ignorance isn't bliss

i know i will get shit from some coworkers for this, but my alarm in the morning is "talk of the town." yeah, i know it could be a rock station or something, but it's not.

anyway, i get to listen to folks call in (since that's mostly what the show's about anyway) and check out their opinions on stuff. i mostly disagree with what they say, but it's interesting nonetheless.

the other morning i wake up and they're in the middle of something. after a few seconds of shaking the cobwebs, i realize they're talking about the rapid rise of gas prices once more. the folks that call in like to announce the price of gas at certain gas stations throughout town (kind of spreading the word).

before i know it, this old codger calls up and i don't catch the beginning, but i caught the important part. he's says something like, "we oughta take out the women and children and explode an atom bomb like we did with china. except we shouldn't help them out afterwards like we did with china. the host, juke van oss, was polite and didn't correct him, simply said thanks for the call.

i made the assertion that they were talking about themiddle east, price of oil, opec, et cet. it all equals the price of gas going up.

then they got on this rant of being "american." they brought up an article i'd written the day before about an increased number of spanish language channels being offered in the area.

these jokers said what was that all about. we live in america and we shouldn't have all of those spanish channels because we speak english and we shouldn't have to cater to another language.

i turned off the radio soon after that. i was disturbed by the ignorance and sheer stupidity of the callers. these people call in uninformed about a topic and start yakking away on air for everyone to hear. i don't know what's running through their heads.

about that gentleman calling in concerning the atomic bombs: it wasn't china where we dropped a few atomic bombs, it was japan. there's a big dfference in region, size of country, people, language, culture, religion, form of government. please inform yourself before calling in. also, don't be stupid about dropping an atomic bomb on middle eastern countries. that's so foolish and would accomplish nothing except inciting more violence.

on the spanish language channels: well, man, all i have to say is too freaking bad. get used to it. spanish is big. why do we have this mentality in this country of only speaking english. any other language is inferior or in correct. that is partly why we're behind other countries in learning. their cihldren learn two, three or four languages in school and are fluent in them as they grown old. at least our schools around here teach spanish to students at an early age.

also, to this caller, are you feeling a little uncomfortable? too much spanish means too many latinos for your own good? a little uncomfortable with latinos running around.

all i have to say is that the latino population will continue to grow. there's nothing you can do about it. i think it's a wonderful thing. it's called diversity. it's something this country needs to accept. we're not a "white" country, man. it's not comprised of only anglos. so this attitude of "white" only an catering to whites only just doesn't fly.