Recently, Freddie and I were called out for not scolding a caller when he described Councilman Eric Crafton of English Only fame as being like the Grand Dragon of the KKK. We accepted responsibility and apologized. What we didn’t do was explain it away as “just a joke,” accuse the person who brought it to our attention of being overly sensitive, or make any other excuses.
As I thought about this incident and how it was approximately only the second time in the more than four years we have been on the air that we let something egregious be said without comment and were called out on it, I became frustrated and angry. Not because we had to apologize but because where we might let one or two instances of intolerance or hyperbole slip every four years, other local talk radio hosts spew intolerance and divisiveness daily without comment. And how can we be denied a full-time, 5 day a week spot on local talk radio because, as one programmer put it, “my listeners will be at my door with torches and pitchforks,” and yet those who do have full time shows get away with so much worse with simply a shrug of a shoulder and an “oh well, it’s just entertainment?”
For an example, just flip on Supertalk 99.7 WTN between 9am-1pm on any given weekday morning to hear the puerile “The Michael DelGiorno Show.” In the first hour of this morning’s show, DelGiorno and his sidekick, Gwen Freeman, compared President-elect Obama to Saddam Hussein because Obama’s image will adorn commemorative Washington subway tickets from now until the inauguration. “What’s next,” they asked as they guffawed their way through their perception of an overly hyped Obama, “erecting statues and putting his image on the side of buildings? You know who else had statues and his image placed on the sides of buildings? Saddam Hussein.”
That’s right, an image on a subway ticket = ruthless dictator. How very tolerant. How very patriotic.
Then not an hour later during a discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Del Giorno called Islam a “false religion” with a “false prophet.” DelGiorno, a self-professed follower of Christ who will never pass up a chance to tout his unyielding devotion to Jesus, conveniently forgot some of His most important teachings – tolerance and inclusion. Oopsie!
Freddie and I have set up Liberadio(!) as a weekly two hour outlet for those who want to have thoughtful discussions and civil dialogue, understand public policy, listen to interviews with community organizers, news makers and politicians, participate fully in the democratic process, and have a dance and a little fun while doing it. DelGiorno and Co. make fun of and antagonistically ridicule anyone who doesn’t think or believe exactly as they do. Every day. For four hours. How very, very unchristian. And how very bad for Nashville.
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