Monday, July 21, 2008

"Each New Generation Is A Fresh Invasion Of Savages."


This post's title is a quote by novelist Hervey Allen.

From the AP:

Radio talk show host Michael Savage, who described 99 percent of children with autism as brats, said Monday he was trying to "boldly awaken" parents to his view that many people are being wrongly diagnosed.

Some parents of autistic children have called for Savage's firing after he described autism as a racket last week. "In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out," Savage said on his radio program last Wednesday.

Savage offered no apology in a message posted Monday on his Web site. He said greedy doctors and drug companies were creating a "national panic" by overdiagnosing autism, a mental disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate.

On his radio show last week, he said: "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, you idiot.'"

The government estimates about 1 in 150 children have some form of autism. But many experts believe these unsociable behaviors were just about as common 30 or 40 years ago and that the increase is mostly caused by a surge in special education services and a corresponding shift in diagnoses.

I don't know all there is to know about autism, but I know much too much about Michael Savage.

His entire schtick consists of--as he terms it--"conservative nationalism".

If you've ever had the misfortune to accidently land on a station broadcasting his show--even for the briefest of time--you know what that means.

Personally, I think he'd make a helluva piñata. 

allvoices

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