KRXQ – Hate Speech Apology

Last week I wrote about how the two morning radio shock jocks condoned child abuse (“I would probably hit him with one of my shoes. I would throw a shoe at him.”) and called the mentally ill, freaks ("They are freaks. They are abnormal," he said. "Not because they're girls trapped in boys bodies, but because they have a mental disorder that needs to be somehow gotten out of them.").
As a result of their tirade, ten (update 3:27p: the counter is now at 11) sponsors pulled their ads from the radio station. The shock jocks have now seen the light and issued the following statement…

UPDATED JUNE 7TH, 2009, 11:50AM

TO OUR LOYAL ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN FOLLOWERS,

WE HAVE FAILED YOU. AS A SHOW, AS PEOPLE, AS BROADCASTERS, WE HAVE SIMPLY FAILED ON ALMOST EVERY LEVEL.

WE PRESENTED OUR OPINIONS ON A VERY SENSITIVE SUBJECT IN A HATEFUL, CHILDISH AND CRUDE FASHION; AND THEN, GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETRACT THOSE REMARKS, WE DEFENDED THEM.

SINCE THEN, YOU, OUR LOYAL LISTENERS, HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TO US THAT WE WENT TOO FAR. THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN OVERWHELMING. NONE OF YOU SAID THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE OPINIONS, YET SO MANY OF YOU SAID THAT THE WAY WE GAVE THEM CROSSED THE LINE. FURTHER, YOU SAID THAT OUR ATTEMPT TO MASK OUR COMMENTS AS “JOKES THAT WOULD BE UNDERSTOOD BY OUR AUDIENCE,” WAS UNACCEPTABLE. I WOULD SAY NOW THAT IT WAS WORSE THAN THAT, IT WAS COWARDLY. YOU HAVE MADE THAT CLEAR.

WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO VARIOUS GROUPS AND ASKED FOR A CHANCE TO MAKE THIS RIGHT; TO RESPOND, WITH THEIR PARTICIPATION, TO THE EDUCATION THAT OUR AUDIENCE HAS PROVIDED US. THAT OPPORTUNITY HAS BEEN GRACIOUSLY GRANTED THIS THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 11TH. AT 7:30 A.M.

THE WORD APOLOGY APPEARS NO WHERE IN THIS LETTER FOR A REASON. WE ALREADY HID FROM DOING THE RIGHT THING ONCE AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN. APOLOGIZING IN A WRITTEN, POSTED STATEMENT IS A FORM OF COWARDICE. WE WILL SAY WHAT NEEDS TO BE SAID THIS THURSDAY.

ON A FINAL, PERSONAL NOTE, AS THE LEADER AND OWNER OF THE SHOW, I HAVE MADE THE DECISION THAT WE NEED TO REFRAIN FROM BROADCASTING NEW EPISODES UNTIL WE CAN ADDRESS THIS ON THURSDAY . WE WILL RETURN TO THE AIR AT 7:30 A.M. JUNE 11TH.

ROB WILLIAMS
ROB, ARNIE AND DAWN

Thursday, Autumn Sandeen a trans-activist and Kim Pearson a mother of a trans-child and the founder of Trans Youth Family Allies will be the guest on their show. What the DJ’s said on their show was hateful and I have mix feels as to what action would be appropriate.

Speech like theirs leads to bullying in schools and violence in the streets. 3 year old Ronnie Paris was beaten to death because his father didn’t want him to be a sissy. On the “Social Workers” web site they write,

“In families where parents highly pressured their children to conform to gender expectations, young people were five times more likely to report symptoms of depression, nearly four times as likely to attempt suicide and to use illegal drugs, and twice as likely to be at high risk for HIV infection, compared with those who parents did not pressure them to conform.”

In study by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its "Report on the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide" they found that a LGBT child is 2 to 3 times more likely to commit suicide.

The recent report “Harsh Realities Finds Transgender Youth Face Extreme Harassment in School” by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) showed…

# 90% of transgender students heard derogatory remarks, such as "dyke" or "faggot," sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.

# 90% of transgender students heard negative remarks about someone’s gender expression sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.

# Less than a fifth of transgender students said that school staff intervened most of the time or always when hearing homophobic remarks (16%) or negative remarks about someone’s gender expression (11%).

# School staff also contributed to the harassment. A third of transgender students heard school staff make homophobic remarks (32%), sexist remarks (39%) and negative comments about someone’s gender expression (39%) sometimes, often or frequently in the past year.

It is time to end all hate speech on the radio, go and read this Opinion piece in the Seattle times, "The man who shot Dr. George Tiller didn't act alone"