On his 7/23 MSNBC show “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough said upon hearing about the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, he immediately knew the shooter must be “on the autism scale.” In response, a petition on Change.org was launched, asking Scarborough to retract his statement and apologize.
The petition (www.change.org/morningjoe) was launched by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg of Brattleboro, Vermont, after she heard Scarborough’s statement. Rachel had this to say about starting her petition:
“I’m 54. I’m a wife, mom, writer, graduate student, and disability rights activist. I’m on the autism spectrum. I started the petition because I am concerned about the perpetuation of the stereotype that people on the autism spectrum are incapable of empathy, human connection, or ethical behavior. Joe Scarborough owes an apology to our community and his viewers because his statement just isn’t accurate.”
Cohen-Rottenberg tells RBR-TVBR the petition now has over 10,000 signatures and continues to grow.
Here’s an open she letter posted on her website and on the petition page:
On Autism and the Colorado Shooting: An Open Letter to Joe Scarborough and MSNBC
Dear Mr. Scarborough and MSNBC:
Nearly one week has passed since you, Mr. Scarborough, made the false and unsupportable claim that most people who commit the kind of violence seen in Aurora, Colorado are on the autism spectrum.
Your statement was both prejudicial and factually incorrect. Not a single mass murderer has ever been diagnosed with autism. Not one. Moreover, there is no evidence linking autism to premeditated, criminal violence. Absolutely none.
You have not set the record straight. Your employers as MSNBC have not set the record straight. Why is that? Journalists have an obligation to provide accurate information and to issue a retraction when they are in error. It’s really quite simple. What has gone awry at MSNBC that no such retraction has occurred?
It’s not as though, in the past week, retractions and apologies are without precedent. The president of ABC News has issued an apology for Brian Ross’ irresponsible statement that the Colorado shooter was a member of the Tea Party. Why has MSNBC not followed their lead? Why has MSNBC failed to retract and apologize for an equally incorrect and potentially damaging statement?
Many of us have spent years in the trenches educating people about autism, dispelling myths, working toward acceptance, and advocating for inclusion. Many of us have spent countless hours worrying about what will happen to people on the autism spectrum — the children coming up, the young adults beginning to make their way in the world, the older people dealing with a lifetime of rejection — in a world full of so much negative and false information. Many on the spectrum have borne the brunt of physical violence, bullying, and shunning. Countless family members and friends have watched their loved ones bear it.
And all of us — all of us — have cried bitter, bitter tears over a world that does not see people on the autism spectrum as fully worthy of the rights and protections that most people take for granted.
And yet, through our tears, we keep trying. We keep building. We keep working.
And then you come along, Mr. Scarborough, with both the privilege and the responsibility that come with reaching millions of people, and you utter falsehoods that have the potential to undo the progress we have labored for so long to achieve. And you did it at a moment at which the nation was wounded and our hearts were bleeding — a moment at which we were hungry for answers.
And you gave America the wrong answer, Mr. Scarborough. You made a group of innocent people the representatives of the horror wrought by one man.
You can go a long way toward healing the damage. You can take responsibility for yourself and for your words. You can issue a full on-air retraction, one that will reach millions of viewers, and you can clarify that autism does not in any way, shape, or form predispose people toward the kind of heinous violence perpetrated in that movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
And if you don’t take responsibility, Mr. Scarborough, your employers at MSNBC certainly should.
Over 10,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding a full retraction, and the numbers are growing. They are outraged, and rightly so. They know an injustice when they see it.
Listen to them. They are telling you what you need to know. Please fulfill your professional and ethical obligations. Set the record straight.
Sincerely,
Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg
So where are all the boycotts against NBC, which is the owner of MSNBC. Where are all the hate mongers…. why haven’t we heard about all the clients who don’t want anything to do with Morning Joe, NBC, MSNBC? Could it be that MSNBC, & NBC lean left while Rush & Glenn lean right?
OH NO, that would never be it. OH NO. Like Hell it wouldn’t.
An answer to your question would mean you would have to take a careful look at your own values. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck regularly foul the airwaves with their hateful pseudo political commentary. Boycotts against them are, quite frankly, pretty easy. Joe Scarborough, on the other hand, is a thoughtful conservative who went over the line with this comment. MSNBC employs Scarborough… a conservative. So much for leaning left all the time.
I don’t understand the reason,,, but I think MSNBC is scared to death of Pinocchio Joe Scarborough. Knowing he has a son with Autism,,,,,I was dubfounded when he made the statement,,,,, What was he thinking??? Sounds like he was saying,,,you have no idea how hard this is for ME.
He owes an apology to his son,,,,,and the Mother of that son (who he left to start another family). Time for Pinocchio Joe to grow up,,,,
“Did you know he was a Congressman?”
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