Savage and his apologists on the attack...again!
"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." Michael Savage (7/16)
Last week my son Ryan and I wrote of talk show host Michael Savage's remarks concerning Autism. Ryan’s beautiful eight-year old daughter has
been diagnosed with Autism. Ryan and his wife fight for Rebecca’s rights
and happiness nearly everyday. We’ve received some supportive email, but
we have also been subjected to rather nasty attacks from Savage
apologists.
Savage even read a letter of support from the CEO of his one of his long
time sponsors, gold trader, Swiss America, Craig R. Smith. Smith, a
columnist at the far-right WorldNet Daily, isn’t unfamiliar with the
bomb-throwing territory, calling MSNBC, Time Magazine, Chris Matthews and
Michael Isakoff, "unpatriotic haters of this country." In his note, which
Savage read to listeners on Tues night (7/22), Smith called people like
my son and I, "Neanderthals" for questioning Savage’s integrity.
I don’t have the time, to respond to each of the good doctor’s defenders
but I wanted to clear up a few misconceptions that Savage, his sponsor
and many of his fans might have about myself, Ryan and literary terms in
general.
- Neither of us are Neanderthals. Neither were Ryan’s grandparents who would have had to have been for he or I to be considered such. Not
hyperbole as much as questioning your standard evolution, which I
understand you’re not entirely sure of.
- We’re not Sodomites either. This isn’t even close to hyperbole as
we’re not even a little bit Sodomite. Nothing against Sodomites, but our
wives and past girlfriends can attest to the fact that we could barely
talk them into second base.
- We don’t hate America, nor do we hate the troops as I was a an actual
troop, enlisting into our armed forces during wartime.
- We’re neither Stalinists nor ever used propaganda extensively to
establish a personality cult around an absolute dictator. We don’t care
to silence political dissent nor butcher those who disagree. Questioning
the ignorant remarks of a contemptible zealot against innocent
children...? Guilty as charged.
- Islamo-fascist? Hardly. Neither of our synagogues allow for even plain
old fascism.
- For "hyperbole" to be used as a defense you must have had framed in
terms that in some way where context gives some evidence of the literary
device to make an obvious point. Saying "In 99 percent of the cases
(diagnosed as Autism), it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act
out," doesn’t mean "some of the cases," as your Dr. Savage and you have
used to justify the comments. Following Savage’s later explanations,
saying "49% "of the cases would have been hyperbole. 99%? He clearly
meant almost all the cases.
- No, not all the doctors who came on Savage’s show agreed with him. Dr.
Peter Breggin, Savage’s guest on Tuesday said that most kids, even those
misdiagnosed, "need loving and caring support at an early age." Idiot?
Moron? Just Brats? Perhaps that’s just hyperbole for "loving and caring"
epithets?
Yesterday, in an interview with WorldNet Daily, Savage explained, "I
attack falsely diagnosed cases, the misdiagnosed and the outright fraud
artists through a bold parody, and Media Matters rips the parody out of
context, stirs up the autism community against me, and here we are!"
A bold parody? Getting to humiliate innocent children under the auspices
of ridiculing the medical establishment. National Lampoon and Saturday
Night Live must be green with envy.
Hyperbole. Parody. What’s his next rationalization...simile?
Seems like Savage finds perversions of literary terminology a good
defense for his attacks on anything that might feed his fans the raw meat
of righteous indignation.
But that’s just me being hyperbolic.
Steve Young blogs at SteveYoungonPolitics.com