Comments on: Being Leary of McCarthyism

By: Nelly

Nelly — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:26:08 +0000

Many adults who claim to be autistic these days are not autistic but simply disturbed individuals who use “autism” to mask emotional handicaps caused by other disorders. My sister was obsessed with autism for four years, tried to have herself diagnosed, tried to get her son diagnosed, then moved on to our mother and myself, and finally claimed to have the expertise to diagnose as autistic everyone, dead or alive, in our entire extended family. Well, she did get diagnosed herself, but not with an autistic disorder. She was hospitalised after a sever psychotic break and was found to suffer from a schizophrenic psychotic disorder.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:56:09 +0000

I think you have to consider the source from which this ignorant comment came from. Denis Leary himself.
Here’s a guy who chain smokes fully knowing the risk of nicotine. That should tell you something right there. Anybody who would willingly add carciogens to his body should give you a hint of his overall stupidity and lack of common sense. Why is it a surprise then that he scoffs off something he cant get a grasp of. After all he’s too busy writing books and filming his tv show where he pretends to be a firefighter. It must be nice living in a fantasy land. I also love how all these arm chair docters on here like to throw their opinions down people’s throats that autsim is a hoax etc, when they negelct to look at the statistics. It’s easy and ignorant to say “Oh more kids are plain stupid nowadays” but you tell that to parent who’s child cant look them in the eyes. I’m not surprised by all the ignorance on here though. Everybody is a knowitall and when facts are presented, like Leary, most of you choose to go into denial and fantasyland. It’s no wonder our great country foolishly and blindlly reelected a moron as president even after they admited there was no weapons of mass destruction. Bush singlehandedly let the economy tank too and gas went from 1.50 a gallon to almost 5.00 last summer, and all the ignorants who refuse to believe vaccines are poison are the same people who turned they back on what was happening. Before you come to conclusions, do the research and you’ll discover vaccines today contain mercury and discarded fetus tissue among other things. Keep believing what the government and Denis Leary are telling you though. And buy his book to make him richer so you can see his words were taken out of content as he claims.

By: Todd W.

Todd W. — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:11:17 +0000

@Tom Marking

Just being technical. A threat of a fist connecting with part of the facial anatomy does constitute Assault. Also, I was not among those praising Buzz for his act of battery. Personally, I think he was wrong to do it, however much it may make people feel vindicated.

As to whether it is satire or not, based on what I’ve seen of his other work, satire seems a likely attribution. If he’s established that he uses satire quite a bit in his routines, is it necessary to spell it out for people? Though he didn’t explicitly say “it’s satire”, that’s the impression I got. My guess is that he is taking some aspect of society that he thinks is stupid (e.g., people using an inappropriate and inaccurate diagnosis of autism as a scapegoat for why they or their children are troublesome) and holding that aspect up to ridicule. In other words, satire. Whether he is justified in his choice of target, that’s another matter and one of taste.

But, I still stand by my comment that regardless of whether or not he is right or wrong, threats of violence are out of line. I also stand by my statement that judgment should be reserved until the full chapter has been read. That includes my own judgment of it as a work of satire.

By: quasidog

quasidog — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:54:43 +0000

I find that drawing attention to this is even more stupid.

By: Java Man

Java Man — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:18:22 +0000

Someone probably already pointed this out, but I will degrade the signal-to-noise ratio anyway.

Dennis Leary = Crass + Insensitive.

Get over it, Jenny.

By: Tom Marking

Tom Marking — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:03:13 +0000

“Please give me one name of one person who has been falsely diagnosed with autism and the name of the doctor who provided the false diagnosis.”

*Crickets*

LOL, yeah, that’s what I thought. Feh.

By: Andres Villarreal

Andres Villarreal — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:33:49 +0000

@Law Mom: (and others)

In this blog and many other places I have seen Autism handled in a far too simplistic way as far as diagnostics go. There is no definitive diagnostic procedure for autism, no conclusive link between physical injury and autism, a wide range of behaviors that fall into the general category of autism.
It is still too early to expect agreement between all the physicians about all these subjects, so there is ample space for every parent with an agenda to bend the situation to his needs.

By: Tom Marking

Tom Marking — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:31:02 +0000

@Scottso “But that’s what makes it funny. There is a grain a truth in the craziness.”

Yeah, it’s very funny right up to the point where he calls you, your kind, your profession, your disability, your race, your loved ones, etc., etc., FAT, DUMB, and STUPID. I’m sure there’s a section in the book just for you, Scott. I hope you will find it as hilarious as you seem to do the part about autism.

By: Scottso

Scottso — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:25:41 +0000

Honestly I haven’t read through all the comments, but my gut reaction to your article is “I’m glad someone crossed the ‘politically correct’ line and called it like it is.” That’s pretty much what he does and that’s his “shtick” — pushing the boundaries. Every comedian you would label great has done or does the exact same thing, granted, some more blatantly than others. But that’s what makes it funny. There is a grain a truth in the craziness. He even makes clear, per your own quote,that he is sympathetic to those children who are truly autistic.

I’m all for exploding the issue. It doesn’t really get examined by the Joe Beer watching Football crowd unless someone makes it an issue that CNN and/or FOX news picks up and as that is the “masses” those are the ones that really need to pay attention.

By: links for 2008-10-24 - Some thoughts on....

links for 2008-10-24 - Some thoughts on.... — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:04:48 +0000

[...] Being Leary of McCarthyism | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine The stupid does indeed burn, doctor. (tags: stupid autism) This entry was written by The Prophet King, posted on October 25, 2008 at 2:03 am, filed under links. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. « This is my City… 1 [...]