If anyone out there needs a reason why not to listen to right wing lunatics on the radio (and sadly, there are millions) then Michael Savage should be able to make my point many times over. Day in and day out, he utilizes hate and anger to rile up his audience to lash out at those with different (and saner) views than his own. However, there are things that should be beyond partisanship and autism is on the high end of that list along with not killing puppies and kittens. Yet to wingnuts like Savage, not even that is beyond his sphere of hate.
From Media Matters:
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."
That is the mark of a heartless man. Perhaps Mr. Savage has never met a family that have autistic children. Perhaps he doesn't have friends or neighbors that let him near them because he is a disgusting human being. Whatever the reason, there is no excuse for what comes out of his mouth and Talk Radio Network should be ashamed of themselves for putting that crap on the air, even if there are 8.25 million sad souls out there that choose to listen to it.
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