Nothing like having tokens to disguise the bigotry

Yeah, there’s nothing like the token minorities to give the illusion that we’re all equal.  WZBH has the tokenism down to an art form

Sarah replaced Chris Steele, sort of.  She took over Doug McKenzie’s spot immediately following the Matt and Crank program.  The time from ten in the morning on is a “safe zone”.  All the DJ has to do is play the music they are told to play and promote the station and any giveaways, free concert tickets, and any station sponsored community event that makes us all feel good.  The time slot allows for very little individual expression other than to sell the listeners something.

Doug McKenzie took over Chris Steele’s old time slot.  He maintains his steady, cool voice and plays good music.  Sure, he ventures into commentary, but his commentary concerns music and not much else.  That’s a good thing.  Listeners tune in to a mainstream rock station to hear music and commentary that relates to the music world.  We, at the Critics Page, very much appreciate Doug’s professionalism and professional voice.  It must be that quality in his voice we hear that has him doing the calendar of events not only on WZBH, but also on 98.5, the classic rock station.

Slight pause here.  We’re giving kudos to Great Scott Broadcasting for offering Delmarva 98.5.  We enjoy the classics and particularly love nights with Alice Cooper.  We just wish the b**** would tell us who is singing the songs he plays.  We understand Alice’s show is syndicated and Great Scott Broadcasting can’t do much about it, but, hopefully, Great Scott Broadcasting is listening to our complaint and pass it on to the producers of Alice’s show.  We doubt it, but at least we said it.

We didn’t listen to Matt and Crank this week until Friday.   We know their drill and didn’t much feel like being preached to or told how screwed up everyone else is, everyone else being anyone who is not young, White, heterosexual, Christian, and male.

Friday morning, one of us did tune in as we were going to work.  As that critic said, thankfully, most of the segment came in and out due to weather interference.  She caught the gist of what was being said and was more teed off with Dara, the token woman on the show, than what Matt and Crank had to say.

Matt and Crank had their normal agenda-pushing message.  Women belong in the home cooking and cleaning while the man earns a living.  Feminists are a bunch of evil lesbians and, in their words, paraphrased; feminism is the most destructive movement in the last hundred years or so.

Dara, the token female on the Matt and Crank show, sort of disagreed.  She asserted she wasn’t a feminist, but felt she should be free to pursue a career.  She admitted that raising a family was important, but, unfortunately, she allowed Matt to dominate the debate, in effect, putting the woman in her place.

Now, there is a paid intern who has joined the show, who can be best described has Matt’s protégé.  Yeah, he’s a White dude driving a truck.  He can even pretend to talk ghetto.  He could actually be Matt’s younger brother. 

Before we get back to Dara, Let’s talk about the paid intern.  Matt and Crank offered a paid intern position and they conducted interviews over a couple of weeks.  Last week, they narrowed their choices down to three contestants.  At the Critics Page, we didn’t really follow the contest.  We did know that contestant three was Black, so we knew he didn’t stand a chance.  Contestant one and two had the running because they were White and not female.  The White guy driving a truck won the position of paid intern.  Are you surprised?  We’re not.

Back to Dara, the token female.  We’re not sure where she comes from.  We’re only sure she needs to go back.  It’s better to live your life in obscurity than it is to live your life in public obscurity.  After a few times of listening to Dara, we’ve determined that her life’s career is to provide canned laughter soundtracks to entertainers who couldn’t get a chuckle out of a trained dolphin.

Matt launched into his diatribe of a woman’s place is in the home raising the kids.  Raising kids is the most important job and that’s what women are best at doing.  Sounds good until one realizes the flip side of the argument.  Men are good for bringing home the paycheck, but not much else.  He fails to realize the importance of a father in raising the children other than the father is the bank.

The hypocrisy goes further.  While condemning the feminist movement as the largest gathering of “lesbians”, he admits that while starting out, his wife-to-be will have to work to make ends meet.  Hey, follow the Bible, man.  The wife never works to help support the man.  You’re a failure if your wife has to go to work to help you out.  You don’t get married until you can support her.  End of argument.

But while she’s working to help you out, isn’t it nice that she can enter the workplace at any job she chooses and expect to be paid the same as a man taking the same job?  That’s the definition of the feminist movement.   Woman only wanted the right to enter the workforce with equal consideration to a man and receive equal pay for the job. 

Now, if we get off our “women are inferior” mentality, let’s say the macho man, who has shirked his paternal duties to his family because he’s out there working a full time job and a part time job to provide for his family and really has no time to spend with them, is heading home one night and gets in a serious accident.  He’s physically disabled, maybe mentally disabled.  He can’t provide for his family anymore, at least at the level he used to.  Who’s going to provide for the family?  We’re in a quandary here.  The wife could provide, but who’s raising the children if she’s at work?  The wife could stay home, but then the government has to provide through food stamps and welfare.  Looks like the man isn’t a man any more.  That’s the gist of Matt and Cranks argument.

Let’s broaden this scope.  Thousands of war veterans are returning home with missing limbs, paralyzed, and mental trauma.  Are they “less than a man” because they rely on their wives to support the family while they rehabilitate?  Of course not.  But thanks to the feminist movement, their wives can go out and get a good job at equal pay.  And the life that they both built won’t be in jeopardy.    

Too bad Matt and Crank can’t get past the surface arguments and put blinders on the stereotypes as they argue their points.  Sure, they have their token woman, who should stick to a career of making canned laughter tracks, but there’s no real substance to the morning show.  The morning show with Matt and Crank is a perpetuation of young, White, heterosexual, Christian male view of the world to the ridicule and condemnation of everyone else who makes up those of us who live on Delmarva. 

Oh, and where is Crank in all of this review?  We don’t know.  He was Matt’s good little puppy dog.  Like a good little puppy dog, he’s faded into the background as the new paid intern has taken over.  C’mon Crank.  Be a man and step up to the plate.  You’re not destined to be the sidekick.  It’s not like Matt can fire you, can he?