Miss Jones and Hot 97, you disgust me

People amaze me. Really. On the day of the Boxing Day Tsunami I went to the Amazon web site. They had set up a way for people to donate money to the Tsunami victims online, through Amazon. Wow! Apple had something similar set up on their site. Really awesome stuff.

And then there’s the other kind of amazement. This kind. Insofar as I can gather from various news reports, the song first aired on Tuesday, Jan 18. The song was played until at least Thursday, possibly Friday and was featured on the radio station’s web site. To write the song, air the song and get it posted to the radio station web site at least implies that quite a few people were involved in getting this song in front of the public. Yet it appears that from within that group of people who brought this song to the public only one cried foul. And she cried foul on the air, as soon as she heard the song. Over the course of at least three mornings this tasteless joke was permitted to air. On Monday Miss Jones apparently realized the error of her ways and issued an on air apology. The radio station web site now has a message of apology. The president of the company assures us that the staff of the show responsible for the song are “truly contrite”.

I guess I don’t understand shock radio. I’ve read the words to the song in question. I find them disgusting. I’m at a complete loss to understand how anyone would think that the public at large would find it funny. Maybe it’s not about funny. Maybe it’s the same innate desire that causes us to gawk at traffic accidents. Maybe people listen to shock radio to see what they will do next. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I don’t get it.

‘Miss Jones’ and her staff have ‘volunteered’ to donate a week’s pay to Tsunami relief. I think ‘Miss Jones’ and her staff should tour the areas struck by the tsunami. I think Miss Jones should explain her song to the children who lost their parents in the tsunami. She can start with the Japanese boy, Ryohei Sugimoto, who lost his entire family. Miss Jones can explain to him how it’s OK for her to make derogatory comments about Asians on her radio show. Then maybe she could give Ryohei a personal performance of The Tsunami Song. If Miss Jones is so callous that she can use the pain and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people to garner her ratings, I think it only fair that she be made to understand their suffering.

Miss Jones and Hot 97, you disgust me.

Sign the petitions:

http://www.petitiononline.com/tsunmai7/petition.html

http://www.petitiononline.com/endhate/petition.html

aloha