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A real brat—Michael Savage
Radio host attacks autistic children
By
Sara Catalinotto
Published Aug 2, 2008 7:16 AM
July 28—During his three-hour radio show on July 16, host Michael Savage
claimed that “Autism is a fraud, a racket” and that most children
with autistic traits are “brats who haven’t been told to cut out
the act.” He specifically blamed mothers, saying that the children
“don’t have a father around to tell them” things like,
“Don’t sit there screaming and crying, you idiot.” The
implication was that special services should not be granted to children
designated as autistic.
Delegation at NYC Walk Now for Autism, June 2008.
Far left is Sara Catalinotto holding banner.
Photo: L. Mateo
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Organizations across the U.S. that link autism families, advocates and
educators sprang into action. Radio station WOR-NY was picketed on July 21; an
online petition, Fire Michael Savage, is near its goal of 10,000 names. Autism
United rallied on July 25 on Wall Street and on July 27 at Savage’s base
station in San Francisco. Stations throughout three states have dropped
Savage’s show, and eight big advertisers have pulled out.
Autism is a brain disorder that affects one in 150 people in the U.S. The exact
symptoms and severity vary widely. For instance, some children struggle to
speak words while others speak clearly but inappropriately about the social
situation at hand.
One common trait is that autistic people can perceive certain everyday sensory
input, sensations or changes in routine as intensely as non-autistic
(neurotypical) people hear fingernails on a chalkboard, feel being held upside
down or react to finding their front door wide open. An autistic child’s
screaming is like a fight-or-flight response to these perceptions. Disciplining
the child will not change the way he or she is wired.
Children who experience the autism spectrum do respond well to long-term
intervention which develops language and social skills, while helping them
build tolerance through gradual exposure to challenging situations and stimuli.
As these issues are minimized, the ability to succeed in school is
maximized.
Big money and political reaction
Behind Savage is a wealthy industry, Talk Radio Network, which subjects 10
million listeners at 350 stations to his tirades. Its CEO, Mark Master, has not
disciplined Savage for his inappropriate behavior. In a statement on its
website TRN says the “phrasing was inartful” but that Savage means
well when taken in context.
TRN extended Savage’s lucrative contract, even though he brought anger
upon them before. In August 2007 San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors
condemned him in a resolution for his vicious remarks against students on a
hunger strike for immigration rights. In November 2007 the Council on
American-Islamic Relations convinced some advertisers to boycott Savage after a
series of anti-Muslim rants. Savage was fired from MSNBC in July 2003 after
wishing death on gay male callers.
He is also vocal against the Obama campaign, saying, “We should vote in
blocs against him. ... You know who I mean by we.” In the past Savage
belittled the high rates of asthma in the African-American community as a hoax
to get “more welfare.”
Savage plays on the natural distrust many people have for the medical
establishment and drug companies, but cutting benefits for an autism diagnosis
would mean cutting educational therapies, not freeing children from
overprescribed drugs. Even if the terminology needs to be refined, that does
not mean that the children in question do not need help.
Savage’s hateful “free speech” is subsidized by a corporate
class which does not want to be forced to subsidize human needs. It is in their
interest to promote the false argument that most social spending is a giveaway
to those who don’t deserve it. However, this view loses credibility when
applied to learning-disabled children. As Joanna Jaeger of Parents Helping
Parents told Newsday, “People are not rushing to join this club because
it is so much fun or because you get a big gift bag on your child’s
diagnosis.”
Taking time and resources to meet students where they are at and guide them to
their potential goes against the capitalist ideal of speedy productivity. Thus
the disabled community has enemies in high places. Also, research on the growth
of autism is casting suspicion on the prevalence of wireless devices, plastic
toys and baby bottles, and childhood vaccines formerly preserved with mercury.
The last is the subject of a current class-action suit.
Ruling-class forces prefer to have people divided rather than find out what
they have in common (the way autism support networks work) and realize who is
really responsible for the crises of recession and war. Savage and other
on-the-air hatemongers try to distract the people with scapegoats; this time it
may backfire. The sentiment of thousands of parents of autistic children is
that Michael Savage is the real brat.
Go to www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/486739008 to sign the petition to fire
Michael Savage.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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