I’ll get back to bathroom humor and viral videos shortly, but I wanted to comment on something I heard on the radio this morning that I found pretty scary.
While flipping through the AM Dial around 10AM, I happened upon 970AM, a right-wing talk radio station that makes its home here in NYC. During a long and hate-filled rant, commentator Mike Gallagher (any relation to the watermelon-smashing comic I wonder?) provided an account of a news story he heard about how the Illinois State Lottery Pick 3 numbers yesterday were 6-6-6.
In Mike’s pathetic little world, this occurance served to prove correct all of the internet nut-jobs who have been hailing President-Elect Barack Obama as the Antichrist. He went on to take calls from people who agreed with this twisted logic, and repeatedly proclaimed that this event was demonstrable proof of Obama’s status as an Antichrist figure straight from the book of Revelation.
It’s true that the lottery numbers in Illinois were 6-6-6 yesterday–although a Google News Search reveals that this was not a story picked up by ANY news organization, but rather posted on a religious blog.
Another Google Search for “Obama Antichrist” reveals numerous websites offering typical internut psychobabble about how Obama includes secret messages in his TV ads and strange mathematical calculations that demonstrate the mark of the beast on Obama.
Is this for real?
Free speech is sacred, and minority opinions–however absurd–deserve a place in our internet vernacular. But for a national radio figure like Mike Gallagher to give voice to these dangerous and (let’s be frank) psycotic accusations on his radio show is extremely irresponsible to say the least.
And especially now that Obama is the President-Elect, to broadcast this horrifying class of slander (which could endanger Obama’s safety in a very real way) should be marked Anti-American, bigoted, and beneath the standards of broadcast on the public airwaves.
Disagreeing with the President is one thing (God knows I disagree with almost everything George Bush stands for) but this crosses a line. Republicans have unsuccessfully attacked Obama on his policies, his background, and his relationships. But to call him the Antichrist? And on national radio?
C’mon guys, that’s disgusting. Mike Gallagher should be taken off the air and sent back to the cave he crawled out of.
Excellent post, excellently written. Thank you.
I had the same impression listening to the right-wing nut-jobs on the AM dial just before the election. Everything was being ratcheted up in a final win-at-all costs gambit. Political karma is a mother******.