For reporting that is an embarrassment to the profession
of journalism, and for being beholden to corporate paymasters rather than
the citizens of America.
Sadly ironic that we just finished interviewing Rory O'Connor about
his new book on right-wing
radio hate mongers when we heard a murderous rant by Michael Reagan played
and condemned on the Randi Rhodes show.
As we listened to the Reagan audio on Randi's program this week, we were
reminded that all of this right-wing talk of killing, hate, and violence
is being broadcast on the public airwaves and enriching the wealthy purveyors
of on-air demagoguery. And remember, there are corporations who make a profit
from these destructive words, as well as advertisers who support the degrading
of the most basic of civilized standards.
We read that just recently Reagan
said that an individual who was writing soldiers about his concerns about
9/11 should be shot:
"We ought to find the people who are doing this, take them out
and shoot them. Really. You take them out, they are traitors to this
country, and shoot
them.
You have a problem with that? Deal with it. You shoot them. You call them
traitors, that's what they are, and you shoot them dead. I'll pay for the
bullets. How about you take Mark Dice out and put him in the middle of
a firing range. Tie him to a post, don't blindfold him, let it rip and
have
some fun with Mark Dice."
Then a YouTube posting
of a Michael Reagan broadcast from a couple of years
back finally got noticed for what it was: genocidal threats against Muslim
babies and mothers, because some Middle Eastern mother named her child "Hezbollah."
"You
know what I would get them for a first birthday, I would put a grenade up
their butts and light it. Happy birthday. Bye-Bye." He went on to say, "What's
wrong with killing the mothers and the babies?" It only gets more macabre
and defiantly homicidal from there.
Since the radio program was simulcast on cable, you can see Reagan as he
is spouting this S.S. diatribe -- and he is smirking for the cameras. These "shock
jocks" -- radio storm troopers of the right -- know that outrageous
comments get attention and publicity, and ultimately bigger checks for their
bank accounts. But they and their radio company owners and their corporate
sponsors are violating fundamental decency.
It is difficult and frustrating to try and fathom how we have arrived at
this point in our society when the public airwaves are filled with such
vile filth and violent calls for murder -- all so readily tolerated on
the right-wing
dial.
Michael Reagan is not just the BuzzFlash Media Putz of the Week. He is a
contemptible human being who puts our nation's integrity and moral standards
to shame.
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