Hate Radio
This is my first real test in my attempt to go a week without saying anything bad about anybody, as suggested by Sonia Sanchez, so I'll make this rather an attack on the bigotry of a Des Moines talk radio host.
Hesiod has all the details, but here's what's happening:
What provoked WHO radio's Jan Mickelson into his weeklong rampage was a national Day of Silence that members of Roosevelt High School's Straight and Gay Alliance were taking part in April 9. SAGA is one of 52 student-led extracurricular clubs (Bible Studies is another). It supports gay and lesbian students and has some members who are neither.
The event was in solidarity with victims of intolerance. Remember Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student who was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die?
When the news reached Mickelson, the darling of local conservative talk radio - a man who can't seem to let a mention of gay folks go without grabbing his mike and his soapbox - it was manna raining down from heaven.
For starters, he referred to SAGA as "the sodomy club" so often that, according to Al Foote, the counselor who is club sponsor, some listeners thought that was its actual name. He made the false claim that its activities were on school time with taxpayer money and involved all students. He concluded the school was pushing sexual activity and homosexuality on the kids.
Read the rest of the article, and when you're done, you might want to read Mickelson's response to the above article. A complete ad hominem attack against the author which has a similar rhetorical structure to the writings of Gene Ray.
What's disgusting, besides the blatant homophobia, is the fact that he targets high school students, kids going through a time in their life where it seems that human worth is measured by their ability to fit in, and who specifically have an innate difficulty to that. What's also as disgusting is how remarkably ignorant such a wide cross section of America is regarding the nature of homosexuality. All because they have to have their unwavering faith that they know everything there is to know about anything.
As Cinnamon J Scudwerth wisely said, "So, religion's for fools, huh? Fools and liberals."
This is my first real test in my attempt to go a week without saying anything bad about anybody, as suggested by Sonia Sanchez, so I'll make this rather an attack on the bigotry of a Des Moines talk radio host.
Hesiod has all the details, but here's what's happening:
What provoked WHO radio's Jan Mickelson into his weeklong rampage was a national Day of Silence that members of Roosevelt High School's Straight and Gay Alliance were taking part in April 9. SAGA is one of 52 student-led extracurricular clubs (Bible Studies is another). It supports gay and lesbian students and has some members who are neither.
The event was in solidarity with victims of intolerance. Remember Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student who was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die?
When the news reached Mickelson, the darling of local conservative talk radio - a man who can't seem to let a mention of gay folks go without grabbing his mike and his soapbox - it was manna raining down from heaven.
For starters, he referred to SAGA as "the sodomy club" so often that, according to Al Foote, the counselor who is club sponsor, some listeners thought that was its actual name. He made the false claim that its activities were on school time with taxpayer money and involved all students. He concluded the school was pushing sexual activity and homosexuality on the kids.
Read the rest of the article, and when you're done, you might want to read Mickelson's response to the above article. A complete ad hominem attack against the author which has a similar rhetorical structure to the writings of Gene Ray.
What's disgusting, besides the blatant homophobia, is the fact that he targets high school students, kids going through a time in their life where it seems that human worth is measured by their ability to fit in, and who specifically have an innate difficulty to that. What's also as disgusting is how remarkably ignorant such a wide cross section of America is regarding the nature of homosexuality. All because they have to have their unwavering faith that they know everything there is to know about anything.
As Cinnamon J Scudwerth wisely said, "So, religion's for fools, huh? Fools and liberals."
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