Friday, August 15, 2008

Hate Speech On The Radio

Talk show jocks and hate speech, why do talk show DJ’s feel that it is OK to use bigotry on their shows?

I found this on Donna Rose’s blog, “The DonnaBlog” about the murder of Angie Zapata and the comments made on the “Rover’s Morning Glory” show where he used derogatory language describing Angie Zapata (She was murdered on July 17 in her Greeley, Colorado apartment.) and Rover said that her murder was justified. As Donna Rose said,
“most disgusting, vile way possible - making sure to refer to Angie as a “man”, a “he”, a “he/she”, a “thing”, and an “it”. They explained that her murderer was justified in being angry and in killing Angie. In fact, Rover said, if he were on the jury he’d vote to acquit. They implied that others would be justified in similar actions, and that Angie deserved it. It was disgusting, irresponsible, and crossed any boundary of decency.”
Over and over again we hear these morning radio talk shows “Shock Jocks” use vile and bigoted language and get away with it use. However, it is not limited to the morning “Shock Jocks” shows, shows like the Rush Limbaugh use foul language also. Here is a press release from Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) about a what Rush said on one of his shows, “
Limbaugh used the vulgar slurs "add-a-dick-to-me" and "chop-a-dick-off-a-me" in discussing an article about the medical and psychological outcomes of sex reassignment surgery, part of the transition process for some transgender people.”
In a Newsday article “Does shock jock hate speech lead to violence?” they write about Jim D. Adkisson, the shooter at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, they said…
Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Rush Limbaugh say that “liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces” and “the Islamofascists are actually campaigning for the election of Democrats” and that riots at the Democratic Convention would be “the best damn thing that can happen to this country.”

Worth dying for? Adkisson did tell police he never expected to leave the church alive. Books found in his home included Hannity's "Let Freedom Ring," as well as "Liberalism Is a Mental Health Disorder" by Michael Savage, and "The O'Reilly Factor" by Bill O'Reilly - both outspoken right-wing talk show hosts.
Media Matters for America writes about radio shock jock Michael Savage,
“As Media Matters for America has documented” … “Savage has a history of hateful attacks on gays and lesbians. He has repeatedly referred to "the homosexual mafia," claimed that "the homosexual dance of death" is the "seminal issue of our time," and compared gays to "drug addicts."
When “Shock Jock” Don Imus used derogatory language to describe the Rutgers University women's basketball team, he was fired because of the public outcry.
When "Big John," a radio host on WELE-AM in Daytona Beach, called the Daytona Beach Commissioner Dwayne Taylor a monkey, there was a huge public out cry to fire him.
Where is the public outcry about what was said about Angie Zapata? Is it OK to use bigoted and hate speech because it is only against the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender community?
When you hear DJ use bigoted, vulgar and defamatory language against minorities, turn off the show and listen to someone else and let the station know that you are not going to listen to that junk.

STOP THE HATE!

1 comment:

  1. FYI--I don't listen to talk radio at all. I listen to straight news (NPR or AM newsradio) or very local pop stations only.

    There is a JACK station in my area which always used to play music 24/7. We now have an annoying and idiotic guy who talks nonstop for 5 hours. He's horrid. I refuse to listen to the station at all, anytime, because of him.

    The airwaves are like a toxic waste site nowadays, and I'm not willing to don the required whitesuit to venture there.

    What makes me the most angry is when friends (or "friends") tell me I'm taking it all too seriously, that it's all a joke. I guess that while video may have killed the radio star, radio has killed my sense of humor. :-(

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