Invited to speak on talk radio, the author is ambushed
and abused, fodder for two Right-wing fanatics hell-bent on destroying sensible
discourse and making fools out of themselves.
By Regis T. Sabol
I got a taste the other day of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of
the vile right-wing demagoguery that spews over the public air waves from AM
radio talk shows. Just about any city with an AM radio talk show boasts a few
Rush Limbaugh disciples. The guys I ran into in Erie,
Pennsylvania, were Limbaugh wannabes. They
had the same flapping jaws but not half the intelligence.
Because I don’t listen to talk radio, I didn’t know what I was in for when I
called Jeff Johns at WJET 1400 Talk Radio to get publicity for MoveOn.org, a
national anti-war organization. Local delegates of MoveOn,
along with delegates across the country, were presenting a petition to our
district congressman, Republican Phil English, on Tuesday. The petition,
containing the names of more than 350 of the congressman’s constituents, asked
him to urge the Bush Administration to let the UN inspectors do their work
before plunging America
into war.
Although Rep English was in Washington—no
surprise there, his district director met with four of us while another dozen or so waited quietly in the lobby. The
director, Regina Smith, treated us with civility and respect as we presented
the petition and each of us made a brief presentation. The group consisted of a
nun active in the peace movement, a woman in her 60’s, a recent college
graduate, and myself—not exactly wild-eyed rabble-rousers out to overthrow the
government.
The talk show host penciled me in for the 8:45
time slot the next morning because he didn’t have any open air time before
then. I thought Johns would ask me what occurred at the meeting, who attended,
and what our purpose was. He seemed like a nice enough guy
when I scheduled the interview the week before. In fact, he seemed genuinely
interested in what I had to say. I expected him to ask me to explain MoveOn’s reasons for opposing the drive to war. I didn’t
expect a verbal assault by slathering attack dogs. It just goes to show you how
naïve I can be.
We weren’t more than two minutes into the interview when Johns asked if I
thought it was all right for Saddam Hussein to gas his own people. What the
hell does this have to do with the MoveOn
petitions, I thought. That’s when I made my big mistake. I rose to the bait.
I patiently explained that Hussein is an ugly despot and that I would not
try to justify what he did. I also pointed out that Hussein did not believe the
Kurds he slaughtered were his own people and that,
after all, he got the lethal chemical weapons from the United
States during the Iraqi-Iranian war.
Finally, I added, what Saddam did to his own people did not justify a military
invasion by the United States.
“Who else has the United States
provided lethal weapons to?” he demanded. I ran off the list of usual
suspects—a half-dozen Latin American dictatorships, Egypt,
Iran under the
late, unlamented Shah, etc., etc., etc. I don’t think he believed me.
Johns then asked me if I attended the anti-war rally in Washington
last Saturday. Yes, I said. Did I hear former Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark speak?
Yes, I replied, adding that I believed Clark provided a
cogent argument to show how Bush had egregiously violated the Constitution.
From there, he peppered me with questions about Slobodan
Milosevic, the Rwandan war, and Clark’s
involvement with both.
Ah, I realized. The old ad hominem
argument. Joe McCarthy would have been proud. Johns had obviously
decided to use Clark as his stalking horse for attacking
me. While he was throwing these loaded questions at me, some other yahoo, his
on-air sidekick, threw in more equally scurrilous questions.
Somewhere in there, Johns asked me what I thought of women’s rights. Since
this was the day of the big anti-abortion rally in Washington
that George Bush was all gung-ho for, I figured this would-be Rush was trying
to change the subject. So I asked, “Are you talking about the anti-abortion rally
in Washington?” It turns out he
wasn’t. “How do you feel about the treatment of women in Iraq,”
he pressed. This, I thought, was a no brainer.
“Well,” I replied, “In Iraq, women are allowed to attend universities,
become doctors, and aren’t required to wear veils, unlike women in the
countries of some of our allies, such as Saudi
Arabia, Yemen,
and Kuwait.”
Obviously, he didn’t like that answer because he jabbered all through my
response and started throwing Ramsey Clark’s name around again.
I decided I’d had enough. I told Johns I came onto his program to talk about
the MoveOn meeting at the congressman’s office and
that I would be happy to answer any questions about it he had to ask. “I am
asking you questions,” he screamed. “You’re not answering them.” “Yeah, answer
the questions,” his little buddy chimed in.
I tried hard not to lose my temper, but I found my voice rising to his
level. I again told him I would answer any questions he had about the meeting.
“Answer the question, then,” he demanded. “Answer the question.” “Yeah, answer
the question,” his little buddy echoed.
That’s when these two Gestapo creeps went too far.
“Why do you hate America?”
demanded Tweedledum. “Why do you hate democracy?”
demanded Tweedledee.
I went ballistic.
“How dare you ask me that question?” I shot back. “I’m every bit as much an
American as you are. I believe in America.
I believe in democracy. I also believe we have the right to free speech, the
right to disagree with government policy, the right to protest against the
government when we don’t agree with it.” Then I remembered a sign I frequently
saw in Washington. “Dissent is
patriotic,” I declared. “This country was founded on dissent by men and women
who believed they had a right to criticize their government’s policies.”
It didn’t matter what I said. They kept barking over my voice, “Answer the
question! Answer the question!” I could see these guys at work in a KGB
interrogation room deep within the bowels of the Kremlin, a single light bulb
swinging from the ceiling. I’d had enough. “I refuse to talk to you anymore,” I
said and I slammed down the phone.
I was fuming -- not just at the way I’d been abused, slandered, and defamed
over the pubic airwaves by these right-wing media whores, but that I was
powerless to do anything about it. They’re getting paid to verbally assault me
and anyone else who disagrees with them. And they’re quite successful. They
probably have great ratings. I felt like an early Christian in the Coliseum.
Sadly, America
has a long tradition of airwave demagoguery. The Jew-hating Father Coughlin
drew millions to his weekly broadcasts during the 1930’s and 1940’s. His more
contemporary avatars are Paul Harvey and, the most successful of them all, Rush
Limbaugh, who has made Hitler’s theory of the Big Lie his stock and trade.
Millions of his benighted followers believe that if Rush said it, it must be
true, no matter how outlandish the lie.
Like carriers of the bubonic plague, right-wing radio gunslingers have
crawled out of some primordial slime to attack any hapless caller or guest who
disagrees with them or, foolishly, attempts to reason with them. They remind me
of the Jack Palance character in “Shane.” They are
fascistic yahoos of the first stripe who succeed by appealing to an audience
that is, at best, gullible or subscribes to right-wing dogma, especially when
it is served up with venomous mean-mindedness.
These vermin hone their skills at the Goebbels
School of Radio Broadcasting. Under the Fuhrer, they would have made good
little Germans. Their great role model is Joe McCarthy, the alcoholic demagogue
who was drummed out of the United States Senate after inflaming the great Red
Witch Hunts of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s and leaving a bloody trail of
ruined lives.
The two local yokels I encountered have been making a name for themselves by
wrapping themselves in the flag to let all their listeners know what great
patriots they are. And what is their definition of patriotism? My country right or wrong. I thought we’d settled that
defense at the Nuremberg trials
after World War II.
Actually, they could never state their position that eloquently. For them,
it’s more like: We have to support our president. We have to support our
country. We have to support our troops. It never occurs to them to ask: Should
we support our president? Should we support our nation’s policies? Should we
support what our military is doing? That would require too much thinking. And,
as far as these guys are concerned, patriots don’t ask questions.
Then I remembered Samuel Johnson’s definition of patriotism in his
dictionary of the English language, published in the eighteenth century.
“Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.” Johnson had it right.
Regis T. Sabol is a senior editor of Intervention
Magazine
and editor of A New Deal: an online magazine of political, social, and
cultural thought.
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