A Savage View of Autism or 84 Seconds of Ignorance

I haven't made a practice of posting on newsy topics the jabberwockies pounce on and regurgitate back to us, as I try to keep my mind pure (for proof of this, please see my post on wolf bait).

But being the mother of a child with autism, I can't let this one slide.

Michael Savage, talk show radio host, slightly less hot than Greta Van Susteren, whom I cannot abide, has opened his mouth and released a stream of radio waste so foul that he has offended every family on earth who is affected by Autism. You don't even have to have heard the radio clip to be offended, although a transcript of it is available in this post. Know this: simply the thought that he might exhale a molecule of carbon dioxide that could one day travel across the troposphere and be breathed in by a child with autism should be enough to offend all of us for years.

Here is a transcript of the clip:

"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 knows that “99 percent” of all cases of autism are misdiagnosed “brats.” Why have we not been listening to him? He does, after all, have an advanced degree in botany, and has many years of experience sitting all by himself in a little room, talking into a electrified stick. He should know.

Why have we all wasted our time on biomedical interventions, and examining videos of our children before and after vaccine injuries? Why have I spent hours crash coursing molecular biology in order to understand articles like Dr. Jill James about impaired transsulferation and oxidative stress, and the connections that autism has with midline defects (which my son was born with), gluten intolerance, and methylation deficiencies? Why have I not ignored the blood tests that showed elevated levels of mercury and arsenic in my son’s system? I would have saved a lot of money and a lot of time by just paddywhacking my little moron every time he acted autistic. If I did that I’d have a new kitchen and the girls could have taken ballet lessons instead of gotten dragged to endless sensory, speech, and occupational therapies, which after a few token sessions, insurance didn't even pay for.

Autism may be the DSM Flavor of the Decade, but I cannot believe that even Michael Savage believes that only 1 percent of people diagnosed with autism have a correct diagnosis. By now, he knows he spoke in error, but I don’t ask for or expect an apology from him, because real apologies require humility and come from the heart, and his chronically inflamed right to free speech keeps his heart hard. It will do no good to hope for an apology from such an unhappy, angry man. In fact I might suggest to him Jesus, as he needs more help than any human can give. He is giving decent conservatives a bad name, or, taken one shocking step further: if he represents conservatism, then I'm a liberal.

Dang. I never thought I'd say that. Anyone have Hillary's phone number? I should give my frosty little Socialist peep a ringle.