“Never-Land”
(or, if you prefer, ‘Neo-Cons vs. Michael Jackson’ - a random pagemonkey rant)

I had written an Op-Ed peice about the passing of Michael Jackson, and, having gotten it out of my system, Gentle Reader, had decided to simply let it languish in electronic limbo.

There is a folder on my hard drive filled with cathartic but never to be published items.

 

Then, Monday morning, I was listening to a local conservative AM-radio talk station - mainly to catch their weather report, which I’ve found to be fairly accurate.

But I caught a few seconds of the current show, and it caught my ear, as the topic of discussion was Michael Jackson’s physical and mental condition at the time of his passing.

Had this ratings-fest not been so ghoulish, it would have been absolutely hilarious.

I won’t be mentioning the name of the two-bit host jock, simply because I don’t want to give him any free publicity.

But I will relate the nature of some of his blathering, as a way of showing just how rabid even local right-wing talkers have become.

He was masterful. First, in his “due diligence” phase, he cited his sources - which amounted to several online tabloid websites in the UK which have the global distinction of being notably less truthful and accurate than our domestic pinnacle in the genre, The National Enquirer. Also as source, he mentioned the TMZ TV show and its website.

Based on his many reliable sources, even though they were relating information leaked to them from “their reliable sources,” the jock went on to describe the condition of Jackson’s body and invited his callers to weigh in on how they felt about it - and when interest seemed to wane a bit, he revived it by playing the “Howard Hughes Card.”

That, Gentle Reader, is the comparison of anyone who has died to good old HH

Howard, of Spruce Goose fame, was a brilliant engineer, inventor, pilot, and entrepeneur, but was crazy as a bedbug by the time he passed away.

The “Huges Card” is a good card to play when your goal is to get those who are as crazy as bedbugs but still alive enough to dial a phone to call in and relate their opines.

Those nutcases are easily managed, don’t often call back when hung up upon, and they are useful.

Almost always, a few calls from them will incite calls from another group of folks which are guaranteed to keep listeners riveted, those who generally distrust telephones and rarely take off their tin-foil hats long enough to hear their be-damned telephones ring, let alone make a call on them.

A recurring ponderance on his part (the jock, not HH) was why none of this “interesting information” about Jackson’s condition appeared in the various Michael Jackson tributes which “captivated” him over the weekend.

He felt that the tributes dwelt unneccessarily on Jackson’s “fame” and “successes.”

 

This jock professes to be a recovered alchoholic and or drug abuser (depending upon when one listens) and professes to be very gay-friendly, again depending upon one listens.

So, I didn’t bother to clear him up about what tributes to departed people are supposed to be: A fond rememberance, a soothing of the souls of those who will miss D. Departed, and in this case, as a way to help overcome some of the horrendously tasteless, privacy invasive, ratings oriented bad press that media wonders who can’t be bothered to check sources are responsible for creating in the course of discharging their pointless duties.

A bit later, I was denied airtime when I did call to clear up a misconception stated by a caller who said, regarding Jackson’s possible homosexuality and pedophilia, that “it’s not a far stretch from young men to boys.”

I spoke to the production assistant screening calls and mentioned that I wanted to take the last caller’s comment to task. That was Okay-Fine, please hold…

But when I screwed up by mentioning that I had 11 official crime statistics websites pulled up on my computer which revealed without ambiguation that there is no solid link between the two, I was disconnected.

Apparently, such good-guy neo-cons like this slathering idiot can’t be bothered with facts, even when an honest someone takes the time to look up such facts for them - which is their job, not the someone’s.

Such deliberate negligence is intolerable, almost but not quite criminal, and in fact, is a way of creating hatred.

Later, as the program changed from this local yahoo’s to that of syndicated Glenn Beck, I sat it shock.

Granted, Glenn Beck is easily as crazy as good old HH was, or even as crazy as any average bedbug, but even so - for him to say something along the lines that he was “sort of relieved” to hear about Michael Jackson’s death, and then further implant his foot in his mouth by saying that he was “more upset” to hear of the death of pitchman Billy Mays, is a milestone in idiocy even for him.

Mays, I’m sure you know, was the screaming hawker of such wonder products as Oxy Clean.

I have nothing against infomercials, and I have nothing against those who make their living pitching products to the drunk and the high at 3:00 AM when nothing else is on television. I don’t mean any disrespect to Mayes, but he isn’t on my Top Ten list of smart people - although his nemesis, inventor and pitchman Ron Popeil, is.

That comment tells you a lot about the mind of Glenn Beck. To him the passing of a hawker whose philosophy was “we need to find a way to make it work or we can’t demonstrate it” is more upsetting than the passing of an American icon who inspired many to become more than what they dreamed they ever could.

Neo-con Beck later said “it’s Hondurahs, for Pete’s sake. Does anyone think there is anything legitmate south of the border?” in reference to the coup in that country, and that’s when I turned his show off.

Sam and I had an interesting discussion this Sunday morning as we were wandering around the Pride Fest here in Denver, regarding just this sort of microphone-accessible Bozo-ism, although in fairness to the most honorable G. Beck, Sam was speaking of the Darth Vader of the neo-cons, Rush Limbaugh.

Sam has traditionally been thrilled with Rush just being himself.

“Shows just how desperate, stupid and out of touch they are,” Sam has said.

But now there are second thoughts… The franchises of these idiots aren’t sinking in ratings, and Sam is worried that folks are tuning in for something other than what he tunes in for - ludicrous entertainment.

So now is the time, Gentler Reader, to start the little birdies singing.

All of us, not just an unfortunate few, need to start pointing out to our friends, neighbors, families and countrymen just how hollow, vicious, and nonsensical the right-wing media has become.

Take a few moments next time you see that cute young redneck with the gun racks in the back window of his pickup truck and explain how he’s being led down the path to racism and intolerance. Explain that he’s on the list, too, and ask him if he thinks Limbaugh or Beck will care one damn jot if he loses his job and then his pickup truck.

It’s actually quite important, because this is the kind of guy who could be steered into an unreasonable set of beliefs by the neo-con buffoons, and is also the kind of guy we all want on our side.

~ pagemonkey