Sunday, January 28, 2007

Hey CNN, at what point will you say enough is enough?

I happened to be watching CNN this morning when I saw a quick plug for Paula Zahn’s show Monday night. So I went to CNN’s website to see what I could find out about the show. Here is what they had to say:

They are words that cut like a knife. But should derogatory statements be banned? Paula brings it all "Out in the Open."

Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess who is probably the inspiration for this show’s theme, although I simply cannot imagine why CNN would want to keep this controversy alive any longer than they have to. I guess they don’t think they’ve gotten enough mileage out of the whole sordid affair yet. Or offended enough people. But my question is this, why isn’t CNN more concerned about their reputation as a reputable, accurate news source? With opinion show hosts like Glenn Beck, they become no better than FOX News. And for people like me, that’s really bad news, because I watch CNN so I don’t ever have to watch FOX.

I am completely turned off by Mr. Beck. I find him repellent, not too bright, and always looking for the shock factor in a story because he is incapable of intelligent debate. As the mother of a gay son, I found his latest loud-mouth load of complete ignorance so offensive that it has left me seething and honestly, a bit baffled. Baffled not because of what spilled out of Beck’s mouth this time, that’s no surprise since I know he has a history of saying awful things. But I am baffled as to why CNN would want to associate itself with this low-class guy and his less than professional off-the-cuff hateful remarks? And I cannot help wondering if CNN thinks their network’s demographics don’t include gays and lesbians, or moms and dads who, like me, are parents of gay children? Is CNN that clueless? Or do they just not care?

I am so disgusted. It’s bad enough that Glenn Beck tried to minimize how hurtful, ugly, and bigoted the word f*ggot is. But for him to tell all those parents out there who know first-hand the painful impact the word f*ggot has had on their own child that it is just a “naughty” word is a real slap in the face. It’s pretty damn heartbreaking having to console your child after he’s been bullied and called a f*ggot, but it is unforgivable to have someone in Mr. Beck’s position actually taking such glee in repeating the word on national television like some 4 year old child testing his boundaries. Shame on him and shame on CNN for giving him the venue to do it.

Glenn Beck is nothing but a mean bully -- and not a very smart one at that. When he’s not calling Hurricane Katrina victims scumbags, or telling us how he hates 9-11 victims’ families, or warning good Muslims to shoot bad Muslims in the head, or thinking about killing Michael Moore, or calling Nick Berg’s father a scumbag, he is telling us how “naughty the word f*ggot is. So if his shtick is to push the envelope, he has succeeded. But he’s also succeeded in pushing this Seething Mom away from CNN. I’ve had my fill of cruel loud-mouth eggheads, and I certainly don’t need to watch one on CNN.

Oh, and Office Depot and Best Buy, do you really want to sponsor this man’s show?


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