Radio Sweethearts

I was going to write about something positive. It would make me happy to write about salmon portraits again. A couple readers made some great suggestions for new posts, and we fully plan on taking those tips.

But this is simply too important to ignore. NPR had the great idea to gather black and white residents in a swing state and talk to them about how race plays into their decision about who to vote for in the presidential election. The results are fairly predictable. The blacks are all voting for Obama, and all but the youngest of the whites are all voting for McCain.

The real news here is the old lady who commits the worst crime of all: making me kind of hate old ladies. For serious. Leah Moreland, the woman who, as Steve Inskeep notes, “said she grew up sheltered from prejudice,” currently holds the land speed record for bringing my blood to an impossibly hot boil.

Moreland’s offense:

I look at Obama, and I have a question in my mind. Years ago, was he taken into the Muslim faith? And my concern is, the only way you are no longer a Muslim is if. You. Are. Dead. Killed. So if, in my mind, he’s still alive….

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

It’s a wonder I didn’t immediately steer my car into the path of the oncoming train while I was in the car listening to this. Never before have I ever wanted so badly to reach through the radio and punch an old lady in her face.

She may have grown up sheltered from prejudice, but she definitely walked into it as an adult.

In other words, I look at Leah Moreland, and I have a question in my mind. Years ago, was she taught to be a racist fucking asshole? And my concern is, the only way you are no longer a racist fucking asshole is if. You. Are. Dead. Killed. So if, in my mind, he’s still alive….

Lady doesn’t care that Obama denies ever being a Muslim. If you put that idea in some people’s heads, it’s never going to get out. Because they’re racist fucking assholes. Old ladies who are racist fucking assholes are no less so because of their age, gender, or awesome cookie baking skills.

The real problem with racism in America doesn’t come from the Ku Klux Klan or skinheads; those are extremists with extreme opinions and extreme ways of stating them. They are laughable, and they sideline themselves.

Old ladies, however, are supposed to be respected.

When a respectable old lady puts as much sincerity and deliberation behind statements as fierce, hateful, and willfully ignorant as Leah Moreland’s, she is no longer worthy of anyone’s respect.

She is worthy of forgiveness, I’ll grant her that, but only after a tremendous and obvious change in her worldview.

And even though this is - by an unfathomable margin - the single most offensive thing I’ve ever heard on the radio, I have to thank NPR for airing it. The round table discussion was a great idea, even if it only rarely raises passions to this level, but it brought up a good point: a lot of Americans are still racist fucking assholes, and most of them don’t wear swastikas.