Monday, February 22, 2010

Atlas shrugged off taking his meds


Sometimes, the collapse of American democracy and the collapse of the radio industry come together in a spasm of malevolent stupidity so fierce that one is tempted to pray for disastrous climate change to hurry up already.

Specifically, 40 feet of snow over Syracuse, N.Y. Enough to topple the towers of WFBL radio and muffle any stray sound trying to escape from the AM station -- particularly any sound coming from their "patriot" talk-show host, Jon Alvarez.

A STORY from Saturday's Syracuse Post-Standard explains:
Hours after a pilot’s suicide plane crash into a federal building in Austin, Texas, local talk-radio host Jon Alvarez created a tribute Internet page for the dead pilot.

In less than a day, Facebook, the social networking Web site where Alvarez created the page, took it down and issued him a warning: He could lose Facebook privileges if he violated its policy again.

“The Joe ‘Take my pound of flesh’ Stack fan page” included the killer’s manifesto, which is an angry rant against big government, big business and the Catholic Church. It quickly drew about 40 fans, Alvarez said. He didn’t check it again until Friday morning, when he discovered the page had been shut down.

“This guy was making a sacrifice to others who were having problems with the IRS,” Alvarez said. “We at least owed it to him to make note of his thoughts.”
BUT WAIT . . . you only think Alvarez has hit bottom. Oh, no. He has depths he can plumb, even by the low standards of American broadcasting's ongoing collapse.

"They just want to label him a loon,” he said. “I’m surprised more people haven’t done something like this. There’s a lot of frustration out there. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
WELL, NO, he pretty much hit bottom right off the (moon)bat. As have large swaths of the American political right, starting with the "tea party" movement.

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