Well, it turns out that Boortz's boss was none too pleased by these remarks. David Meszeros, "Vice President and General Manager of WSB AM 750 Atlanta, Boortz's flagship station" and the father of a Virginia Tech graduate, had this to say:
I was disappointed with the way he was handling it on the air. I didn't think it was the right way to go. He's entitled to his opinion, that's what talk show hosts do. I really, along with a number of our management team, had some serious conversations about the direction [of his comments]
It wasn't just Boortz's boss. According to the Collegiate Times article, "[r]eaction on the Virginia Tech campus was singularly disdainful" to Boortz's remarks:
"It's rather difficult to judge people like that. One might think that someone would jump up and try to wrestle him to the ground but everybody's fearing for their life and it's not that simple," said former engineering professor Robert Heller. "People that make comments like this make you think we should have guns everywhere. That would sure help; you'd probably shoot more innocent people that way more than anything else."Librescu's heroic actions - lodging himself against the door of his Norris classroom and ordering his students to flee - were a special point of contention for students and faculty contacted about Boortz's remarks.
"He was a Holocaust survivor and our feeling is `Never again,' we will never allow someone to do something that we will not defend," said Heller, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor and to whom Librescu was a "best friend."
So where does this leave us at this point? Boortz makes his hateful remarks, is chewed out by his management, but isn't fired. Calls to Boortz's advertisers - United BMW of Gwinnet Place, Solomon Brothers Jewelers and Georgia Pressure and Steam - by the Collegiate Times are "not returned." And "E-mail requests filed with radio stations WNIS Norfolk, WFHG Bristol, and WINA Charlottesville, each of which syndicate Boortz, [are] unreturned" as well.
Time to ratchet this up, or should everyone just let it go?
Not everyone is a trained killer with Vietnam combat experience like you, Neal.
You did go to Vietnam, right Neal?
Where is the media reaction to this? Where is the community outrage, Lowell I want to thank you for posting about this and keeping the story alive.
I have taken the liberty of getting in touch with WSB 750 AM and intend on getting in touch with the rest of the stations that carry him later on today when I get out of class.
In the meantime, here are some folks you should get in touch with.
David Meszaros
Vice President/General Manager david.meszaros@coxradio.com (404) 897-7544
Pete Spriggs
Program Director pete.spriggs@coxradio.com (404) 897-6232
Condace Pressley
Assistant Program Director condace.pressley@coxradio.com (404) 897-6297
Chris Osgood
General Sales Manager chris.osgood@coxradio.com (404) 897-7562
Look, the a**hole and his cohorts are just frustrated heroes who never got a chance to prove themselves. But somehow the just KNOW they would act like mini-Rambos.
So this is my suggestion, one I have suggested before and will continue to do so; we drop these guys off in some South American jungle. Let them fight it out with the rebel-du-jour or the narco-terrorrists. They get to prove to themselves and all of us how macho they really are and WE get rid of these obnoxious, indecent, and inhuman beings who are a waste of air. Works for all us, right?
Disgusting.
Meanwhile in Iraq 23 textile workers, members of the Yazidi religious minority, were executed in Iraq. The Yazidis were workers at a textile factory in Mosul. Their bus was ambushed as they were traveling home to the nearby town of Bashika. Best as I can tell this was a government owned textile mill, and the factory itself may have been protected by US Army troops.
The gunmen ordered followers of other faiths to leave the bus, before killing the Yazidi members in a field by the road one by one execution-style. Three Yazidi members were seriously wounded but survived the attack.
People in a war-torn area full of sectarian strife aren't wussified - they tend to be hyper-vigilant. They aren't the product of liberalism, feminism and they aren't tolerant of gays. In support of their fantansy based politics, nutjobs like Boortz are trying desperately to forge some link between these and the VT slaughter.
The Yazidi incident demonstrates that the absence of these do not prevent execution.
This victim blaming honestly and truly makes me dizzy with nausea. Guess I'm just a wuss.
Get them involved and the results will change.
Family at VT need to sue?