Aspies For Freedom

Here is what it is about:

"VH1 Classic Wants to Rock Autism

By The Associated Press

(Multichannel News) _ VH1 Classic http://www.vh1.com/channels/vh1_classic/channel.jhtml's Rock Autism campaign will launch with a public-service announcement featuring several music stars, which will debut April 1.

The 30-second PSA will feature Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith; Roger Daltrey of The Who; Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin; Tommy Lee and Vince Neil of Motley Crue; Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS; Rob Halford of Judas Priest; Ronnie James Dio; and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister.

The MTV Networks-owned service said the campaign will feature both on and off-air components, including PSAs, VH1 Classic news breaks and on-air fund-raising stunts. Rock Autism will also include Pay to Play, a fund-raiser where viewers can go online and make a donation in exchange for VH1 Classic playing their favorite classic videos.

Proceeds will go to the Cure Autism Now Foundation"

start writing your letters now.  I tried email but it didn't work.  
http://www.vh1.com/press/press_contacts/index.jhtml

New York:

1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036

Phone 212.846.6000

Los Angeles:

2600 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Phone 310.752.8000

who:  Brian Graden, President, Entertainment, MTV Networks Music
Tom Calderone,General, Manager,VH1
Eric Sherman, Senior Vice President, General Manager
VH1 Classic and VH1 Digital Television and General Manger, MHD: Music High-Definition Channel
Ben Zurier, Senior Vice President, Program Strategy, VH1, VH1 Classic & MHD
Laura Nelson, Senior Vice President, Communications & Public Affairs
(212) 846-7920, laura.nelson@vh1staff.com
Irma Arizmendi, Director of Public Affairs, 212-846-4739, irma.arizmendi@vh1staff.com

Someone might have to wait until April 1st to see the actual ads.  Then I would urge people to write to the celebrities management and picket/boycott concerts of people with a negative viewpoint of autism.

Until they start listening to us.

i would suggest boycotting all bands in the psa until further notice in addition to the letter writing.

boycott: the who, areosmith, led zepplin, motely crue, kiss, judas priest, twisted sister, and ronnie james dio.  don't buy any more cd's or merchendise from these bands until they pull out from can support.  i can see them forming a music against autism campaign.  how sick.

i'm not saying stop listening to their music.  i'm saying write letters to the bands and explain of why you don't like this paticular case.

but don't go to any of their pro-can charity concerts, but if you do, put info near the concert so people can know about can and why we don't like them.  i'm personally not a fan of any of the bands listed, so i'm going to pretty much stand back here.

Write to the band's management company and tell them why you don't like CAN.  Especially of bands you like.  Also if you know any people are vegetarians, let them know about what animal experiments that CAN funds.  

I am also planning to hand out pamphlets outside any concerts that are raising money for CAN.  

Actually this is weird because I live in Canada and CAN is an American charity.  People should donate to registered Canadian charities in Canada.  I don't even know if it is legal for people to raise money for foreign charities in Canada.  They can not issue tax receipts for those donations.

Well, there is always Youtube or legally ambiguous peer-to-peer stuff for their music / CDs nowadays.......Youtube's probableh better unless the Rock Autism commecials end up mass-posted....

Shame, I used to love Vh1 Classic. It was awesome in 2004, and has been gradually declining since 2005 anyways.....

i like led zep alot,
but i will stop listining to them untill they recognize what they have done.
i understand that their manager has said whatever.
but they should know better.

i would say, join their forums, blogs etc.
write
just write.
atleast in leds case i think they would understand and pull out.
they see it as a disability like downs or whatnot.
they need to realize its not.

Thanks.  Do people want me to find out addresses of these people/artists to write to?

Boycotting is one thing but how can it be effective if no one writes to tell the artists why they are not buying their stuff?

i don't listen to these bands anyway.. i listen to the newer stuff

Ow, led zep hurts (i'm quite a fan). I won't stop listening to them, but I will not buy any of their stuff. It has to be remembered that they do believe they are doing good, it is not a malacious action on their part to support CAN but rather an ignorant one. I'm not the kind to associate the music with the musician's politics but I do not wish to give financial support indirectly to CAN.

In reference to M's post, this is news to me about CAN funding animal experiments. Where can I find out more information about this? They are just awful on so many levels.

CAN has a website.  They actually have all the research projects listed and short summaries of them.  If you need help, give me a private message.  The forum owners do not encourage us to give links to CAN because really they don't deserve it.

Broken links are fine
http://ww w.cu reau tismnow .org

Insert random spaces

The videos are here if you want to see them.  http://www.vh1.com/partners/vh1classic_r...ment.jhtml

There is some stupid person doing a phone text messaging ad first that you have to suffer through.   My computer is really too slow for the streaming so I did not watch all of it.  
Dee Snider of Twisted Sister calls autism a disability.  I am sure all these celebrities mean well but probably don't know much about autism other what script they were told to read.  I can't see someone like Tommy Lee knowing anything about autism or researching about it on his own.

I wonder if any of these rock stars or popular bands know any autistic and aspergers individuals personally? Or else how would they know what they are talking about?  I think it is all about publicity.

But what charity would you give the money to?  I would say that people with autism were sponsoring an event to fund cancer research.  I think cancer research deserves research money not the autism research that is so crap.