Read full post, see embedded content, and comment here! Posted in: Media Post tags: Cooper Freeman, Robert T. Nash

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from [...]]]> Good call on the part of the Chattanooga Police force. They obviously can tell a journalist from a rancorous self-promoting prig.

Read full post, see embedded content, and comment here!
Posted in: Media
Post tags: Cooper Freeman, Robert T. Nash

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Today, I switched my dial to the Spanish Language radio station nearby to 102.3 on the dial after listening to Mr. Nash make racial slurs directed at Jews. His caller, a woman by the name [...]]]> I am a former listener and fan of the Live & Local radio show broadcasted on WGOW 102.3 in Chattanooga, TN.

Today, I switched my dial to the Spanish Language radio station nearby to 102.3 on the dial after listening to Mr. Nash make racial slurs directed at Jews. His caller, a woman by the name of Sylvia, called to complain that he had used the term “Jew” pejoratively on a prior show. No sooner had she voiced her complaint than he became belligerent and demanded of her the specific words that were subject of the complaint. She could not recall them, but Mr. Nash helpfully suggested that offending comment might have been his characterization of Andy Berke as “white Jew lawyer.”

The caller confessed that she did not remember if this was the original instance which provoked her call or not, but asked why he would make comments of this sort. His strident reply was that he “like[s] to take a dig at the yids now and then.”

The caller asked why he would like to do this, and in amongst his subsequent rant, he indicated that his animus against Jews was related to his disapproval of U.S. policy in Israel, as well as the fact that Jewish people are a small minority worldwide. He then demanded to know how Sylvia, the caller, felt about U.S. policy toward Israel. Sylvia remarked that she felt the U.S. should support Israel “for our own benefit”, but declined to elaborate when pressed on her political thinking in that regard. Her disinclination to follow this rabbit trail drew another gratuitous tirade from Mr. Nash, who berated her as “unable to form a cogent argument”.

I disagree with this view of her. I do not know if my viewpoint on U.S. policy toward Israel is more similar to Robert Nash’s or to his caller’s. On the one hand, I feel the AIPAC lobby has too much influence in Washington, and that our policies are not always as even-handed as they should be. On the other hand, I feel that U.S. involvement with Israel should be measured in consideration of the delicacy of the situation in the Middle East, recognition of the value of democratic government, and recognition of the fundamental right to existence and sovereignty for nations willing to conform to international law in the most important ways. Perhaps Sylvia feels the same as I do, or perhaps she supports a view of U.S. policy that gives more weight to our international relationship with Israel than many other considerations. Whatever her views, she is entitled to them. If she wishes to debate U.S. policy toward Israel, then she will need to elaborate on them. If she does not wish to debate U.S. policy toward Israel, then she need not.

Nevertheless, by effectively refocusing attention toward politics and away from his own display of racially charged disrespect toward worthy human beings, Robert Nash managed to avoid taking responsibility for his comments and either defending them or apologizing for them.

Personally, I see no valid defense for such disrespectful language. Short of a real apology from Mr. Nash, I will no longer be a listener of his show.

Lastly, I do want to say thank you to the caller, who kept her patience through Mr. Nash’s lengthy, screaming rants at her, and held her ground on the core issue. Sylvia, you are a remarkable woman. I wish there were more of you.

Read full post, see embedded content, and comment here!
Posted in: Local & State, Media
Post tags: Robert T. Nash

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh