I heard an ad so horrible, I immediately wrote a letter and changed the station.

[wlotus]

24 October 2009

Mr. Barry Mayo, General Manager
WRKS - 98.7 KISS FM
395 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014

Dear Mr. Mayo:

I was horrified to just hear a discriminatory message on your radio station from the National Organization for Marriage. How could you allow this group to buy air time to feed their hate speech to our community, a community which ought to be all too familiar with the alienation caused by groups that wish to deny minority groups their civil rights? If your bottom line is so important that you will turn a blind eye to their message of exclusion, whose exclusionary message will be next: that of the Ku Klux Klan?

When I interact with young people I instruct them to respect all people, regardless of their race, gender, age, socioeconomic status, religion, or sexual orientation. Some of those same young people religiously listen to your station. By allowing a hate group to buy air time on your station--any group that teaches the exclusion of others and promotes denying them their civil rights is a hate group, no matter what they call themselves--you are undoing the good work I and many other concerned adults are doing with our youth. I do not appreciate you making my work more difficult than it already is. Therefore, I will have to think long and hard about whether I and my family (and our friends and their families) will continue to listen to your station and frequent the businesses who advertise thereon.

Sincerely,
wlotus

Comments

[faerie-spark.livejournal.com]

You Tell them, Lotus! Good job for speaking up!

So many times I've been indignant about this, that or the other thing, and have done nothing about it. You inspire me to start "using my words" as they always say in kindergarten.

[untied.livejournal.com]

good for you! i hope they respond.

[verucas-chaos.livejournal.com]

Bloody brilliant!!

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

Good for you!

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

What exactly did the ad say?

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

It was a campaign ad for the NJ governor's race. The claim is that if this particular man is elected--I don't remember which candidate it is--"the feelings of those who believe marriage is between a man and a woman will no longer matter". They said things like, "Kids have enough to deal with today without being confronted with gay marriage," and complained about schools presenting same-sex couples as normal. One version of the ad said a first grade class was taken to a same-sex wedding as part of a teachable moment; this was said with a tone of shock and disgust in the narrator's voice.

The overall tone of the message is one of victimization; "if proponents of gay marriage are in office, us folks who do not believe in gay marriage will be marginalized and treated as second-class citizens. Woe unto us!"

[iswari.livejournal.com]

Good for you.

[jiffyschnapps.livejournal.com]

Amazing! I am so proud of you for this action. I am sitting here right now watching MILK with some friends and was pondering out loud how someone goes from one day being just any person to becoming a force of change... I am moved by your choice to take action towards your convictions. Your growth in celebrating your identity has been magnificent and breathtaking to watch. What a gift!

[flyingshaman.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, terrific for you! I'm really glad you spoke up.

[i-evangeline.livejournal.com]

My only comment is freedom of speech. So long as America is a country which has that in its constitution, and so long as this speech is stating the organization's beliefs and is not officially deemed hate-speech in the criminal code, then they have the right to say what they say, and the station has the right to sell ad-time to whichever organization they want to sell it to. So, they've all exercised their freedoms, and now you have done. Good. The system, such as it is, works I guess.

As long as there is such polarization in the US, this kind of thing is just going to go back and forth. It reminds me of this station on Canadian TV which is supposed to promote spirituality and stuff. Well, in amongst its documentaries and its services from different faiths, if you turn it on at 3:00 in the morning, you find this horrid paid commercial for this guy and his miracle spring-water. I think he has other products now, and his production-values have increased unfortunately. He is an absolute snake-oil salesman, and I have never written to the station, but I really should sometime. There have to be boundaries somewhere, but I just don't know where they are. They keep shifting.

And for the record, I do belong to a church which does not recognize same-sex marriages as within its perview, and I have always believed that it's the right of organizations to follow their own teachings, except when it totally goes against humanity and free will and stuff. It all depends on how marriage is defined in different faiths and cultures and stuff. Here in Canada, it's quite legal, and churches and other organizations have the right to perform or not perform same-sex marriages. It's funny though. Some people still ask friends of mine if their marriages are in fact legal. I don't know how they have missed that one. :

[professor-mom.livejournal.com]

The thing that I think is very cool is that legality of same sex marriage would have been unthinkable when I was growing up and in my adulthood: from the 50's and 60's, into the 70's, 80's and 90's. It's incredible how far we have come in such a short while. I'm happy that you wrote this letter, but even happier that now we have opponents of same sex marriage on the run.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

beautifully written-- kudos!