish children into the oven to stay alive one more day to entertain the Nazis.”
On homosexuality:
“The radical homosexual agenda will not stop until religion is outlawed in this country. Make no mistake about it. They’re all not nice decorators
They threaten your very survival
Gay marriage is just the tip of the iceberg. They want full and total subjugation of this society to their agenda.”
And in conclusion:
“Why should we have constant sympathy for people who are freaks in every society? I’m sick and tired of the whole country begging, bending over backwards for the junkie, the freak, the pervert, the illegal immigrant. All of them are better than everybody else. Sick.”
I am so furious. Given the chance, and a get out jail free card, I would kill this ignorant jackass with my bare hands. His words are so full of hateful ignorance that I am beyond words. A fraud. Autism. Yeah right. What do you know about it, you stupid f--k?!
This man is subhuman scum. I now truly know what it means to hate, and I hate this man.
I sympathize but in many ways these comments are far worse.
Putting asaide that (right or wrong) the Diagnosis of ADHD is tricky, and has always been somewhat controversial (again - right or wrong), Autism is 100 times as debilitating as ADHD. (I'm not saying for a second that ADHD can't be debilitating, but spend 5 minutes with an autistic and you'll see what I mean.) Plus you can take medication for ADHD. Sadly, there's no pill for Autism - these kids just have to fight thorugh it, without any pharmaceutical help. But seeing what they can achieve inspires me to be a better person. My own sons Michael and Jacob are my absolute heroes. Both of them work harder and overcome more than I can imagine even being capable of myself.
And he said to me, "Don't behave like a fool." The worst thing he said -- "Don't behave like a fool...Don't sound like an idiot
It's apparent his dad's advice didn't sink in.
Savage would be better off spouting off against the over-medicating of our nation's youth. But that would be the intelligent thing to do.
so to which post are you referring? Then we'll talk.
The one that my post is right under, or isn't it that obvious. More directly then, I'll explain for you. My post was referring to "Unemployed? Get a job!"
so to which post are you referring? Then we'll talk.
The one that my post is right under, or isn't it that obvious. More directly then, I'll explain for you. My post was referring to "Unemployed? Get a job!"
Kiss my ass, science. Elitist bitch.
You know I saw a great bumper sticker the other day that read:
"Work Harder!: Millions on welfare depend on you"
You just reminded me of that.
The Savage one, on a roll this week. Although, I'd have to go out on a not very far limb here, and agree with what someone else said. This about about the most absurd and ridiculous thing he's said to date. Attacking children. Parents. And just about everyone else in between (notice he took a stab at minorities on the way through), and his conclusion? It's because these kids' dads didn't tell them to act like a man. That's their problem.
Yeah, OK Mike. I'm sure that's the cause of it. I'm pretty sure he'd LOVE to bring back the late 19th century insane asylum kind of place as well. Got someone in your life you don't want to deal with? Wife? Kid? Husband? Dump them in an insane asylum, and never see them again. Good family values this guy.
My best wishes for your cousin's family. My two sons are both autistic (if you haven't gleaned that from my own rage-filled rats!) :) So I know first hand how hard it can be.
HEY: MMFA, YOU NEED TO HAVE A "DEMAND AN APOLOGY" PETITION FOR THIS! I'M SERIOUS!
Weiner of course says things to get attention, and it's doubtful that he believes his own pitiful rant. I do hope it backfires on him big time.
My daughter has a mild form of autism as well, and we've seen innumerable specialists and tried out many types of therapies in an effort to help her cope with it as best she can.
Not surprisingly, we know many other parents in the same situation, most of whom have several children, but only one that is affected with this disorder--so much for it being caused by poor parenting! Indeed, a friend of ours has two kids, one is so severly autistic that he's still non-verbal in young adulthood; the other has a gifted intellect and skipped a couple of grades. I'm sure that telling the former "Don't act like a moron," etc., would have solved all their problems. Uh, right.
Wouldn't it be nice if Savage's level of knowledge were anywhere near the level of his decibels?
Hey, where's Philib? Isn't he the token Savage fan in this forum? I wonder if he thinks autistic kids and their parents are frauds as well?
Maybe we should start making fun of cancer patients, too!
And how about those dumb Alzheimer patient who can't remember $#!t? Or those darn Parkinson's patients: SIT STILL FOR GOD'S SAKE!
Men like Savage make me want to be more religious, just so I can really believe in HELL.
Parkinson's (sp) disease is a serious disease. I see it all the time in the hospital.
But its also a disease, that in many people, is controllable through medication. To purposely avoid the medicated controls to make a statement is not the way to legitimize the seriousness.
To purposely avoid the medicated controls to make a statement is not the way to legitimize the seriousness.
When, exactly, did that happen?
The Michael J Fox commercial.
He wasn't "acting" as Rush Limbaugh asserted he was. But it's clear that he wasn't on his medication to control the symptoms, because it was meant as a way to legitimize the seriousness of the disease through first hand video reference.
If he can control his actions on the camera for 20+ years, then he can do it for a 3 minute commercial. If he was not purposely trying to convey the symptoms, then he would have waited until the medication kicked in to keep them under control.
Except you don't know WTF you are talking about. When he made that commercial HE WAS ON HIS MEDS!!! The meds made him move like that. You have now been further exposed a complete moron devoid of any critical thinking skills.
Dr. Daniel emails:
I know someone with parkinsons. I'd say you are offbase, science.
My father-in-law has Parkinsons too. Science is an aberration of the term and about as ignorant as they come. The meds, in some cases, have caused symptoms even worse than the disease itself.
Science - maybe you should just close your mouth when you nothing about the subject matter. You're really starting to make yourself look even worses than you first appeared. It is becoming embarassing.
Rush's arguments were not called for. He claimed that Michael J Fox was off his meds and pretending to have those symptoms. He was on his meds and those medicines cause those symptoms. In order to even do the ad he had to take high doses of the medication.
MJF, as all Parkinson's patients, get worse and worse as the years go by. That's why he could act still 20 years ago, and now he can't, because he can barely manage to appear on a political commercial less than a minute long and even then his disease and the side effects of the medicine were quite intense.
A subsequent interview of Michael J. Fox where he responds to Limbaugh confirms exactly what the doctor in Benjamin's quote said.
"The irony is that I was too medicated."
Flush Drugbaugh was talking out of his rear end, just as you are, Science.
you really aren't too bright are you?
In one breath you say . . . "Rush's statements were uncalled for and cruel against the disease."
In another you say . . . "But his basis for the argument was, none the less, correct."
Which is it? If it was true it was neither uncalled for or cruel? And medications for parkinson's minimize symptoms not cure them. It depends on the stage you're in.
My god there are some stupid people in America . . . and all listen to the likes Hannity, Savage and Rush!
What if he wasn't trying to control his symptoms. Maybe he was trying to show his audience what the symptoms looked like. Maybe he wanted people to see the devastating affects of this disease. If you are implying that he was being dishonest, there is nothing dishonest about it. It is in fact courageous.
BTW there is no medication that cures autism so what does Michael J. Fox have to do with this thread?
None to me. It was in refernce to someone elses comments.
Skipp You're only helping Science101 out by stating that MJF was entitled to show the symptoms of his disease when he wasn't showing the symptoms of his disease at all but was showing the side effects of the medications that relieve the symptoms of the disease!
You need to understand a few things. First, Michael uses a stunt double - Charles Croughwell - to help work through his film sessions. Charles is credited with designing methods to help Michael hide his symptoms when behind the camera.
Second, you should look up parkinsons to see what the symptoms are before you suggest he's being disengenious. But for you, here they are:
The cardinal symptoms are (mnemonic "TRAP"):[1]
Other motor symptoms include:
Third, even though he has a double and has methods to hide his disease when behind a camera, he frequently has to re-shoot sceens several times to get it right. So sure, he looked good when he did "the frighteners" and "spin city", but it was a lot of hard work and reshoots on his part to make that happen.
Parkinson's is a PROGRESSIVE disease. Just because he managed during a TV/film career doesn't mean that he can keep it under ontrol now.
RE: your statement that is is obvious he wasn't on his medication; I recall in another thread you claimed engineering and MBA credentials. I don't remember you saying anything about a medical degree. Further, no doctor I know of would diagnose a patient without examining them.
Just because Rush says something - and no matter how many times it is repeated, by him or his ditto-heads - doesn't make it true. Assertions are not proof.
He explains that in this interview with Katie Couric:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYaVxjMDxaI
"To purposely avoid the medicated controls to make a statement is not the way to legitimize the seriousness."
You see this type of thing a lot, do you?
"a lot" > 0.
And since what you thought you were seeing in the MJF ad turns out not to be one of those instances, and considering your lack of other cases, I'd say the answer you should have typed would have been the following:
"No. Never."
You don't know a damn thing about it. I do. I'm watching it happen before my eyes.
Are you trying to keep your perfect record intact of not knowing what the heck you're talking about and never acknowledging your errors?
Parkinson's causes rigidity. In order to allow patients to move, the medicines cause that movement.
Why do you only learn what the pundits on the right tell you? Why, if you are this educated man, don't you delve deeper and actually learn the truth? Why, if you are an educated man with multiple degrees, would you still think that Social Security is an investment plan, or that Michael J Fox was off his meds when that commercial was shot?
"Yeah, I'm waiting for one of Savage's apologists to come here and tell us what he was really saying and why it's correct. - snoopy / Thursday July 17, 2008 5:13:34 PM EDT"
I suspect they will tell us that it is Savage tough love and he is just doing it for the little frauds' own good. I have to think that there are a few Savage fans who have autistic children. I wonder if any of them will stop listening to this fraud, or take his advise seriously and tell their kids to man up and quit faking it?
What the hell? Really, what the hell? What would this fool know about autism? Has he even seen an autistic kid in person? To be honest, I can't say I have, but I'm pretty confident I can say it isn't just some bratty kid acting out for attention. I usually expect Savage to sound like a bigoted moron, but the fact that he'd attack children with genuine disabilities and their parents who have to deal with that shocked me. Really it did. A part of my heart just died.
Having worked with kids with disabilities for nearly twenty years I want to thank Mr. Savage. I'm going to take is advice. I'll just start by yelling at the kids who are deaf, "Quit faking, I know you can hear me." Same with the kids with developmental disabilities. Bunch of fakers, probably just want the cushie life of limited choices. That kid with autism that I worked with from the time he was three until he was six was such a faker. Next time I see him I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.
Now I wish someone would yell at Mr. Savage. Quit faking that you are a human being.
Awesome post.
I have seen the savage Weiner say a lot of hateful and dumb things, but this really takes the cake. I really hope he doesn't have kids.
Thank you, I completely understand Eddy's rage on this one. I don't have children with autism myself but I have worked with several kids that were on the autism spectrum. Beautiful, wonderful children who were loved deeply by their parents.
Years ago, parents, specifically mothers, were blamed for their child's autism. They were called "refrigeratoor mothers". Now this poor excuse of a bowel movement wants to blame parents again.
I beleive in free speech but not the use of the public airwaves to essentially crap on millions of parents and children who are living with autism. It is beyond belief. Advertisers are you listening to what your salesman is saying? Pull your dollars from this piece of...........
I don't think just MMFA is going to be on this. I already smell a "Worst Person in the World" ranking tonight on Olbermann. Hopefully there will be some backlash against this self righteous son of a bitch.
And Eddie, you have my sympathies. If you needed someone to hold your coat I'd be happy to volunteer.
Better yet, I would like to see them, along with Jenny McCarthy, Dan Marino and Doug Flutie end this sick bigot's career.
while Sylvester Stallone beats him into tomato relish.
With or without steroids? Adrienne!!!!!!
That's "Adrian," Filmstudy101.
My goodness, is there any field of intellectual endeavor that you haven't shown your ineptness in?
So you are saying "generaly" people with autism only show symptoms 90% of the time. Are you implying that. Are you suggesting, postulating, stating as fact, that people with autism only show symptoms 90% of the time. What part of your nether region did you pull that piece of learned information.
BTW I've heard of autism called a disability but never a disease, so maybe once again you are not talking about autism and you are just derailing the thread with your pretend intellect.
The diseases symptoms are just like any other - some are shown worse in individuals than others are. There plenty of people with all sorts of diseases in which their symptoms are generally absent 90% of the time.-science
So you weren't referring to autism in the part that's bolded?
Old Ben, thank you for pointing that out specifically. I usually try to be polite on these threads, sometimes overly so, but this is a topic that is close to my heart. Science101 is just an intellectually lazy person and tries to cover it by attempting to sound smart. He is bone stupid, not because he lacks the ability to think or reason but I suspect that he chooses not to.
To all other posters. Sorry that I was feeding the troll. I'll try not to let it happen again.
Don't apologize, this was worthwhile IMHO. I've been following these boards for 2 months or so and Science101 had quite a bit more credibility (maybe 3 out of 10) before this thread than now (0 out of 10).
There are people like Temple Grandin, who is a PhD with autism and the subject of a fascinating book by Dr. Oliver Sacks. The book is An Anthropologist on Mars. It has several studies of different people with autism. I highly recomend it. I would also recommend Dr. Grandin's own book Thinking in Pictures.
There are also people with severe autism who have difficulty understanding communication and behave similarly to people with severe developmental disabilities.
Dr. Weiner often discusses his doctorate, granted from UC Berkeley in nutrition (1970s?) He uses his credential to suggest his scientific opinions are superior to those of other right-wing pundits, to add some punch to his credibility. However, his scientific opinions on global-warming are not based on current main-stream understanding, and are obviously politically motivated.
Might be that he's still an OK nutritionist, but mostly he's a right-wing radio commentator.
Really, there is a clear limit that anyone should expect from a radio entertainer with pseudonym "savage".
Their propaganda must be deconstructed.
There are only two arguments for Mr. Savage's behavior and they both have the same solution.
1) He's suffering from sever dementia (quite possibly frontal-temporal dementia) which causes a breakdown in logical thinking and results in sever delusions along with emotional disregulation.
2) He's just saying the most outrageous things he can to get the ratings.
The solution to both is to just simply ignore him. He has shown time and time again that he's an idiot who knows nothing of which he speaks (or at least plays one for the ratings). I wouldn't be surprised is half of his listeners are people who hate him, but love to hate him. Either way, by treating what he says seriously we're giving him more power than he deserves.
I say, screw him... he's words and ideas are meaningless to me as they should be to all of us.
Savage is a sick guy. Most likely he is smiling ear to ear that we are all blogging on his disgusting words. He loves the publicity. I know he has made negative, sick comments before about autism and since I have brain cells that work and don't listen to his crap opinions (why does anyone?) I could care less what he thinks about anything...but since I have a daughter severely affected with autism from her vaccines, reading his hateful and ignorant rant made me come here to make sure his sponsors and bosses know that anything he/they endorses, discusses, or promotes will be off my list and all my family and friends. He deserves to lose this job as his idea of freedom of speech is to spew evil and hate. I blame his bosses almost more as they hired this excuse for a human being and it is them who obviously ok his crazy behavior. Talk Radio Network will do anything for numbers and ratings...what's next guys...audio of hitting old ladies with cars? Pathetic...
Red-Chicago
"If I behaved like a fool, my father called me a fool. "
Since Dada is apparently not still keeping an eye out to protect you from yourself, allow me...
You are a Fool...
and might I add, an embarrassment to the man who wanted his son to "turn out right".
S'ok, never noticed. Your post is appreciated.
Saw the Moto Gp from England last weekend, thank you CBS, excellent race on a consistently wet track. Going maybe 10mph slower than on a dry track. Only a few crashes though at least one was by the current leader.
OK, UK, I'm with you on the non-demolition derby cars being boring, but easy on the baseball. It's a game of tension and possibilities and thrillingly boring. The opposite of most American movies.
But I am a big fan of Top Gear, so it is possible to make the motor works interesting.
I'm sorry but l do at this point have to use a quote from an oft referenced American who is well loved around the world and, love him or hate him has made some very penetrating comments on various issues:
"I never realised how boring Baseball was without beer!!", Homer J. Simpson.
Of course, Robin Williams did say Cricket was Baseball on valium. A five day test match ending in a draw could prove him right in some respects!!
"I never realised how boring Baseball was without beer!!"
Many people felt the same way about the Grateful Dead without drugs.
Well played sir!!!
Very droll!!
please, science101 (irony knows no bounds!) is an idiot. you just can't fix stupid. don't waste valuable time, time you'll never recover, trying.
ok, this whole crock about savage's 8.25 million listeners a week is just that. i submit it's overstated by about, oh, say 8.25 million. if he really had that kind of listernship, the MSM would pay attention to his ravings, they don't. not a peep about this.
this leads me to conclude his audience is his mom.
I know I'm just another voice who finds this creature to be a species not related to the human but I just wanted to write that my daughter, a recent college grad, chose to make her living as a therapist for children with Autism. It pays little and the hours are long and I am very very proud of her, so Mr. Savage, you animal, go "F" yourself,
...i dont have the energy to rant. this is easily the most insidious thing this waste of cells has ever said.
and people listen. and cheer.
what has happened to society?
I wish he was correct. I wish it was a racket, a fraud, and that some industry was making just tons of money off parents not telling their kids to "straighten up" and "act like a man". That would be nice. But the sad truth is autism is real and all too prevalent. I have worked with a number of kids first hand and know that there are different levels of severity. It is a sad debilitating disorder that is puzzling doctors and costing parents tons of money. It is extremely difficult to raise these children on the parents and school systems. It takes an enormous amount of love and patience. Often it seems these kids just do not belong in the normal school atmosphere yet they are pushed to be mainstreamed by their parents who only wish and hope their kid was normal. The schools and parents do not have adequate training and resources to handle the children properly. I have never not once seen a child with a pure behavioral problem that was thought to be in regards to autism. There is something truly wrong with so many of our young people in this country, it is sad and upsetting to hear Mr. Savage skewer the kids, parents, schools, etc.
Just when I think this moron can't say anything dumber than he has in the past he proves me wrong again. I'm constantly amazed at the idiocy of my fellow countrymen. Why would anybody consider listening to this loser as anything short of punishment.
The man is a doctor in the study of plants so I wish when people called in they would say something like “hello Doctor Savage, I have a fungus on the fern in my office and was wondering what you would suggest to rid the plant of said fungus?”
As an aside whenever I’m in my car with others and tune him in we usually play a game to see how many minutes he get go before saying the name Hitler or the words gays. I understand that Hitler was a evil maniac but my comparing somebody to him every night belittles the evil that was Hitler. His hang up on gay people speaks volumes, who do you know that goes through their day to day life and worries about what gay people are doing?
Is this working?
It is time for Media Matters (and other agencies) to stop playing into the hands of Savage/Weiner. He is clearly a publicity hound craving attention and realizes that he can get it by saying vile and ridiculous things.
The best way that we can get Savage/Weiner is by exposing him as the charlatan and con artist that he is. The press needs to "follow the money" with "The Michael Savage Defense Fund" - it's my understanding that the court has thrown out his case against CAIR (probably why David Horowitz is no longer involved), but he keeps asking for money on his radio show and Web site. I just finished reading "Charlatan," the book by Pope Brock about "Dr." John Brinkley (the goat glands doctor). It's impossible to read this book without thinking of the parallels between Brinkley and Savage/Weiner.
If this is true, that he is still collecting money from the public for this "lawsuit" that doesn't exits, isn't it FRAUD - I mean in the legal sense? Can't he be sued for this? This seems like the most promissing lead.
In response to an earlier comment on why I am "afraid" of Savage - as I said on previous threads: in my opinion, of all the right-wing bloviators, this is the one who is most likely to promt violence from his "followers". I just don't know when it will happen, who will be the target, and who will pull the trigger, that's all. But I am waiting, with dread, for it to happen.
I don't think that the people who make posts suggesting that the appropriate response is to ignore him understand the whole picture. Many of his followers see Savage as a "prophet" in a near literal sense. With a mentality like that, a "suggestion" from Savage about how to respond to other people (like foreigners, women, religious groups that are not christian or jewish) becomes a command.
Like I said, I'm just waiting for it to happen.... so it's not fear of him that motivates me to listen and work against him, it is the hope that a life may be spared if he can be "contained."
This guy is a sadist.
Why would he say this when he isn't a doctor?
He may not be a doctor, but he does how both a Masters degree and a PHD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage_(commentator)
I doubt that the percentage he says is correct. However, I do know of one case that was mis-diagnosed. When I was growing up in Elementary school there was this kid that nobody talked too, and he in-turn didn't talk to anyone else. He was weird, quiet, and his parents were very poor. Long story short he was sent in for testing and was diagnosed as autistic. However, in 4th grade he got my grandmother for a teacher. My grandmother is similar to savage in his views but would never vocalize those views in this way. Basically she encouraged him with attention, and after school studies. She learned that he was quiet because he was embarresd that he was so poor and most of the time didn't have running water to be able to bathe. That one year with my grandmother turned him totally around. She showed him, how to take a better interest in school, and socialize better. He ended up being one of my best friends and still is to this day. Turns out, his low test scores were simply due to him being bored and feeling isolated, he's a genius in many subjects and shows absolutely no signs of autism . I know this is just one case, but I have also seen MANY cases where parents have done anything they can to get their kid diagnosed with ADHD in hopes of getting SSI on that child. And I could see where some parents may try to coach their child into acting as if they have autism. Now, I do feel Mr Savage is being extreme - but no matter how much we might dislike how he delivered his message, there is a certain amount of truth to it... and to deny that makes us no less ignorant than him.
"Now, I do feel Mr Savage is being extreme - but no matter how much we might dislike how he delivered his message, there is a certain amount of truth to it... and to deny that makes us no less ignorant than him."
You do realize that you are being desensitized to hate speech don't you?
Unfortunately, I am in agreement with the pig...kind of. Our friends children were both "diagnosed" with autism. Upon meeting the children, I informed our friends that the kids weren't autistic. After 18 months, special programs and classes, numerous visits to "professionals, the kids were found to be mis-diagnosed. They are now at the top of their classes and are considered gifted.
The problem stems from who is doing the diagnosing of our children and the lack of a firm hand in raising our children. While I am liberal in my views, I cringe every time I visit a liberal with newfound ways to raise children. Treating children as adults, allowing them to make decisions that they simply aren't capable of is one of the contributing factors in current behavioral problems in our children today. Also, teachers are among the first to diagnose children with autism. Teachers are not trained psychologists and shouldn't be playing that role. Ultimately, the household the kids were raised in was ultra liberal and they were given every leniency. They simply thought the world was theirs to control and wouldn't listen to adults. Them not paying attention to adults was the primary symptom of their diagnosis.
Rather than be literal and overreactive about all conservative talking heads, we should probably realize that conservatives have some good ideas. Not everything they say is wrong. We do ourselves a disservice if we simply reject all statements by conservatives.
Nice straw man argument, though. All the way from your bs model of liberal parents to the false conclusion that all conservative thought is dismissed out of hand by liberals.
I think you're probably a fraud.
"...that's why we have the politicians we have."
Let's not forget the talk show hosts we have as well. Funny, I did not see a shred of evidence like scientific studies to support the baseless and racist ignorance.
It spews, everyday, like vomit, but worse because many misidentify the vomit as plausible or even "truth." Only interbellum Germans of the 20's and 30's were worse (so far). One wonders how many of the geniuses who swallow this swill know who famously said, "A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth." Better yet, how many can find Canada or Iraq on a world map?
Obviously, he has no idea what an "illness" is. He probably doesn't realize that autism is NOT an illness, simply a different way to think. He blames children who've been living in smog-covered environments for having athsma. It's not their fault, just as it's not a child's fault they're a girl or a boy, it's a matter of genetics, or of other variables that are out of their control. I can understand that he's old, that he grew up thinking everyone thought the same way, that no one was different, but he needs to learn that not everyone thinks of the same things the same ways, that not everyone likes the same things, and more importantly, not everyone is completely healthy.
~Spencer, Age 15, diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome(alsocalled "severe autism")
Wow. And Imus gets fired for nappy headed hos????
As the parents of a seventeen year old son with ASD we find Mr. Savage's comments both offensive and saddening. It also shows that there is still so much that the general public needs to learn about how autism affects those living with it and their families.
Autism is not something that can be just disciplined or modified away. We've spent several years of doing for our son what folks would never imagine for their children. Our son have come along the spectrum from being very affected by the disorder to now living with his ASD so that it does not identify him nor prohibit him from having a self-determined life. However this took much effort, time and financial investment and it was all well worth it. But Mr. Savage needs to visit a family, meet individuals with ASD to realize the damage he has caused with such a discriminatory and unprofessional statement.
Mr. Savage also needs to realize that the services obtained via a diagnosis of a disability are never appropriate and would never be worth parents doing so to their children. Such a statement shows that Mr. Sawyer is indeed not well educated on the subject nor caring enough to realize the damage such a statement can have on individuals living with ASD on a daily basis.
An apology is indeed needed as well as a meeting to be held with people on the spectrum as well as care providers. Mr. Savage's harmful statements need to be not only retracted, but he in our mind should be sanctioned for such offensive comments.
Respectfully,
Carolyn Gammicchia, Andrew Gammicchia, Alexander Gammicchia, and Nicholas Gammicchia (17 years old and living with ASD)
It's not your fault you are uneducated about this lifesentence called autism. Just come and spend 24 hours with my 12 year autistic son and see for yourself if this is a fraud. If you spend time with an autistic child you would definetly change your mind and then become an advocate for the cause.
All the best, Lise
I've never seen a person more wrong in my life. I have a sister with autism and all the same, he should NOT be fired. I always find it amazing how people who get mad at other's misinformed opinions demand that person lose their jobs. If each of us was liable to lose our job for a misinformed opinion..
"Now, you want me to tell you my opinion on autism, since I'm not talking about autism?"
It's HIS opinion and not matter how many of us have heard it, each person that has had the unfortnate experience of hearing it I bet has agreed or disagree with it. Chances are most of the people here disagree with him and that's ok. But his entire show is based on opinions of how he perceieves things. They aren't facts, so to demand he lose his job for what he says what he is paid to do is silly. That's like firing a mechanic for fixing your car.
I'm not defending this dope because that is exactly what he is. At the same time to validate his statement about how people are overly sensitive. With that said, I'm going ot go spend some time wiht my sister, and all those parents with this "false" outrage, do the same. Your energies are better spent love your austic relative, friend, etc and not trying to worry if this misinformed person has a job.. Gosh! it's that simple.
I've never seen a person more wrong in MY life. You're so egregiously wrong I wonder if I can even delve deep enough into your wrongness to reach the bottom and pull it back out.
There's a WORLD of difference between expressing an opinion and what Savage did. Spewing hate-filled screed, in contradiction to the consensus of the medical community, given weight by his educational background, over PUBLIC AIRWAVES, to millions of listeners is not a matter of opinion over fact. The FCC has the power to regulate public airwaves for a reason. Spreading hate and ignorance through such a broad medium has huge potential to result in real-world physical and mental harm to individuals. Parents and teachers who are inexperienced and overwhelmed trying to care for autistic children could easily act on this opinion by testing it out for themselves, to disastrous consequences. An even more likely scenario is that his listeners, having heard and taken this foolish opinion to heart, will verbally or physically abuse autistic individuals they encounter out of anger at their "fakery." These kinds of "opinions" have massive potential to turn into action, even LEGISLATIVE action, particularly where they offer easy (but spectacularly WRONG) answers to major societal ills.
Savage should be fired for this, not as a procedural matter but as an expression of the public's unwillingness to condone this kind of intolerance. To ignore this "opinion" is to allow it to pass unnoticed, to allow its supporters to believe that they are unopposed, and to allow their hate to gain power and become action. If Savage is allowed to express this sort of opinion unchallenged, if we "just ignore him to make him go away" (a sentiment I've seen from a number of other very WRONG posters on this thread), we would not see him go away at all. Instead, we would see denial of coverage from insurance companies and federal aid programs for treatment and therapy for autistic patients, excessive caution from doctors diagnosing autism out of fear of being labeled "enablers," parents abusing autistic children to get them to "straighten up." There is a very clear path of destruction that follows from tolerating these comments. E.g., "Mein Kampf" was "just an opinion," but in 20/20 hindsight we find fault with German society for allowing one man's hateful opinion to go unchecked and fester into political action among a downtrodden and impoverished middle class looking for easy answers to their country's ills. A lot of people are going through tough times right now, and they're always looking for easy answers. If it's not opposed, it will be accepted. Fire Michael Savage.
"But his entire show is based on opinions of how he perceieves things. They aren't facts, so to demand he lose his job for what he says what he is paid to do is silly."
So if he went on the air and said that thought black people were destroying society and there should be a "final solution" put into effect, he should still be on the air? It would just be his opinion, after all.
Of course this isn't at that level, but obviously someone isn't free to say anything they like as long as it's just their opinion.
My daughter has autism. I've been around children with autism at her preschool and at her therapy facility. I've always considered Savage venemous and intellectually lazy, but now, I'm making it my personal mission to get him off the air. He's finished. I'm finding out who his sponsors are and making sure they understand just how much it hurts to have my kid called a brat, my wife's efforts useless, my parenting skills ineffectual, and autism in general an act. Autism is very, very real. It's not just kids being silent and screaming, alternately.
I'm too incensed to talk rationally about it right now. I will post my thoughts later on my blog, http://gregstake.blogspot.com
Michael Alan Weiner (better known by his pseudonym Michael Savage), obtained a Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley, in nutritional ethnomedicine. His thesis was titled Nutritional Ethnomedicine in Fiji. His 1980 book Weiner's Herbal: The Guide to Herb Medicine advocated the medical benefits of marijuana.He has authored a number of other books on various herbal medicine topics under his given name.
Plant a Tree, Bugs in Peanut Butter, Man's Useful Plants, The Taster's Guide to Beer: Brews and Breweries of the World, Earth Medicine, Earth Food, The Way of the Skeptical Nutritionist, Secrets of Fijian Medicine, Getting Off Cocaine, Dr. Weiner's High Fiber Counter, Pinnacle Books, The Complete Book of Homeopathy, The Herbal Bible and Herbs That Heal: Prescription for Herbal Healing.
Total tree-hugger in denial...
What I'm hearing from Mr. Savage is he is strongly against welfare recipients trying to defraud the system by feigning autism and thus gaining more moneys.
I have Asperger's Syndrome, but I make no excuse for it---even now, I am detoxing from it in order to make myself a much more useful, marketable, and productive citizen; I look at it merely as where I'm at at the moment, not as something I will always be in this life. The detox process quite often makes me sick, but it is absolutely necessary just so I can live, much less thrive. I am now into the candida phase of that detox, and believe myself to be in the latter stages of it. Wish me luck with this!
You really should do more research about Autism before
you make hurtfull comments to parents that are raising
a child with autism.
"Don't act like a girl." I wonder what Savage would say about autistic girls.
But I have a few more things to say:
1. For all of you who think "kids" when you hear "autistic," I have a question for you: What happens when autistic children reach puberty? Do they die? Do they become neurotypical?
2. New knowledge about the causes of autism does not let parents off the hook. Bad parenting can make a bad situation worse. And there was probably a lot more of it when autistic children were simply mistaken for bad kids.
"Everybody has an illness." That was your statement when referring to autism. Well, Mr. Savage, your illness is ignorance. Quite frankly, I'm going to spend about 3 minutes of my time writing this email to you because you deserve no more than that. Because of your comments I am now a former listener of your show.
As parents who have recovered their son from autism, I can assure you that his dad telling him to act like a man and to quit sounding like and idiot had absolutely nothing to do with why he is now recovered. We also were not trying to receive any money from welfare. Insurance has covered nothing. We have paid well over $100,000 out of pocket in the treatment of our son, but it was the best money we ever spent. Not whining about it. Just stating the facts. Something you might be advised to do.
Since you clearly want to talk about autism, why don't you actually get out there and do a little research into autism and find out why the rates are drastically rising and how parents are actually able to recover or signficantly improve their children's health with biomedical treatments and why we're not hearing about that. There is actually a big news story, but personalities like yourself are not smart enough to figure it out.
Thank God you do not have a child with a disability.
This really shouldn't surprise anyone. Michael Savage has represented the very bottom of a very tall barrel of right wing media hacks for years.
I can only assume that Savage's father has been calling him on a daily, if not hourly basis telling him to stop acting like a fool.
Hmm this is really interesting. A racket huh? Hmm tell that to the doctors that are diagnosing a legitimate medical issue, tell that to the parents that watch their children regress due to gods knwo how many factors at play.
I have a few choice words for You Michael - I hope that no child of yours or your families suffers from this or any other debilitating disease/disorder and have to suffer yoru remarks. Maybe then you will wake up and realize it's not about "manning up"
This thread just unmasked MMFA for anyone who didn't already know who they are, which is a bunch of disgusting hateful people who refuse to listen to any viewpoints other than their own. The proof for my accusation lies in the fact that no evidence was presented to counter Savage's statements, just an attack on what he said because MMFA hates Savage, and the fact that he is on the radio and they are not.
So because he has a degree in herbology, he knows better than neurologists and psychiatrists? He knows better than all of the people who deal with autistic children and know that it's not just a matter of telling them to "cut the act out"?
If you can't see what's incredibly offensive about telling parents that they're to blame because these children are just "brats", then you're a moron.
it doesn't really matter what one ignorant person like Michael think's, there are many people that think that way, let them feed their ego and pretend they are knowledge and wise, they are just making a fool out of themself in the public eye.
So who cares if 8 million heard him saying that, to be honest I did not even know he exist in first place, I just happen to get this trough an e-mail that to be honest I wish have prefer not to even read it.
And now this stupid network had me sign up to write this worthless paragraph, because at the end, it does not matter since more likely he is just making noise just for ratings .. Oh well freedom of speech right??
Well I think you AND your father are idiot's and that parenting you freaking are talking about, maybe the reason why you are so mean to a community you have no clue about .
Perhaps you may got attention becuase the media only cares about ignorant clowns like you , so that way they can pissed off people like me and get ratings.
So good luck with your salary income to trash people's lifes .. so so be it!
I had never heard of Savage, or his radio show before, and after this comment I will place him and his uninformed comments on "Autism" in my brains built-in shreader. I feel sorrry for your misinformed listeners.
What a waste of the airwaves. Please ride-off with your lamp into the darkness and get lost pemanently, Idiot "SAVAGE" Savant.
A. A. Rey, R. A. father of an Autistic 7 year old son.
this man has hateful videos also in you tube that puts our children and us as parents in psychological and physical danger to the many and many more ignorant people that knows nothing as a very serious devastating disease.
Do something to stop this madness we are also willing to find out
license renewal of every affiliate that carries Savage , so that way this madness stop.
You have no idea in how this exposed our children for people to hate them and think like him.
You all should have not allowed this to happend, he broke every rule when it comes to autism awareness and knowledge.
It is unaceptable for you all to support ignorance off that kind.
I am pretty sure this network will be soon loosing a lot 's of people from our community.. that is for sure!
To the people who are living with autistic children: bless you for all you do for them. My brother-in-law, now in his 50s, is autistic. He acts the way "Rain Man" acted in the movie. Parents who take on the care of autistic children are heroic in their efforts, and in no way need a jerk like Weiner to spew his ignorant bile in their direction.
To those who are pathetically trying to defend Weiner: yes, the pharmaceutical industry and many psychiatrists/psychologists have a lot to answer for, but the explosion in autism is in no way a made-up epidemic. There is some good information about autism on sites previously posted; also some causal info <a href="http://www.909shot.com/Disease/Autism.htm">here </a>
Can't create the link. Oh well:
http://www.909shot.com/Diseases/autismsp.htm
It is obvious Savage is not autistic. Autistics are very logical people.
BigBuddhaPup