It is absolutely petrifying that some of the most obtuse individuals are allowed to have access to thousands, if not millions, of ready, willing and tuned-in ears waiting to be corrupted with misinformation.
A friend recently sent me a link to a Web site about Bob Grant, a New York City talk show radio host known for his controversial statements. The Web site, www.mediamatters.org, hosts a portion of Grant’s talk show in which he expressed tremendous apprehension that Barack Obama could become president of this country. His reasoning? Obama has taken over the American flag and put an “O” on it to make it his own.
The flag in question was in the background during an Obama appearance in Toledo. Bob Grant, while on air, asked his listening audience to help him understand this “strange-looking” flag. A caller informed him that she was under the impression that this was the United States’ new flag, and because Obama claimed everything was going to change because of him, the flag would be changing as well.
The circle in question was actually the “O” of the Ohio state flag, but was misinterpreted by Grant and his listeners.
“[D]id you notice Obama is not content with just having several American flags, plain old American flags with the 50 states represented by 50 stars?” Grant asked. “He has the ‘O’ flag. And that’s what that ‘O’ is. That’s what that ‘O’ is. Just like he did with the plane he was using. He had the flag painted over, and the ‘O’ for Obama. Now, these are symptom[s] – these things are symptomatic of a person who would like to be a potentate – a dictator.”
This man, who lends his voice, opinions and supposed expertise to a large audience of New York citizens does not even have enough sense to try and research this “hijacked” flag behind Obama. Instead of doing some research, he just accuses Obama of converting the American flag. Even worse, a caller seems to think the same. How many other people were convinced of this complete fallacy? How many other minds were corrupted and swayed by this complete distortion of truth?
For the record, this is not just an attempt to vilify conservative talk-show hosts. This is not about partisan bias. This is about the complete irresponsibility of public communication and mass media. This is about people needing to know that allegations from the media (liberal or conservative), need to be investigated. This is about keeping the media in check.
With a monumentally important election rapidly approaching, voters need to be informed and aware, regardless of party loyalty. When we go to the polling booth to cast our vote, we need to have all the facts and figures, and we have to be satisfied that we know the truth. Otherwise, we are allowing ourselves to be tainted with erroneous information and we fail to act as informed citizens of a great nation.
Amanda Forbes is a senior in journalism. She can be reached at [email protected].
