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, son of Ronald Reagan,33;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.
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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.
The BuzzFlash Media Putz of the Week
Poster Comment:
Mike Reagan should be [what Mike Reagan said].