Talk Show Host Michael Savage Should Read More, Talk Less
Media personality and talk show host Michael Savage is known for being a bit of a loose cannon (read:douchebag). It’s his job to make controversial statements, offend the masses and be somewhat of a fire-starter in order to drum up ratings. This however, does not give him the right to ignore facts, medical professionals, historical data and general perceptions of reality.
Savage, whose show appears on the TalkRadioNetwork has mostly conservative views and is listed as the third most popular conservative radio host in the country. Savage is also a major homophobe and was fired from MSNBC for making some very insensitive comments to caller who was pranking the host. Who had the last laugh there?!
So what’s Micahel Savage done now? Oh, not much, just bash a bunch of physiologically challenged children and their parents. Savage, had the audacity to call autism a “fraud, a racket” as well as stating the following about the children diagnosed with autism and the parents of these afflicted children:
“Now the illness du jour is autism,” Savage said. “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?” Savage added. “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.’ ”
Now you don’t have to be a bleeding heart liberal or even a person with 3rd grade education to see the issue with the above statement from Savage. Clearly the guy is an ignorant, unread, unsophisticated, lazy-ass rabble-rouser. Having witnessed children with autism first hand and the parents who are desperate to try and help these children, it floors me that someone would make such a statement.
When you compare a “normal” kid’s behavior, to a child with autism, the differences are marked and disconcerting. Autistic children are hyper-sensitive to a variety of outside influences such as noise, smell, light, as well as, foods, textures and the moods of others. Handling these children so as to ease their emotions and sensitivities requires a lot of love, patience and hand-ons parenting.
I am all for disciplining one’s children, but there’s a huge difference between behavioral issues with “normal” kids and those with bona fide emotional issues stemming from a disability. I have tremendous respect for parents of children who must dig deep for reserves of understanding and compassion for the special needs of their kids.
So, essentially, because Michael Savage spends his time looking down on anyone and everyone whom he deems beneath him and raging on them through jaded eyes of ignorance, he has essentially cast doubt into the minds of millions of listeners of his show of the existence of a very real illness and the inherent struggles and difficulties of dealing with children with autism.
Great job Michael, what’s next? Punching a litter of kittens, slapping babies for pooping, spitting on Alzheimer’s patients? How about you shut yer cakehole assface and do some research before you go spouting off a the mouth. Go to the library, volunteer at a children’s hospital, feed the needy, do something useful you cancer on society.
For more on autism, go here. It’s real and it can be heartbreaking for anyone who knows a child who suffers.
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I heard about this the other day. As someone with a very close relative with autism, Mr Savage is full of himself and needs to shut his mouth before someone decides to do it for him.
I can’t help but think that the ‘Church’ of Scientology would use his ‘informed opinion’ as further ‘evidence’ that autism doesn’t exist or that it’s the ‘parent’s fault’.
Comment by A Watcher — July 23, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
Savage needs to quit radio (again) and this time stay quit. Either that or switch to doing cable shows for the Scourge of Scientology …
Comment by Chip Gallo — July 23, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
Amen! My 4 year old son has Autism…it’s a very difficult road. Don’t f’ing judge me till you walk a mile in my shoes. Thanks for the article.
Comment by Kalin — July 23, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
I got fed up with Savage’s show a while back. About 5 minutes of him is all I can stand. No matter what anybody says he will disagree with it.
Comment by Roy — July 23, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
What a load of crap!
I have a 5 year old son who has been diagnosed with a so called Autism Spectrum Disorder.What I have found as a parent is that his great improvement is down to the support and education provided in the home.Not by someone who wants to fill him full of drugs…no way is my son going to be stereotyped with a label and given god knows what drugs.
Comment by adelaideshooter — July 23, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
all you obama cry babies make this nation sick. savage was talking about how doctors only want to push pills.they use people to get money. he also said that kids with autisum should get the best care possible.if you have a child with autism. may god bless you with love.
Comment by frogger — July 23, 2008 @ 8:02 pm
Thanks for this article. It says it all. With respect to frogger, calling our children morons and idiots has nothing to do with pushing pills. Face it, the comments were insulting to all of the children who suffer from autism and the parents (like me) who devote their love and energy to making life happy for these children.
Comment by Eileen — July 23, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
you’re an illiterate idiot.
i bet you’re overweight and aren’t productively
employed (i:e you don’t earn money/have a job, to support yourself.)
mommy gives you a tray of bologna sandwiches,
twinkies and chocolate milk, happy that you
live in the basement.
learn to spell correctly before you impose
your stupidity on those of us who laugh at
you.
“to caller who was prank the host”…?
“fraud, a rackett”
Comment by first grade speller — July 23, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
Thanks you troglodyte for the edit suggestion. Fix’d now go fuck yourself you useless piece of filth.
Comment by D — July 23, 2008 @ 10:36 pm
The reactions of you people to Savage’s statement say so much more about you than the person who said it. If you’re so comfortable in your view of the world - and in doping up your kids everytime the pharmaceutical company says so - then don’t worry about what he says. They’ll be happy to keep peddling dope for your kid, and you can go on with your life. Your reaction says more about you than him, whether he is right or wrong.
Comment by TruthDetector — July 23, 2008 @ 11:01 pm
As usual, there are those who lean too far to one end of the spectrum or the other, when the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
At the risk of bringing the wrath of people down on my head, I will say that I can somewhat see what Mr. Savage is saying, EVEN THOUGH I think he took it ENTIRELY too far, which is the point I think Dawn was trying to make. Entirely too many children ARE overmedicated NOT because they have a mental/psychological/congenital/etc problem, such as autism or ADHD or PTSD or what have you, but because their parents and/or teachers simply don’t have the time/patience/energy to deal with an active or overactive child. It’s entirely too easy to throw some Ritalin at a kid to keep them calm when you’ve got a class of twenty-five rowdy students or a house full of kids with little supervision and lax parenting. So, I do think SOME kids who are on various medications are on them simply because it was the easiest solution, instead of having discipline and order and structure and decent parenting in the home.
OTOH, there are kids who NEED medicine for autism/ADHD/etc, because without it they simply cannot function or expect to have any sort of life. It is these children who suffer because of the overmedicating of the first bunch, because people don’t realize that not ALL kids are overmedicated. It is these children who suffer because people say, “Somebody just needs to tell them to shut up.” Yes, they need discipline and structure, but they need it in conjunction with their medication so they can UNDERSTAND the discipline and structure.
I have a nephew with severe autism and cerebral palsy and I know that he benefits greatly from his medication, in conjunction with school and therapy. I also know of some children who, without their meds for ADHD (also in conjunction with school and therapy), simply are out of control and cannot deal with life. A child does not like to feel out of control in its own body, it’s frightening to them, and there are times meds can help with that. But yes, there are some who simply need some of the aforementioned structure and discipline and decent parenting and taught how to help themselves, instead of being drugged up for someone else’s convenience. You can’t say, “All meds are bad,” or, “All children diagnosed with ‘autism’ are just brats,” just like you can’t say. “All problems can be solved with drugs.”
Now, what he specifically said? It was horrible and unfeeling, and I think Mr. Savage needs to do some research and spend some time with children who truly do need medication for autism. But then again, you can’t teach someone who is always right, can you?
Comment by k — July 23, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
What credibility does D have in writing “Clearly the guy is an ignorant, unread, unsophisticated, lazy-ass rabble-rouser”? When gleaning the internet to become an instant authority I am surprised she failed to notice that Dr. Savage: holds a Ph.D., has traveled the world studying various cultures, hosts the third largest radio program in the country, and has authored multiple New York Times best sellers; now who again is ignorant? Savage’s contention was that Autism is being grossly misdiagnosed by those who profit from normal misbehaved children and that real cases of Autism need attention, this point went completely over your head. Perhaps his book Liberalism is a Mental Disorder should be purchased.
Comment by Dr. Ahab — July 23, 2008 @ 11:47 pm
Savage is an idiot and so are those of you defending such a human piece of garbage. Don’t try to “explain” what he REALLY meant to say, or what his “contention” was. He made himself quite clear.
As for “truth detector”, spare us your eeeeeviiiil pharmaceutical company bullshit. You sound like another ill-informed $cientologist.
Great post, as usual Dawn. Kudos.
Comment by Rachel — July 24, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
D you are such a cruel hearted bastard, I can’t believe you said, “just bash a bunch of physiologically challenged children and their parents.” As you can see you can claim that anyone said what ever you want them to say as long as you leave the rest of their statement out of it. Why don’t you mentally disordered folks listen to all of what Dr. Savage said, before you talk shit. But that is not your agenda, all you are out to do is take him off the air no matter what, but it won’t happen. Do you work for the pharmaceutical companies D? There was a time when liberals thought (pharmaceutical)drugs and big business was bad, but it seems now days you are the ones who defend and champion them. May God bless and help all of you, you are the vermin behind the murder of this great nation.
Comment by Bradley — July 24, 2008 @ 11:21 pm
Cult the drama “Bradley”. What Mr. “Savage” (real name WEINER, what kind of person changes their name to Savage?)said is crystal clear.
Taking him off the air won’t happen? MSNBC ring any bells there Brad?
“Savage” is a heartless prick and his followers appear to be as nuts as he is.
Comment by Rachel — July 25, 2008 @ 8:20 am
Wow.
Bradley, welcome to Glosslip. I say that since you’re obviously new here and not privy to the fact that D = Dawn = Woman = Not bastard. Pretty obvious.
I fit into the autism spectrum with Aspergers, and I can tell you guys right off that this is hilarious. If you happen to have a disability that fits into this wide range, there are many different scales that one can fall into.
For example, I’m in college working on my Bachelors Degree towards Criminal Justice. I’ve lived with a roommate, and been able to take pretty dang good care of myself. Autism does not always equal what one person can describe as the attention whore illness, what Mr. Savage described as the illness du jour.
I’m not saying, however, that Mikey is completely wrong. There are some people that even I have seen back when I was in SpEd classes that I thought needed to calm the hell down. There were others in the class who agreed. Autism, again, does not equal pants-on-head stupid, nor does the word “disability” imply mental stagnation. It just takes a bit longer to come to the “common sense” factors with certain things, especially in regards to social situations.
I’m able to express myself fairly well here since I can go over what I’m saying before you see it. That’s one of the perks of the internet, one can see a mistake and fix it so that nobody need know it was there. Much like changing tehre to there, one can look over what they want to say and change “that guy can go fuck himself up the arse” to “that guy has a negative view on a broad group of people that borders on prejudice”. One can be said on an internet forum and not get people into an uproar, and one can be said in your local grocery. Guess which one.
Also, Bradely, I’d like to introduce you to your own post. You said, and I quote, “Why don’t you mentally disordered folks listen to all of what Dr. Savage said, before you talk shit.” Erm. If someone’s mentally disordered, and someone tells them that they’re faking it, they need to suck it up, they need to stop being crybabies, it’s kinda like telling someone that got offended by a racist remark they “need to stop being so PC.” There’s being PC, then there’s getting upset someone called you a crying, screaming, moronic idiot. Throw the fact that they’re mentally disabled and probably don’t take criticism the same way someone else would into the mix, and you come out looking like a jerk.
To Ms. Pills, defending Savage’s agenda against Big Pharma isn’t going to score you any brownie points. He isn’t going to notice you trying to defend him all the way over here, so you might want to scoot over to the right some more. My doctor pushed group therapy and it worked. Cry some more about the fact that the big bad Aspie pointed out your fallacies and doesn’t want to play anymore since he pretty much slapped any argument you might have had into the water.
Comment by Anon — July 25, 2008 @ 11:21 am
Another perfect example of people hearing what they want. I listened to that program. His point was that doctor’s are quick to prescirbe drugs to a child who does not have autism and that parents are too willing to accept drugs as the answer vs some discipline. I fell for anyone with a child with autism. I also have know lazy parents who would allow their child to be “drugged” becasue of poor behavior. Those of you who dislike Doctor Savage are always going to hear what you want. Try actualy listening for a change.
Comment by wong — August 31, 2008 @ 11:23 am