If you’ve read any diaries I’ve written over at dKos, you may know that I have a few local talk radio hosts that I torture (merely in the rhetorical sense). When they start spouting the talking points on koolaid overdrive, I feel compelled to call them, even though I’m often met with a torrent of abuse by the hosts. I have a couple of purposes:
*disrupt the delivery of the message, whatever it may be
*right what I percieve is a wrong perpertrated on the public
*revenge; I just can’t take it sometimes and must have satisfaction
Well today I called in again.
Of course, the topic was Terri Schiavo (how could they resist?). The hostess sounded like she was reading from a list of talking points(sidenote here: I think the driver of the Schiavo drama has moved beyond the GOP. I think the fundies have taken over and the party regulars who were content to ride the fundies to power are scared shitless at what they have created, so in this context talking points have been distributed by Focus on the Family/insert favorite fundie group here). You know, all the standard stuff:
*Mike Schiavo hasn’t provided Terri therapy since 1991
*Mike Schiavo spent all the settlement from the malpractice suits on lawyers so he could kill his wife
*17 Physicians have stated that Terri could be cured (yes, but did they examine her
*Mike Schiavo is the devil
*George Bush said we should err on the side of life. What’s the rush to kill Terri?
*On and on and on.
You may ask yourself why I subject myself to this, and I can only answer that I feel like I have a mission to monitor this station and provide dissent when ever possible. Dissenting voices are rare on their shows but necessary.
So I just can’t stand it any longer. I call in and get placed on hold. The callers in front of me say they agree with the hostess and can’t understand how the courts have no respect for life and why can’t a leader come out of the judiciary to save Terri. Ugh. Finally, she gets to me:
Hostess: Now to lapin; you’ll have to be quick, we are pressed for time.
Me: Thanks. I really need your help to understand something. I hear you talk about your president and how he says we should err on the side of life. Now I’m sure you’ve heard about the report that was published in the British medical journal Lancet that said 100,000 Iraqis had died in our war. Why doesn’t the culture of life value these innocent women and children who died for the lie of WMD? Is this one woman’s life more valuable than the 1,000’s who have died in Iraq? Why aren’t you guys upset about those people?
Look, the topic is Terri Schiavo. I realize you’re just trying to muddy the waters and make this a political discussion. I realize that lots of Iraqis have died, but lots of Americans have died there too. And I also realize that generations of Iraqis will live in democracy and freedom. You’re not going to get me going down the Iraq rabbit trail. All you people that are trying to make this a political issue are just stupid! You just want to kill disabled people. You know Hitler wanted a perfect society too, with no disabled people.
Click
With every word of her response, her voice rose in tone and shrillness. She would not allow me to respond following her rant (I wanted to ask her if all self professed Christians have such flexible moral standards; no slam on all Christians intended, just the theocon ones). I only had to speak 5 mild sentences and she went ballistic. What has become evident to me is that these people firmly believe everything they say, in spite of what the facts of the situation may be. Comparing Hitler to me threw me for a loop; this is the same woman who has railed against civil unions and gay adoption for years (I call her on that too). They are incapable of believing anything other than what they are told to believe. They are becoming the caged beast, the rabid one and I think we are on the verge of a very dangerous time. The theocrats recognize they have stumbled. They can choose to back off, or they can strike in an attempt to restore their base some legitimacy. It’s the strike back I’m worried about.