"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."
For your entertainment, that was one of Michael Savage's greatest hits of hate speech- the one in which he offered a rather unscientific analysis of autism. I don't listen to Savage, but I understand that there have been many more. Gays, according to him, are responsible for the mortgage crisis. Don't ask me how that works, but somehow he figured it out.
In today's news, the government of the United Kingdom announced today that Savage is on their list of people not permitted to visit. Ironically, this move puts Savage into the same box, at least for the Brits, as the "Islamofascists" that Savage loves to spew venom at. Well, there's poetic justice for you. After all, the opposite of hate is not contrasting hate. No, the opposite of hate is love.
I am left wondering, why only Savage? Are Limbaugh and Coulter so courtly and civil in their utterances that they do not belong on the list? I am also left wondering, does this actually signify anything? I would not expect any of those people to be interested in spending any time in the UK, so you could tell all 3 of them they ain't going to London and they would not give a damn. Actually they might welcome the news, it would give them something else to fill air time with. They may mouth platitudes in public about the Brits being our brothers in freedom, but let's face it, Brits are not conservative enough to please American right wing radio jocks. Even if you call yourself a British Conservative, you are not right wing enough for any of those 3.
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Comments: 14
Bigots will be with us no matter how much you try to ban them.
Slippery road the curtailing of speech....
Second over half of the 16 banned were Muslim and none of you that have a problem with that seem to mention that.
Third we have banned people from our shores back to the Beatles! C'mon, get real.
Remember when Jerry lee Lewis was banned from Britain? He married his 13 year old cousin, (1st cousin).
Oh, but the Religious Right think that is OK! That is why they are so behind I guess!
1. talk is free of guilt, it's only ACTS that should be legally punishable.
2. Talk can be destructive too. How about Holocaust denial which is illegal in Germany? How about hinting that it might be getting close to time to take up arms against our elected government? I recall that there was a bit of that floating around the airwaves right before Tim McVeigh bombed Oklahoma City and killed a roomful of preschoolers. I'm not sure that you can put it all on him, and not at all on the people he was listening to.
Try another example: a Mullah in London rants to his followers that it is time to do something about the evil westerners disrespecting the prophet Mohammed. Six months later a young man from the Mosque's congregation dons an explosive belt and blows up a bus. Does the Mullah bear any guilt, despite the fact that he was not at all specific and only said "do something"?
I think it's a tricky area.
I can't believe any self respecting American is ok with this banning of Savage. Ooops... forgot, I'm talking to clueless libs.
(I just love getting banned from DailyKos, AlterNet, DU.. and now 'FB friends' that hate Bush)
I think if the most recent Presidential election taught us one thing is that the influence of these hate mongers and other pundits has diminished. They did everything in their power to influence the last election and the American people rejected them.
Seeing this rejection expand across the Atlantic must be very disheartening for those on the Right.