Sunday, July 20, 2008

Action Alert :: Talk Radio's Michael Savage Trashes Individuals With Autism..

Within my computer capabilities, have not been able to hear this occur firsthand.. Curious to see if anyone else happened to hear it live..

The attached action alert lead, complete with sample message and multiple media sponsor contact resources, hit my inbox via the DisabilityParty Yahoo! group, by the way, in case anyone else is interested in joining.. :hint, hint, WINK:

Have an observation that came from (as always) trying to do a quick Internet search on it for verification before forwarding to you all.. One of the top new links on it already claims to be sporting an apology from Michael Savage.. When you get to the webpage, visitors instead find a print screen of a spoofed "404 Not Found" webpage..

Would be "cute" except..

Most Humbly, Most Respectfully From This Fingertips :: Through the use of over the top language of its own, the above referenced, otherwise creatively provided 404 Not Found piece dropped woefully, shamefully down to, if not nearly below the level of the very people reported to have horribly disrespected persons with disabilities.. Here's hoping it becomes but a miniscule drop in a million gallon bucket of pro-actively issued rebuttals in this particular instance of blatant disabilism perpetuated so publicly in our Nation's media..

United In Self-Advocacy Reflecting That Which We Ask Of Others..


From: 'Autism Action Network (RJK/HK)' kingavery@comcast.net..
Date: Jul 19, 2008 9:27 PM

Talk Radio's Michael Savage Trashes Individuals With Autism - Act Now To Show His Conduct Is Not Acceptable! Michael Savage Calls Children With Autism 'Brats' and Autism a 'Scam' Take Action!

Use the Autism Action Network to Tell Savage's Broadcasters and Sponsors What You Think of Savage and His Offensive Remarks

OFFENSIVE!

That's What We Call The Words of Trash Radio Host Michael Savage (t/n Michael Weiner)

Take Action Against Michael Savage's Remarks!

'Idiot' 'brat' 'moron'

These are just a few terms Savage used to describe children with Autism on his radio program. He went on to say autism, a lifelong debilitating disorder that leaves many children without the ability to speak and in constant pain, was a 'fraud' and a 'racket' perpetrated by inept parents.

Do not permit Savage's offensive statements to go unchallenged. Savage and his broadcasting syndicators must be held accountable for his hateful and ignorant tirade. Contact his sponsors and demand that they withdraw their support. Most reasonable people, and most for-profit corporations, do not want to be identified as oppressors of the disabled. Your words will have great impact and will make the choice clear for them.

To Hear Savage's offensive comments for yourself with some helpful commentary that puts him in his place, click on these links:

injectingsense.blogspot.com/2008/07/beyond-ignorance-beyond-offensive.html..

mediamatters.org/items/200807170005?f=h_top..

Send a message to Savage's broadcasters, syndicators and commercial sponsors (Use our messaging system to contact them but also fax and call them directly – where a web address email is indicated go to their web site):

  • Buckley Broadcasting/WOR Radio
    General Phone Number: 212 642 4500
    111 Broadway 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10006
  • Home Depot
    public_relations@homedepot.com..
    (770) 384-4646
  • Sears
    Sears Public Relations And Communications
    (847) 286-8371
    Website Contact: searsmedia.com/tools/inquires/feedback.htm..
  • Radioshack
    Media Relations
    Riverfront Campus
    Mail Stop #CF7-130_300
    RadioShack Circle
    Fort Worth, TX 76102-1964
    Phone: (817) 415-3300
    Fax: (817) 415-2585
    E-mail: media.relations@RadioShack.com..
  • AFLAC
    1-800-99-AFLAC (1-800-992-3522)
    Laura Kane, 2nd Vice President External Relations Aflac Incorporated
    1-706-596-3493
    Mechell Clark, Media Relations Manager, 1-706-243-8004
    Email: news@aflac.com..
  • Budweiser
    Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
    One Busch Place
    St. Louis, MO 63118
    Website contact: contactus.anheuser-busch.com/contactus/email.asp..
    1 800 DIAL BUD (1 800 342 5283)
  • Michael Savage
    Email: michaelsavage@paulreveresociety.com..
  • Talk Radio Network
    P.O. Box 3755
    Central Point, Oregon 97502
    Phone: 541-664-8827
    Fax: 541-664-6250
  • The Savage Nation
    The Paul Revere Society
    150 Shoreline Hwy, Bldg E
    Mill Valley, CA 94941
    Fax: 415-339-9383

Here is a sample message you can use:

Dear Michael Savage Sponsor or Supporter:

We have learned that your company sponsors or supports Michael Savage's radio program.

On a recent program, he attacked children with autism, claiming that autism was a fraud and a scam. He went on to say:

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.

Savage also used offensive terms to describe autistic children, such as 'idiots', 'morons', and more.

We parents and family members of an individual with autism will not tolerate Savage's offensive and unacceptable conduct. We respectfully request that your company withdraws their advertising dollars from his programs and, if you broadcast or syndicate his radio show, that you dismiss him immediately.

Autism affects 1 in 150 children in the USA. Each of those children has a circle of family, friends and supporters who share the concerns of the child. We would say that there are likely 10 people for every child with autism who shares that child's concerns.

When you consider this request, please consider that as many as 1 in 15 Americans will be watching your decision and how you react will have a powerful impact on their opinion of your company.

We hope and trust that you will do the right thing.

Respectfully,

The Autism Action Network

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a mother of a child with autism. I did listen to this and am very mad. I have sent this to a lot of pple who I know will be signing this petition. I also hope he knows who all he is calling a moron. Albert Einstein had autism too so I would guess in Michael
Savages eyes E=mc2 is moron talk.
Hope he knows what he is talking about b/c he has mad a lot of pple mad.

Amanda Favors

Anonymous said...

I have a couple of friends that have children that have been diagnosed with autism. I see what they have to go through all the time. I listened to this today and i was disgusted with this imposter of a human being. they have taken many off the air and television for less then what he has done and i really really hope they do the same exact thing to him.

Christina shaver

Anonymous said...

I am appauled by this imbicile's remarks on autism. If the AMA can recognize autism as a desease, why can't this ?talk show host?
Like many other illnesses, epilipsy, heart problems, etc. It is a desease that does not show itself as a handicap to the unknowing public spectator.
What is further appauling is the fact that someone actually pays this closed minded jerk to transmit his midevil thoughts across the airwaves. teeks

Unknown said...

To Amanda, Christina, and teeks..

Thank you all sooo much for speaking about how you all feel regarding Michael Savage's remarks.. Each day that passes, it is directly through strong Voices like yours that others become more empowered to publicly advocate themselves..

Peace and best wishes in your wonderful efforts.. :)

Anonymous said...

I work at The Home Depot and can confirm that we do not currently advertise on The Michael Savage Show, nor do we have any kind of sponsorship in place with the program. We support many AM radio stations and weekend home improvement programs that run on these stations. Sometimes an ad will run in error during other programming, or our logo will appear on the station Web site, which we suspect may be the case here.

However, we strive to ensure that the programs we support through advertising reflect our core values. Feedback from customers like you plays a large role in helping us to maintain these standards and I really appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention.
Sarah, Home Depot Communications

Anonymous said...

Hi
I send an email to The Home Depot public relations department and this is their reply:
"Thank you for contacting us in this matter. The Home
Depot does not
currently advertise on The Michael Savage Show, nor do
we have any kind
of sponsorship in place with the program. We strive to
ensure that the
programs we support through advertising reflect our
core values.
Feedback from customers like you plays a large role in
helping us to
maintain these standards and I really appreciate you
bringing this
matter to our attention. Again, we do not advertise
with this program
and any suggestion of such support is false.

In fact, one of our company's founders, Bernie Marcus,
is very active in
the effort to build awareness and raise funding for
autism research. We
join him in this effort and have supported several of
his campaigns.
Learn more about his programs for autism at
www.marcus.org.

Thank you for your interest in The Home Depot."

the_kcar said...

I wrote to the following:
Radio Shack
AFLAC [a heavy advertiser]
Michael Savage
WOR-Radio [Buckley Broadcasting]
Governor Crist
Representative Legg
Senator Crist

We’ll see what happens as they read this:

Dear Michael Savage Sponsor or Supporter: I am the mother of a brilliant, but hard-to-reach son who has autism.

We have learned that your company sponsors or supports Michael Savage’s radio program.

On a recent program, he attacked children with autism, claiming that autism was a fraud and a scam.

He went on to say: “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.”

Savage also used offensive terms to describe autistic children, such as “idiots”, “morons” and more.

He called autism a “fraud” and a “racket”.

The funny thing is: if my son could, “cut the act out”, he would.

I’ve seen him struggle against tears, trying to understand the world around him, and trying to understand why he acts the way he does, and why, in his own words, his brain won’t quit pretending to be stupid.

He can mathematically add measurements in his head for the required materials of a building site - but he can’t seem to figure out how to build it.

He can strategically plan how to use a football player’s strengths, but he can’t seem to understand the game.

He can recite the best jokes from the airwaves, but can’t seem to understand what makes a joke funny.

He can phonetically read the physician’s desk reference library, but can’t seem to remember to brush his teeth, wash his hair, change his clothes, or tolerate “different” foods.

He’s brilliant - and yet he constantly is in anguish in the belief that he is “stupid”.

The child has no guile, and is often susceptible to others around him.

This year, he enters high school in a rural town, and has already had many challenges just to get there.

There are other peers of his whom will not be attending a public high school, but in “reward” for his academic excellence, he will be subjected to the many sensory overloads that, for a young man with autism, cause a near physical pain.

Loud music. Crowds. Bright lights. An unexpected scent will cause my son sheer panic, at the most inopportune time.

My son will be entering high school. This is going to be terrifying to him, to me, to my ex husband, to my husband, to his stepmother, each.

No absent fathers in his life; rather, there’s a whole community who are trying to help him to get a normal life.

Some “act”, eh? And my son is just one of the estimated 150 kids within the autistic spectrum, plainly lucky to have the ability of speech.

This is not an “illness du jour”.

This is my son, and many other sons and daughters across the US.

We parents and family members of an individual with autism will not tolerate Savage’s offensive conduct.

We respectfully request that your company take steps to make sure Savage acts more responsibly.

If you sponsor Savage’s show you must act to make sure he respects individuals with autism.

At the very least, Savage could take a mere hour of his time to pre-educate himself on a topic before representing the radio show he is on, the sponsors who are on the show, and the states he broadcasts to?

Or are each of the above yet more companies whom have to be dismissed?

Autism affects 1 in 150 children in the USA.

Each of those children has a circle of family, friends and supporters who share the concerns of their child.

For every child with autism there are at least 10 family members and friends who share that child’s concerns.

When you consider this request, please keep in mind that as many as 1 in 15 Americans will be watching your decision and how you react will have a powerful impact on their opinion of your company.

We hope and trust that you will do the right thing.

* * *
So, yeah - maybe the heat generated from his action is nothing more than shining a bright spotlight on an otherwise mediocre radio “talent”; however, perhaps stepping forward to those who would financially be supporting his statements might well cut off such insensitivity to the lives of our sons and daughters, and may lead to more awareness of the concerns of people within the autistic spectrum - and might eventually lead to active awareness and participation in the lives of the estimated, maligned 1.5% of this nation.

Just a thought…

Liz Ditz said...

Thanks for doing the legwork.

Aflac has dropped its advertising, according to a report today in the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/business/media/22sava.html?ref=arts

Late Monday afternoon, Aflac, the insurance company, announced it was withdrawing all advertising from Mr. Savage's show. "We understand that radio hosts pick on any number of targets," Laura Kane, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement, before adding that Aflac considered "his recent comments about autistic children to be both inappropriate and insensitive.”

I wasn't able to listen to tonight's program, which was reputed to be on autism, but I'll be able to listen to the recorded version tomorrow.

Liz Ditz said...

Here's the response from Radio Shack, via email

Thank you for your email to RadioShack’s Media Relations Department. We appreciate and share your concerns.

We would like to emphatically state RadioShack was not and is not a sponsor of the Michael Savage radio show. In fact, our agreement with the radio network airing his show specifically excludes his program (along with several others) as one on which our commercials may appear. The fact that one or more of our ads did run on the July 16 broadcast of this show was in direct violation of our advertising contract with the network. The network has admitted their mistake to us and apologized for the confusion they have created. Likewise, we are investigating whether any other radio stations who air the syndicated version of the program may have violated our advertising contracts and instructions. If so, we will demand a proper remedy.

Unfortunately, the network’s mistake was heard by many individuals such as you who have since spread the word that RadioShack sponsors this program. Likewise, Web sites that were quick to post our name as a sponsor without investigating the actual facts have been very slow to correct the record online. Until that happens, we would greatly appreciate your help in spreading the facts through your own personal network.

Once again, thank you for writing and allowing us the opportunity to set the record straight.

Sincerely,

Charles Hodges

Director Media Relations


So would you be so kind as to re-publish this as a post?

the_kcar said...

It appears that Michael Savage has been learning quite a bit from that decidedly unwise commentary of his - at least, the programming director has managed to learn something of a valuable financial lesson, thus far -- as we watch several of his show's sponsors fall away.

Thus far, Radio Shack, AFLAC, Home Depot and others have been either dropping or otherwise denying their financial support of his show.

Not that I want to see a guy out of a job - especially in these uncertain times we live in. Quite simply, I'd like to see shock jocks actually know the topics they rant on.

Anonymous said...

Savage sponsors:

Station: wpgb Pittsburgh PA

advertisers I heard on 7/23/08 (I only listened to part of the show, hard to stomach it, not sure of the spelling of all of these),
about Univ of Pittsburgh be nice to the alumni (me!) but please give them an earfull:

1. Nevada State Corp Network

2. Safelite Auto (windshield glass repair)

3. Direct Buy

4. Honda car clearance

5. No More Mortgage (1-800-701-0172)

6. 1-800-BUY-COIN (gold sales)

7. Rush Limbaugh show

8. (Univ) Pittsburgh Panthers football tickets

9. Swiss American

10. GEICO

11. Heritage Foundation

12. Fresh Start America (debt relief)

13. DMI USA

14. Ford (Washington PA Ford Dealer)

15. AFLAC (Twice): ppl, dont believe the hype Aflac still supports him!

16. Bob Costas radio show

17. National Guard

18. Lumber Liquidators

19. FoodFromTheHood.com

20. Schultz Ford, Wexford PA

21. Mega Health Insurance

22. HD Radio (Best buy and Amazon.com)

23. Priceline (good ole capt kirk)

24. Sherwin Williams

I heard these tonight. This is accurate.

E-Advocate Network said...

The E-Advocate created a petition to fire Savage on Care2. Please join us and make sure to comment. I am in touch with Mark Masters of TRN, Savage's employers, and I am sending him the more moving comments.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/fire-michael-quotautism-is-a-fraudquot-savage