maysie.web.net

I was first notified of this news in a thread on the discussion board of this site:

http://www.rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/california-djs-call-violence-against-transgender-children-yes 

 

An article in the Huffington Post: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rowe/krxq-sacramento-radio-hos_b_210637.html 

 

I grew up listening to Q107. I listened to it from 1978 to the late 1980s. I don't think there was a huge reason for me to stop, other than associating it with being younger and more immature. Sadly, there weren't political reasons for why I stopped.

 

During the years I listened to Scruff Connors, Scruff and Geets, "the mighty Q", I learned a great deal about the world I was living in. I learned about gender. I learned about masculinity, I learned which kinds of women are "sexy" and which are not, I learned about whiteness, I learned about race and racism and I learned about class and money.  I learned about what matters (the Maple Leafs, the Blue Jays) and what doesn't (whatever the DJs named). It was a glimpse into a world in which white men said exactly how they felt, and were clear in their hegemony and rightfulness to be there. I learned that left-leaning governments only want to raise taxes and are not good for everyday people.

 

I learned all of that.

 

What I took away was that white was the better way to be (although I had already learned this from both my white mom and my Chinese dad), identifying with men was the better way to be (again, not new, but I learned some of the how) , and if I couldn't be a sexy-sex-kitten (I couldn't) I could be a jokester, and could talk to boys/men about "Q" and bond with them that way. I learned that having money was a good thing, and being old enough to call in to "win prizes" was very exciting. By the time I was old enough to enter, I no longer cared. 

 

White boy rock is still one of my favourite genres of music.

 

So I read the Huff Po article, and I even went to YouTube to see a clip, just to see the interactions between the 3 DJs and to hear how they sound and present. No surprises, but the banter reminded me of my early years, and how the definitive way in which DJs present, making all the world's complexities so simple and easy to understand. 

 

I have no doubt that this was an "easy" topic, there is great certainty in knowing that all/most of your listeners will agree wholeheartedly with you, and perhaps even more so. Perhaps listeners and commenters will say the "even more extreme" thoughts of killing, torturing, raping, that the DJs also agree with but can't say due to federal regulations. I don't think the DJs themselves are particularly transphobic, no more than anyone else, but simply have a platform and an audience.

 

Transpeople are perceived as a small minority, in the literal sense of that word. Queers and allies are also relatively small. Or maybe outright racism and sexism had been done enough in the past weeks and it was time to bring in a newer, fresher topic that hadn't been trampled on.

 

Topics on shows such as this, as I remember from my brainwashed youth, rarely touch on international news, or any national news or issues, simply because the listenership has no engagement, which was true for me at age 12. So a piece from a local news story that fits their agenda, or seemingly random topics are chosen.

 

Hatred, incitement to real violence and perhaps murder, isn't on their radar. Free speech doncha know. No culpability or responsibility.

 

What I learned from DJs on morning shows is what an oppressor looks like, and that it's better to be an oppressor, or to identify with an oppressor, than to side with those who don't have structural power.

 

Once I unlearned that, the rest just fell into place.