Friday, September 21, 2012

Right-wing Omaha talk show host Tom Becka feigns ignorance of homophobia, Ben Gray hangs up on him, then Becka asks the dial tone, 'What'd I do wrong?'

Related: The Tom Becka litmus test of class discrimination!
Tom Becka, Omaha's most popular right-wing radio host, got so stupid interviewing Councilman Ben Gray, author of Omaha's LGBT anti-bias law, now under seige, that Gray had to bid him an early, unceremonious adieu.
Tom Becka, from facebook page
     Becka used to work at KFAB, but was fired when Bain Capital, a major stakeholder in Clear Channel radio, made some changes. Now he bloviates at KOIL.

The podcast is here.  At about the 3:55 mark:
Becka: ...There are people with agendas and politicians that will use it for votes when the reality is there's not a problem. There's all sorts of laws that are passed all the time by both sides, the left and the right of feel-good legislation, of laws that aren't necessary but because somebody has an agenda and some special group wants to get something through even though there's no need for the law. I mean, you'd agree with that, right?
Gray: Not necessarily, no. I mean that there's things that go on because people have different agendas. They do it all the time, but... I didn't do this because I have a specific agenda.
Becka: But yet you have no proof, there's no evidence of people losing their jobs because of their sexuality.
Gray: Yeah, there's been proof and documentation that was presented at the public hearing.
Becka: Well, how many? ...[When] the other side isn't there to defend themselves, I'm not sure that qualifies, do you?
Gray: You know... we passed a law... There has been documentation that there is discrimination that exists. It exists at all levels from the time you're a child to the time you're an adult. That has been documented and pointed out by several studies and several organizations. So, to assume that it doesn't exist would be purely... it would be stupid, quite frankly, because there's enough evidence that says that it is.
Becka: ...It [discrimination] doesn't stop with the government forcing something on businesses
Gray: Well, most businesses already have it as a policy...
Becka: Well then, why do you need the law?
Gray: For those that don't.

Becka: Because we can't allow people to make their own free choices?
From that point, Tom Becka's argument got so relentlessly ignorant that Councilman Gray had to tell him he was just being silly and not conducting a legitimate discussion. Finally, exasperated, Gray hung up and let Becka harangue the dial tone, to which a clueless Becka proposed the question: "What'd I do wrong?"
     Inexplicably, this podcast is posted on the facebook page of the Omaha Liberty Project, the group petitioning to kill Omaha's LGBT antibias ordinance, presumably as a bizarro means of persuading people that the law is unneeded.












1 comment:

  1. The public has a right to physically GO to the station that employs Tom Becka, and place complaints in a file there for the FCC to see.

    I strongly urge the public to do so, and to send copies TO the FCC, just in case the station breaks the law and fails to do what they are required to, by law.

    Their license is a license to SERVE THE PUBLIC. You have a right to place complaints in their FCC file on their premises.

    ReplyDelete

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