Petition about Colorado shooting and autism

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SIGNED

This is the response that scarborough offered today linked and quoted at the bottom of the page, and likely the last that we will hear from him on the issue, as he attempts to clarify what he meant by the statement.

He apparently is seeing similarities of the descriptions of the last several rampage killers, per the condition of his son in social interaction, and social communication difficulties, as he also related a potential of autism related disorders to Cho and Loughner that others were making at that time.

However, not likely he would have retained that same opinion had he watched Holmes in the courtroom yesterday, before he made his statement. Even though he did not provide a retraction or an apology, I doubt he will jump to potential correlations the next go around after apparently being incorrect for the second time, per his opinion on the issue.

It is safe to say at this point that the young man has some kind of mental health problem, and always safe to suggest that we can improve our mental health programs in the US, to assist those with mental health problems, but there is still no conclusive evidence that anyone committing a rampage killing in the US, was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.

Mental health problems have a place in the conversation, as close to 50% of rampage killers studied are evidenced as having diagnosable mental health problems, per research done in this area, but a specific diagnosis or a guess at one, doesn't have a place in serious journalism until one is professionally provided, as those factors of problems with social interaction and social communication are associated with a variety of different conditions/issues.

Yes, in situations like this we do see mental health problems more often than not, per research that has been done in this area, but the autism scale/spectrum has not even been correlated to the issue of rampage killing in any research, or documented rampage killing in the US. The Breivik case in Europe has been questioned by different diagnosing professionals, ranging from Aspergers to schizophrenia, but still not conclusively determined.

His opinion would have been reasonable if he had left it to the poor quality of our mental health system, and outreach to those that might need help in similar circumstances, but Autism really had no place in the conversation, it is a highly emotionally charged issue for him, because his son is diagnosed with a disorder. That colors his perception of the world differently than some other journalists discussing the issue at this point in time, as I don't think anyone else per reputable psychological professionals, criminal profilers, or journalists are suggesting a potential association with autism in this case, particularly after the courtroom proceedings.

But, there is a right wing radio host called Rusty Humphries that repeatedly makes claims that Holmes and others like him are children that were bullied, who are weak cowards, that take it out on larger society. That is potentially more disturbing for people, than what Joe Scarborough said, as a significant part of his core audience blindly follows whatever he says, without checking the facts.

He chooses to correlate children whom are targeted as weak and are bullied as potential rampage killers, in a direct attack on those individuals. That is inclusive of at least10 to 30 percent of the population. I suppose he assumes that none of his listening audience or there children had been targeted weak and bullied as children, if so, no one calls him out on it, on his radio show.

Scarborough's response to criticism:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/joe-scarborough-on-autism-remarks-perhaps-i-could-have-made-my-point-more-eloquently/

Signed with my signature proudly showing.

And I shared the petition on FaceBook as well.

I say think and believe what you want and speak as freely as you want, but be held responsible for your actions and speech. When you have the audience Joe Scarborough has, your words should be subject to much higher scrutiny. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people. When he misrepresents me with an inaccurate generalization to his audience, I'm going to do something to counter it.

"...continuing my work with wonderful organizations like Autism Speaks,,,"

Hm. I've been trying to assess the debate about Autism Speaks on here from a neutral perspective, but if the evidence keeps mounting against them I may have to take sides.

And signed. It is not censorship: he has a right to speak, and we have a right to call him out on what he said. It was incredibly irresponsible, and only more so considering he has a son on the spectrum. Does he really want his son stigmatized this way? Apparently he doesn't care.

I think that what he said was very reasonable. Certainly Holmes sounds like he MAY have Autism, and it's pretty obvious that the isolation and failure that sometimes goes with Autism can lead to immense frustration. Combine that with psychopathic tendencies, and you have a recipe for a killer.

It's one thing to speculate on what conditions Holmes may or may not have had, however his statement that more often than not we see this, was simply not part of any evidenced reality that exists, other than his own. What we see is speculation, little of which is ever verified as a potential autism spectrum disorder, where there are two incidences world wide, where there have actually been diagnoses as such, both of which were disagreed upon by other professionals making other diagnostic decisions. If either of those cases were indeed associated with autism spectrum disorders, they are the extremely rare cases rather than the more often than not cases.

He should have been more careful with his words, and in my opinion should have specifically admitted a mistake in the way he worded what he said, but the most he would provide is the statement that he should have stated it more eloquently. I'll have to give him credit for at least providing a response, this time, as many media individuals would not likely even address an issue such as this. And again, it's the second time he's done it, so it is apparently something he personally believes in regardless if the evidence that exists is not in agreement with his opinion. He was corrected in the same manner last time when he suggested the same for Cho and Loughner.

Hopefully he'll be more careful next time in his words, notified to the extent that he has to this point, that some people take his words very offensively, and they can potentially be harmful in providing a stigma that would almost be certain if what he stated was true, so there is no reasonable purpose to propagate it if there is no evidence to support the opinion.

I signed it earlier. Even if the guy does turn out to have an ASD, speculating about it just makes it more difficult for people with autism to be accepted. We all know that.

He's just trying to sound smart when really he doesn't understand the extent of what he has said.

I feel bad for his son. His dad just indirectly called him an emotionless potential murderer.

This was really a crap thing to say. Also, I find the idea that holding people accountable for what they say is a bad form of censorship is ridiculous. Just because people CAN say things doesn't mean they should. Scarborough's statement was also total speculation mixed with ableism & misinformation. I don't think there's any evidence that spree killers and such are on the spectrum "more often than not".

I think they already know Mr. Holmes diagnosis as well as others who have similar profiles.....

I think it's being kept ambiguous(inconsistent reports and evaluations) for a reason...

* From what i have heard, over 10, 000 folks have signed this petition.
* Yes. It's difficult to make a diagnosis in many cases BUT not ALL..

TheSunAlsoRises

Alphas Season 2 episode 1

For those who have not seen it, check it out. It parallels neuro-diversity in the Autism community...

I'm looking at it from a humanistic point of view; a struggle for acceptance and awareness as a group of people travel on a journey of self-discovery. The abilities of each Alpha is relevant because there a part of who they are, so it brings to light both their strengths and weaknesses. YET, their humanity is not defined by.... abilities and disabilities.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/383498

TheSunAlsoRises

At least someone gets it! Demons! So few they are named, and rarely infest earth. Going back to the 50s there have been a few dozen cases that stand out. Even those split along serial and mass rampage killers.

This one is like the Texas Tower, without the Marine training. One day, just decided to kill a lot of people. The Marines do not take the mentally ill, people who cannot stand stress, they seek good mental health under the worst of conditions. Still, one day he lugged a lot of guns and ammo up a long flight of stairs.

Was the demon named Autism? No, after he retired from being a shooter, he was found to have a brain tumor.

Worldwide there have been a few devoted followers of Berserk mass murder, always the same, he was just an ordinary guy, till the day he took a big knife and killed a third of the village.

The Marine did not attend the University where he killed, knew no one.

The movie shooter did not go to his school, he sought strangers.

Now some I would say it is personal, as they killed their parents, wife, children, one neighbor and her dog, then drove to work and killed their boss, half their coworkers, and that does sound like a personal mental problem. Most of those end in death by cop or self inflicted. So it is hard to build a profile on the type.

Mass murder, spree shooters, serial killers, it would be hard to put together a list of a hundred, over the last hundred years.

They have few traits in common. Ted Bundy was a Republican activist, The Texas Marine also likely voted GOP. The Norway guy was his local version, Tim McViegh, served in Desert Storm, likely voted Republican.

So the usual path of Satan, first Comic Books, then Masterbation, then Republican Politics, then Demonic Possession and mass murder.

When Tim who was well armed and knew how to use it was pulled over, by one cop, who he could have taken out with ease. He did not, and just gave up. His tags were expired, the cop knew nothing.

The movie shooter, standing by his car taking off the bullet proof vest, as the police walked up. No weapon mentioned, but if I was leaving such a recent past, I would not stop to change clothes.

Now we get to Demonic Possession, both were used and dumped, were lost kittens after the fact, and both have that blank expression.

Even Republicans know to cover their guilt and flee.

Demonic Possession is the only thing that fits such rare events.

There have been mentally ill killers, mostly it is one person, sometimes everyone in a house, they then sit there. It seems local and personal. Unreasonable, killing parents, wives and children, then calling the police.

They also fit the lost kitten description and the common answer to why did you kill your family is, "I do not know." They are not raving and frothing at the mouth, they do not go house to house and kill the neighbors.

They are calm. passive, and go quietly with the officer. They never did anything before, and were model prisoners for the next twenty years, and if released, do not do it again.

Now Republicans will short the market, cave it in, and make piles of money off of the suffering of others. These killers gain nothing, lose everything, and seem used and discarded. The most you can get out of them is the admission, "I was there."

Autism, and a Free Press, are the least of our problems.

Only if it's mentioned every time the killer is neurotypical, too.

I'm pretty sure schizophrenics are also not happy about this either....It's ignorance from people who don't know such conditions either first hand or at least second hand and the fear of the "other" that are the real problems. In this light, every public figure has to be careful about such statements since they have to keep in mind that not everybody knows what they know.

It's generally assumed that you have to have a mental problem to be a murderer.