Thread: Dismissal of Michael Savage Lawsuit

As to the "who is Michael Savage" question- he hosts the #3 radio talk show in the USA (ratings-wise) and trails only Limbaugh and Hannity. While I've always found him to be entertaining only in the sense of listening to his show is like watching a train wreck, he evidently has a legion of listeners who agree with his points of view, as (fill-in-the-blank)-phobic as they typically are.

The issue about the lawsuit is that an organization named CAIR ("Counsel on American-Islamic Relations")
quoted some of what Savage said during his on-air program in their own fund raising literature, which Savage took offense to. Savage sued CAIR and claimed that by using quotes of what he said, CAIR commited a copyright infringement. Savage's claim was legally baseless, and the court recently threw out his lawsuit.

My point about it was that on his show and his website, Savage solicited his own audience members to donate to his "Legal Defense Fund", despite the fact he was the one who filed the suit, and was not "defending" against anything. Also, Savage is paid millions of dollars a year for what he does; it seems to me is more than financially capable of funding "his own lawsuit as opposed to asking for listener donations.

One final note on the "autism" controversy: Savage didn't say there are some children who are mis-diagnosed as being autistic; or that the diagnosis is too freely given by the medical community. As he typically does, he delivered a broadside invective. His exact words were: "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.' "
Hardly a nuanced critique.

Originally Posted by billyjeff2

As to the "who is Michael Savage" question- he hosts the #3 radio talk show in the USA (ratings-wise) and trails only Limbaugh and Hannity. While I've always found him to be entertaining only in the sense of listening to his show is like watching a train wreck, he evidently has a legion of listeners who agree with his points of view, as (fill-in-the-blank)-phobic as they typically are.

The issue about the lawsuit is that an organization named CAIR ("Counsel on American-Islamic Relations")
quoted some of what Savage said during his on-air program in their own fund raising literature, which Savage took offense to. Savage sued CAIR and claimed that by using quotes of what he said, CAIR commited a copyright infringement. Savage's claim was legally baseless, and the court recently threw out his lawsuit.

My point about it was that on his show and his website, Savage solicited his own audience members to donate to his "Legal Defense Fund", despite the fact he was the one who filed the suit, and was not "defending" against anything. Also, Savage is paid millions of dollars a year for what he does; it seems to me is more than financially capable of funding "his own lawsuit as opposed to asking for listener donations.

One final note on the "autism" controversy: Savage didn't say there are some children who are mis-diagnosed as being autistic; or that the diagnosis is too freely given by the medical community. As he typically does, he delivered a broadside invective. His exact words were: "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.' "
Hardly a nuanced critique.

Yeah that last part sounds like him. Which is why even when he's right it's hard to listen to the man. I think I must have heard a subsequent show, because the one I heard was making exactly the statements as in the first sentence of your last paragraph.
Perhaps he gets ratings because people like to listen to him and get bent out of shape. I don't know.

When I was stationed near LA there used to be a show that had fake "guests" and would proceed to claim the most controversial, ludicrous things (I think the host was actually a voice impersonator). People would call in and get all kinds of outraged. The first time I heard it it torqued me off, and I wanted to call with a piece of my mind, but after one figures the whole thing out, it's quite a bit of fun listening to the folks call in who don't know the secret of the show.
The name of it will come to me later, I'm sure (or perhaps any folks in LA who ever turn on the AM dial might know) but it was hilarious to listen to. Probably had great ratings, too.
Talk show hosts aren't newscasters at any rate and while it bothers me when news casters or news networks editorialize too much of their opinions into things, talk show hosts are under no such rules.
Mr. Savage, as long as he keeps up the controversy, will no doubt stay in business.

John P.