Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough (R-FL), who is now the host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, made these remarks about alleged Aurora theater mass shooter James Holmes:
As soon as I heard about this shooting, I knew who it was. I knew it was a young, white male, probably from an affluent neighborhood, disconnected from society — it happens time and time again. Most of it has to do with mental health; you have these people that are somewhere, I believe, on the autism scale. I don't know if that's the case here, but it happens more often than not. People that can walk around in society, they can function on college campuses — they can even excel on college campuses — but are socially disconnected.
Joe Scarborough, you are WRONG to make an amateur diagnosis that James Holmes has an autism spectrum disorder and falsely suggest that all people with autism and autism spectrum disorders are violent-minded people. I myself have an autism spectrum disorder known as Asperger's Syndrome, and, although I spent time in a mental institution in Indiana when I was in the 4th grade, Joe Scarborough made a sweeping generalization of people with autism and autism spectrum disorders that is simply not true.
Only a licensed psychiatrist can properly diagnose a person with autism or an autism spectrum disorder. Also, linking autism and autism spectrum disorders with acts of violence similar to that of the mass shooting that was perpetrated by James Holmes amounts to nothing more than an unfair, sweeping generalization of people with autism and autism spectrum disorders.
James Holmes killed 12 innocent people and wounded many others, and I am NOT defending Holmes at all, but I'm not simply going to sit back and allow people like Joe Scarborough to paint people like me as nutty, insane, and violent. I'm not afraid to stand up and defend those who are autistic and those who have an autism spectrum disorder. We may have developmental disorders, but we're not stupid!
MSNBC should fire Scarborough immediately...here's the petition.