[JeanLynn81]

Originally Posted by The New York Times

On the July 16 installment of his program, which is broadcast every weekday, Mr. Savage suggested that “99 percent of the cases” of autism were a result of lax parenting. He told his audience: “They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life.’ ” Among the other admonitions he felt children with autism should be hearing, he said, were: “ ‘Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”

Read more about it here.

His show "The Savage Nation" is suffering greatly for his remarks, as air time and sponsorships are starting to get yanked right away.

What do you think of his comments? I for one, am completely disgusted with him.

[bhoneycutt]

It's really upsetting to me that someone could be so inconsiderate of the millions of families who deal with and suffer because of this disease. I have an online friend at another forum who has two sons both affected with autism. She was incredibly hurt by his remarks. She is writing all of his sponsors. She has received several letters back (from Home Depot, Radio Shack and Sears) all saying that they either never sponsored him in the first place or that they are dropping him because of his comments. I'm glad! I hope he feels the wrath of his ignorant comments!

[deedee1231]

Michael Savage's comments were completely uninformed and very, very hurtful to autistic persons and their families. There is no excuse whatsoever for his remarks and as the mother of an autistic boy I do not appreciate his rhetoric.

However, I think we should all consider the source here. This is Michael Savage we are talking about. He is about as uncouth as they come. He is the same guy that makes racist, sexist, and other inflammatory comments daily on his disgusting show. He goes over the top and then some every single time I hear him, which is never for more than the few minutes it takes me to change the station on my car radio. He is a sick, sick man and I have no idea how he has managed to keep his show on the air. The only thing he has to offer his audience is shock value which has no real value at all.


So write to his sponsors, call the radio stations, try to get him pulled if you can--but remember what a vile person he is when considering his comments and don't let people like him hurt you. And also remember that nobody with half a brain is listening to him or his show.

[mcmama]

This is a new twist on an old idea.

Parents of autistic children were long blamed for the child's troubles. They were "refrigerator parents" so that explained the children having attachment problems. And they were encouraged to institutionalize their children. Many did. They were told they were failures.

Of course, many of these couples had other children who were completely normal. This was just an excuse to cover the fact that hey, doctors DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THIS WAS.

Today we know that there is a whole spectrum of autistic disorders, and that the cause is organic, not behavioral. We need a lot more research in this field to determine what causes autism, and why some people develop it and others do not.

And perhaps Mr Savage could be invited to apply his parenting skills and knowledge to disciplining an autistic teenager who suddenly develops seizures without warning into acting like a man. Perhaps. But I doubt he is man enough for such a task.

[DK615617]

I am not sure where I stand on this one. I am not a huge fan of the man by any means. I did here him say that his comments were taken out of context......maybe they were maybe they weren't. He claims that he was talking about all of the misdiagnosed children due to people trying to milk money out of the system. I am sure that that does happen, but he certainly was cruel, and insensative in his comments.
Even if there are a lot of kids diagnosed that do not have it, there are a ton that are not diagnosed that are on the spectrum. His comments really only reach a small audience anyway....so why give him the publicity????
I am not in any way sticking up for him, as I rarely agree with anything he says......although, what happened to free speech??? Are we not still in America? It seems like everytime someone says something we don't like we take them out. Do we really want a society where we have to fear saying what we really think? Do we really have to be sensative to everyone's feelings no matter what?
I personally would have just ignored the comments as being ignorant (exactly what they were) Why give the man publicity and fame when he doesn't deserve it.
I don't know.
I agree with you all, his comments were dispicable, yet who are we to tell him how he has to think, or what he can say?