25
Jul
The Shock Jock Racket
Angry citizen reaction to the latest cynical, cyclical outpouring of hateful speech over the public radio airwaves – top-rated talk show host Michael Savage’s despicable attack on autistic children as “brats, morons and idiots” – has once again injected America’s talk radio problem back into the mainstream news cycle. But why did it take a full week of protests, pressure, pickets, pullouts by advertiser, and stations dropping the program – Savage’s remarks occurred on the July 16 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show –– before the mainstream media finally responded to the latest outrage? Is it because they are part of the racket?
Savage claimed on his program The Savage Nation that autism is a “fraud, a racket.” He also stated that the ongoing asthma epidemic is “a money racket” staged by “the minority community” to get “extra welfare.” Here’s how the racket works, according to the hatemonger Savage: “When the nurse looks at you, you go [fake cough], ‘I don’t know, the dust got me.’ See, everyone had asthma from the minority community.”
As should be obvious now to all but the most biased observers, the real money racket at play here is the shock jock racket. Everyone involved is getting rich: from top shock jocks like Savage, Rush Limbaugh, (who recently signed a new $400 million dollar contract) and Sean Hannity (who recently signed a new deal in excess of $100 million) to local radio stations like New York’s WOR (which expressed “regret” over Savage’s remarks but took no “responsibility” for them) to national syndicators like Premiere, ABC Radio Networks and the Talk Radio Network, (which pushes Savage out to more than 350 radio stations — and whose CEO Mark Masters trumpets the “fearless entrepreneurial environment at TRN” while he fearfully ducks reporters’ calls) to advertisers and sponsors (like Home Depot and Anheuser-Busch, which unlike the estimable AFLAC continue to advertise on The Savage Nation.) And let’s not forget about the shock jocks’ elite enablers, drawn from the upper echelons of the corrupt nexus of Big Media and Big Politics, who sell their political platforms, books and souls in exchange for audience access…
Although children’s advocates are calling for his head and demanding that Savage apologize and retract his statements — and calling for a boycott of stations that air his show — Savage is offering in lieu of an apology an absurd explanation that his remarks were merely intended to stimulate a dialogue.
“My comments about autism were meant to boldly awaken parents and children to the medical community’s attempt to label too many children or adults as ‘autistic,’” he claimed.
Equally absurd is the statement that WOR Radio posted on its Web site:
“The views expressed by Michael Savage are his views and are not those of WOR Radio. As Michael Savage is a syndicated show, the content is the responsibility of the syndicator, which is Talk Radio Networks.
Unfortunately, it is impossible for WOR Radio to know the subject matter in advance of airing. WOR is in the business of serving the community in which we broadcast. That is our stated goal, and we will continue to do so. We regret any consternation that his remarks may have caused to our listeners.”
Can someone please explain how calling autistic children “morons” is serving the community? Maybe I’m missing something!
Or maybe Evelyn Ain, whose 8-year-old son has been diagnosed with autism and who organized a demonstration this week outside WOR, stated the situation more accurately: “That isn’t just freedom of speech, it is hateful speech when you say 99 percent of children with autism are brats.” (Savage responded to the protest by noting that “some in New York… suspect it was a staged protest by the Stalinist Savage-haters.”)
Other parents and activists responded by calling on Talk Radio Network to fire Savage. As Jim Ward, founder and president of ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights, said:
“As America prepares to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, people with disabilities, parents, family members, friends and advocates across the nation are outraged over Savage’s latest attack on people with disabilities. His despicable assault on children with autism — calling them ‘frauds’ and ‘brats’ — is rightly being condemned as hateful and bigoted. But it is just the latest of Savage’s numerous and painful attempts to demean and disenfranchise people with disabilities.”
And the insurance company Aflac responded as well, by withdrawing all advertising from Savage’s show. Company spokeswoman Laura Kane said, “We understand that radio hosts pick on any number of targets however we found Michael Savage’s recent comments to be both inappropriate and insensitive.”
Experts estimate that about 1 in 150 children have some form of autism. Telling them and their parents that it’s all just a racket to make money –- as means of enriching yourself, your distributors and your sponsors – is beneath contempt.
Yet Savage shows no shame. Instead, in Orwellian fashion, he is portraying himself as a victim, defending his remarks on the Larry King Show, guest-hosted by fellow shock jock Glenn Beck, by noting, “What a shame it is that I — as a man who has spent his entire life defending the defenseless, mainly children — should have to defend myself from charges leveled at me …by ripping things out of context and making me look like the monster.”
He also responded on his own show, asking, “Do you want to live in a world where one statement that offends somebody could cost you your career?
One statement, taken out of context? Hardly! Like Don Imus and others of his ilk, Savage is a serial if cowardly transgressor, who regularly uses hate speech to attack homosexuals, minorities, women, and foreigners in the most vitriolic manner imaginable. He once told a gay caller to his (thankfully canceled) MSNBC cable program he hoped they “Get AIDS and die, you pig!” He said CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Larry King “together look like the type that would have pushed Jewish children into the oven to stay alive one more day to entertain the Nazis.” He equates immigrants with “the junkie, the freak, the pervert.” He’s so extreme that Bill O’Reilly calls him a “smear merchant,” Neal Boortz refers to him as “the Antichrist” and Talkers Magazine publisher Michael Harrison, who recently bestowed an annual Freedom of Speech award upon Savage, says he thinks the man is “an asshole.”
Nevertheless his program appears on 350 stations across America. Wait—this just in: make that 343—seven Mississippi stations have just decided to stop carrying The Savage Nation. Now what about the rest of them?
A trait common to all these shock jockstraps , a genetic defect known as alligator mouth, hummingbird ass syndrome.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:46 pmSavage,
What is your credentials on elaborating on the PDD-SOS spectrum? How many years did you teach this population of exceptional children? Can you show the public your research portfolio?
I doubt it…I should have looked into your last name and derive that you utter words, live in trees, swing on a vine, eat bananas and split open coconuts? With a name like Savage, it is fitting? No I really do not believe that because I am educated and do not make assumptions based on nothing. Besides, I know that I am a classier, more educated and aware than you will ever be.
I think you owe the families with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disabilities) one grand apology.
That was an evil and deranged comment!
July 25th, 2008 at 2:12 pmThere is a growing perversity of accepted meanness in American society. Perhaps it is the collective powerlessness that many Americans feel that allows them to attack the weak and defenseless? This type of attack meanness begins to rear its ugly head in students in middle shcool. It’s just too bad that many of the people who are the most popular shock-jocks were also the bullies in their middle schools when growing up. Alericam has lost not only respect but class once it allowed this type of dialogue to exist under the mantle of First Amendment Rights. One can only hope that the ideas of karma and “what goes around comes around” be a reality in the lives of the people who profit from the hatred that spews so easily from their unconscionable lips.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:16 pmFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ANHEUSER-BUSCH CALLS ON AUTISM UNITED,
AUTISM ACTION NETWORK TO STOP DISSEMINATING FALSE INFORMATION MISIDENTIFYING BUDWEISER
AS SPONSOR OF THE MICHAEL SAVAGE SHOW
Budweiser Falsely Identified by Organization as Sponsor
ST. LOUIS (July 25, 2008) – Anheuser-Busch today once again sought to clarify misinformation identifying Budweiser as a sponsor of the Michael Savage Show following Mr. Savage’s negative remarks about children afflicted with autism during a recent broadcast.
In the wake of Mr. Savage’s remarks, Anheuser-Busch received a plea from Autism United/Autism Action Network Executive Director John Gilmore to discontinue its sponsorship of advertisement in the Michael Savage Show.
“We have never been a sponsor of the Michael Savage Show. Despite conveying this information to Mr. Gilmore and a member of his board of directors, the group continues to promulgate false information about Anheuser-Busch on its Web site,” said Francine Katz, vice president, communications and consumer affairs, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. “Not only did we tell Mr. Gilmore that we were not an advertiser or sponsor of the show, we also contacted the radio station and asked them to verify that a commercial of ours did not air erroneously during the broadcast of Mr. Savage’s show on WOR-AM in New York City as alleged by Mr. Gilmore,” said Katz. “The station confirmed that no ad for Anheuser-Busch or its products aired on their station. We do not agree with the views expressed by Mr. Savage on the subject of autism and cannot allow our company to be falsely associated with his comments.”
Anheuser-Busch issued a letter to Mr. Gilmore and his organization on July 22 offering assurances that it does not sponsor the Michael Savage Show, requesting the organization remove Budweiser from its list of sponsors and disseminate this information – along with its position on Mr. Savage’s comments – to its members. “Mr. Gilmore told us that if WOR-AM confirmed that no such commercial aired on their station, he would admit he had made a mistake and apologize; unfortunately, he has failed to do so.”
- more -
A-B Responds To Misinformation / Page Two
“As a company with thousands of employees, some of whom are parents of children afflicted with autism, this misinformation does our company and our employees a tremendous disservice,” said Katz. “We have communicated this information to Mr. Gilmore and are shocked and dismayed that his organization continues to promulgate false information.”
July 25th, 2008 at 2:27 pmOver the years, Anheuser-Busch has supported numerous groups dedicated to fighting autism as part of the Anheuser-Busch Foundation’s legacy of giving back to the communities where its employees live and work. In the past decade alone, Anheuser-Busch and its charitable foundation have contributed more than $370 million to nonprofit organizations working to improve its communities and enhancing the enjoyment of life for millions of people.
The shockjockism discussed herein is not about “political correctness”, as Mr. Savage implies. The term is a neo-=fascist anti-concept created to deflect scientifts’ approaches to the limits of liberty of speech, establishing where freedom begins and where crime becomes provable.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:41 pmNor is the article about free speech–freedom without regulations that make responsibility one thing and crimes against others another is no sort of freedom–it’s a pseudo-libertarian demand by criminals for freedom from prosecution, no matter how much harm they do to other blameless and victimized individuals.
No one can regulate that “what one says must be true”. But what can and I assert must be regulated is the step-by-step regulated manner in which a statement has to be made–giving access to higher levelve of claiming “facts”, “value term use” and “scienctifi proof” to those who provide attested facts, standards-based evaluations and value judgmetnts based on these, and scientific proofs–denying these higher levelsto those who are retailing myths, unaccountable attitudes (pro or con) and foundationless beliefs.
It is the purveyors of the latter commodities who want the higher position and respect earned by those who furnish attested proofs, standards based evaluations and science.
But without furnishing anything, obeyind any rules, watching out for the rights of others.
Do you see honest minds and scientists begging for freedom from responsibility? For the privilege of making hate speech, slanders, falsehoods, deliberate lies, insults, bigoted epithets and a failure of the use of reason their stock-in-trade? I suggest not.
All wars, Ayn Rand once noted, are begun by the more backward kultur. Here, in this area of thought, we know who that is–the pseudo-religious among us; the postmodernist unrealists, reality bashers and pretenders to intellect–among them every would-be- tyrant and statist right-wing shock jock on the planet.
When a group of minds tells you they want freedom from reality, responsibility, consistency, definitions, scientific value standards, the need for proof, success and non-
negligent care so as to watch out for the rights of others–do you think that group is after “liberty”? Or are they demanding a license from public-interest totaliuatrain neocons and other would-be tyrants?
Isn’t that what the shock jocks are saying–”all we who are without any mental bona fides, necessary philosophic training and responsibility want is the unl;imited special privilege denied to others of being handed millions of dollars to blurt out whatever we feel like saying regardelsss of whether it’s 1. factual, 2. scientifically true, 3. valuable to the human individual, 4. legal and ethical 5. beneficial and harmful to others’ rights and 6. professionally stated.
We are a hundred years in this blighted constitutional fraud masquerading as a nation where individuals hd rights–they have none worth having left to them I claim–when regulation of non-fictional utterance and media presentation needed to be firmly defined and rigorously appplied.
If 90% or more of radio’s corporate-licensed opinion mongers are right-wing irresponsibles, how can it be we hear a continual whine from statist power-seekers arguing that there is ‘liberal” bias in information dissemination, when the exact converse is actually true?
Could it be, I ask, that government-corporate licensed gatekeeper tsars and their paid liars who hold dictatorial monopolies over non-fictional page time in books and magazines, podium time in universities and schools, screen time, and airtime on radio and as media “experts” are part of a larger problem–I mean the banishment of true categories: of all definitions drawn by scientists upon 5–6 internal prioritized working facts of how things operate normatively? Could this be why we hear complaints that “no normatives” exist in our nation’s bureuacracy-ridden and dictatorial science and humanities fiefdoms?
First I always thought Savages personality type was socipathic but I was wrong he belongs to the malignant Dwarf grouping. Of course the only places people like him can work are protected environments which allow no access or close contact with the public. He is one sick puppy, sicker than most of his brethren. They dare each other to go farther and farther out on the protected limb.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:55 pmThere has been some evidence that their mental condition might be contagious. If you or your loved ones show signs of wishing to listen to this sick person please get help…quickly.
You people REALLY need to get a grip! Quit your whinning! You live in the United States of America. People are free to voice their opinions and YOU are FREE to voice YOUR opinions about their opinions. If you do not like what these “shock jocks” spew….DO NOT LISTEN!! YOU are FREE to do that. I, personally, do not care for “shock jocks”; therefore I DO NOT LISTEN to them. Life can be so SIMPLE sometimes. It’s the whinners that complicate life. These days, if someone doesn’t agree with what another person says, it’s labeled as “hate speech”. Again, GET OVER IT and GET REAL!
July 26th, 2008 at 2:13 amHmmmm….in the recent past John McCain has made “jokes” about Iranians. One where he’s was “singing”, “Bomb, bomb, bomb; bomb, bomb Iran”. Then….”Responding to a question about a survey that shows increased exports to Iran, mainly from cigarettes, McCain said, “Maybe that’s a way of killing them.”. Where was the outcry to McCain’s “hate speech”; where was the picketibg? Yeah….didn’t think so. You’re all a bunch of hypocrites! GET A LIFE! If you want CONTROLED Media and SPEECH……MOVE TO CHINA!
As an X pat of over 20 years, I have to ask, “is this what America has become?” America now seems to be acting like a 10 year old who has been given everything they have ever wanted and now it’s been taken away. Wonder if Rome became this way?
July 26th, 2008 at 2:29 amUnfortunately Ms Rotten makes a terrible mistake by think that
July 26th, 2008 at 9:19 am“…DO NOT LISTEN!! YOU are FREE to do that. I, personally, do not care for “shock jocks”; therefore I DO NOT LISTEN to them….” would solve the problem. the problem is that too many people listen to these Reich-wing propagandists, believe them, and then regurgitate the misinformation, hate, prejudices, and LIES to their family, friends, & co-workers, who, because the info is coming from a trusted source are more inclined to beleive them. The scientific basis to this fact is outlinded in: Your Brain Lies to You
http://www.welcometoyourbrain.com
Michael “Savage” Wiener. His name says it all. I’m really getting tired of all the Wiener-Heads that repeat his crap verbatim.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:01 pmThat, Ms Rotten, is why there are people “whining”. He and his ilk are given a voice to reach millions of people w/ no repercussions for what he spews. I’d really like to see how savage Mr. Wiener is - in the ring.
Ms. Rotten,
Hate speech is more than a simple disagreement. Hate speech involves inflammatory, derogatory remarks made for the sole purpose of perpetuating prejudice. That is what Weiner did. Yes, one option is to change the station, another is to turn the radio off. Yet another is to contact the radio stations that provide him with a platform and the advertisers that provide him with a paycheck and tell them that we will not spend another dime on their products and services until they withdraw their support for his show. Personally, I think that a grown man who picks on defenseless children is a disgrace to humanity, and I will not rest until he and his kind are relegated to the dustbin of our species. Will other people disagree with me? Of course. Do they have a right to disagree? Of course. Does that mean that I’m in the wrong? No.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:37 amI support Michael Savage.
Read what Michael Savage has to say about Autism on his website. His brother died of a similar disease.
Savage is against the false hucksters in medicine who claim that Children are suffering from autism when they most likely are not. Case in point: UK Medicine disagrees with US medical screening methods for autism.
Be fair. Read what Savage has to say vs make up what you believe he said from sound bytes.
http://www.michaelsavage.com
BTW
Illegal aliens are by definition illegal. Gays do not define marriage correctly - a union whose purpose is to produce children. Savage unearths the cancer of liberalism that is destroying America.
It used to be liberals said ,”I may disagree with you, but I allow you to speak your mind.” Liberals here want total silence. This is as if we are becoming run by dictators here in the USA. What happened to FREE Speech?
July 29th, 2008 at 1:03 amMs Rotten you do know you are an idiot right? Did you really tell us in the same post that we had a RIGHT to criticise his opinion AND call it whining? If I say you are a moronic twit with the intellectual capacity of a dustbunny would it be WHINING for you to criticise the characterization? YOU are the one snivelling and pathetically. Savage is an insane nutbag without a shred of decency and criticising him while he is using OUR airwaves to promulgate his insanity is what I like to call direct DEMOCRACY. Why dont YOU stop whining if you dont LIKE to read people criticising the Weinerdog Savage why dont YOU just go to some other website. Do us a couple of favors rent a braincell, it will die of lonliness I know but at least you will know what it was like to have one and do the entire WORLD a favor. DO. NOT. BREED.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:44 amNew Yorker. No. The Weinerdog Savage is spreading his insanity and showing that Conservatism is a very advanced form of abject stupidity and its adherents like YOU are so ignorant you are easily brainwashed. It is clear you KNOW you are too stupid to think for yourself so you let bloviating screechmonkeys like the Weinerdog to do your thinking for you. It isnt that liberalism is Cancer its that conservatism is Alzhiemers and it is absoLUTEly destroying this country. The Weinerdog TOLD us what he thinks about Autism BEFORE he began backpeddling that its a racket and that parents need to just whack their moronic children and tell them to stop acting up. I would expect nothing else from his insane spewage. You out yourself as a moron by appologizing for it.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:49 amMike’s comments are easy to take a “what he said VS what I heard” view. It is a situation where ratings will be hurt and gained - thanks to human nature. Don’t fire him for what he said - you don’t agree(?) - argue politely or don’t listen. Personally, I choose not to listen…
July 29th, 2008 at 2:18 pmSavage isn’t the only Talk Radio Network show pushed by Mark Masters that is spreading ignorance on autism. Mark Master also peddles a show hoste by his own father (!) that’s selling the same lies. No wonder Savage’s comments seem reasonable to him. Talk Radio Network and CEO Mark Masters spin is even more disingenous than you may think. TRN also syndicates a show hosted by Mark Masters father - Roy Masters - who is spreading the same lies about autism.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:39 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5j4MSlKdw
Hey Ms. Rotten, take your bullshit, asinine opinion and shove it up your stupid ass, (memory hole?). You are obviously a Michael Savage fan but are too chicken-shit to admit it. You are undoubtedly a dumb c#%t! I guess if you choose not to read this, just like I choose not to listen to nazi’s like that d#*k-head Weiner, these rude statements won’t offend. But that doesn’t really make it go away does it? As far as freedom of speech goes, I support it. But as far as these a$$hole corporations that put these stupid c*%k-suckers on the air, those f#@ks are the ones that need going after. A while back, several Clear Channel radio stations, (Cleveland, Tucson, and one in a Florida market), all had jocks on the air ON THE SAME DAY, that suggested to their listeners that it was okay to harrass and attack bicycle riders. Un-provoked attacks on bicycle riders occurred in all 3 of the markets mentioned. These were, allegedly, totally un-related incidents, (at least according to the kids at Clear Channel). However the FCC didn’t believe that it was just a bizarre or random happenstance, (kind of like anybody who has a brain), and Clear Channel was fined $20,000 by the FCC. The people that were attacked DID NOT LISTEN to the B.S. on the radio. So, the “NOT LISTENING” technique, that sounds so neat and tidy to a couple of you nice folks-GAG, is worthless. ALL OF YOU NEED TO WAKE UP! THIS IS A CONCERTED EFFORT BY THE MEDIA TO FLEX THEIR SICK MUSCLES. Hey America, flex back or DIE!!!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pmwhy might the ‘minority community’ (a euphemism for ‘poor folks’, of course) be succeptible to ASTHMA?
how about filthy, unkempt old buildings unmaintained by Slum Lords?
how about INSECT DUST? such as cockroaches & silverfish or MOUSE & RAT dander & droppings?
or peeling LEAD PAINT on rotting wood??
come on… we know what we’re seeing.
Makes me wonder: DO YOU THINK THESE BASTARDS HAVE INVESTED PRIVATELY IN SLUM HOUSING?
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Spread Love, not dependence…
BlueBerry Pick’n
July 31st, 2008 at 10:23 amThisCanadian.com
” … tolerance of intolerance is cowardice… ” ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
“We, two, form a Multitude” ~ Ovid.
“Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced”
“Do no harm”
WAIT A MINUTE~
Do you consider Michael Reagan a Shock Jock?
Well, if you don’t know that he solicited the murder of someone he didn’t agree with over the air ON HIS RADIO SHOW in June or July of this year, I’m not surprised. There was NO coverage.
He said the man should be dead. He said he would supply the bullets.
It was almost entirely blacked out by the news (of course). I’m a Constitutionalist; neither a liberal or a conservative.
Extremes on either left or right is dangerous. It’s a lot more difficult to remain focused and stay in the middle.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:36 amThe term autistic has been misused to describe persons with anything from cerebral allergies and schizophrenia to attention deficient disorder and post traumatic disorder. Sadly, few doctors and educators understand true cases of autism to make a correct diagnosis. So they go with the latest media driven flow. Pick and choose from a broad and ever expanding spectrum. Or worse, they guess. The hallmark traits of autism are: sensitivity to sounds, specific tastes in food/drink, strange body postures, repetitive behaviors, inability to control emotions or excitement, poor reasoning skills, needs routines, resists changes, sense of direction and memory better than other skills, thinking based on association, not reasoning, once distracted by olfactory, visual or auditory stimuli, they become preoccupied. This is markedly DIFFERENT than ADHD, in that ADHD presents as easily distracted by stimuli, BUT, the person bounces focus from one thing to another. ADHD people don’t stay hyper-focused or fixate on something. That is what you will see a truly autistic person do. Fixate. Appear to be in a world of their own. Not wanting to play or socialize with others. Not wanting to play or socialize with others is only a hallmark trait of autism when it ALSO involves, not willfully choosing to ignore or not play with others. A truly autistic person doesn’t choose to not play or socialize, it’s simply who they are– not to play or socialize with others—is in itself the core of autism—within oneself. They may show signs of affection or social skills, but it will almost always be brief. FYI: jenny mccarthy’s kid was never autistic, is not autistic. Much like the mother who wrote the book about “tony” the allegedly autistic kid she cured, yeah right. Turned out “tony” had a rare cerebral allergy to milk…he was never autistic..and yes, years from now we will all know that McCarthy is yet another FRAUD who poses as a mother of an autistic son who was cured, but the truth is, he never had autism…..what a racket, what a scam , what a disgrace and slap in face to all families who are dealing with authentic autism as you can see on youtube when you type in autism and seizures or autism and self injury…..
January 2nd, 2010 at 8:32 pm