Essay - Hate Radio in Her Essay 'Hate Radio,' Patricia J. Williams...

Hate Radio

In her essay "Hate Radio," Patricia J. Williams comments on the growing trend of "anything goes" talk radio, led by ***** pers*****alities who seem determined to anger as many people as possible, and who cater to an audience of people empowered ***** say almost anything, no matter how prejudiced or ill-informed about other groups of people.

She describes ***** she first became aware of this type ***** media broadcast. In 1991 she accidentally heard two radio personalities commenting about George W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Their view *****ed to be that Bush deliberately nominated a poorly qu*****lified Black American candidate knowing he wouldn't be confirmed. He could then place someone there "with intelligence," presumably a non-black. They made up a new pejorative label: "Blafricans," which eliminates the reference to ***** ***** entirely.

At first ***** thought this exchange was unusual, and she wrote the conversation down. As an isolated and overtly racist conversation on the public airwaves, she was sure ***** radio station would soon be inundated with protests.

She was shocked ***** see ***** there ***** no "firestorm of protest." Three years later, she sees "hate talk" on the radio as thriving and flourishing, with such "shock jocks" as Howard Stern, Tom Lykie and Morton Dowey,Jr. accepted as guests on mainstream televisi***** shows ***** ***** Jay Leno's "Tonight" show. She notes that ***** validates prejudicial attitudes and beliefs and has made it OK to say in public what used ***** be held privately and discreetly. She ***** the callers as "grown people sitt*****g around scaring ********** to death with fant*****ies of black feminist Mexican able-bodied gay soldiers earning $10,000 a year on welfare ***** are... criminally depraved." At first this reader wanted to believe she was exaggerating.

***** is not na ve about racism in the United States, ***** is concerned ***** what she hears on ***** radio simply says out loud what ***** ha***** always felt. The ***** may ***** have been there, but ***** notes that when not spoken publicly, were restrained to what Williams calls a "tolerable" level. ***** notes cycles in the United *****, periods when we are more or less tolerant of differences am*****g people. She believes the hate jockeys have made it OK to "verbally stone" any one ***** any idea different from their perceived norm.

Williams argues, however, ***** these hard-b*****ten polemic*****ts *****n't atypical or unusual. ***** a Black woman, in the eyes of both the radio personalities and their fans, she is "a suspect self, a mov*****g t*****rget of loathsome properties, not merely different but dangerous."

Williams ***** the first broadcast ***** accident, intending to l*****ten to something else. This may be why it is easy for those people who don't seek such shows out to diminish their potential impact on society. She sees these ***** as polarizing society. Perhaps she is right, although ***** in the reader wants ***** res*****t what she *****. ***** ***** wants to believe that Williams is exaggerating. Maybe