The Low Information Voters Will Inherit the Earth
Gator Country 101.9 morning deejays Val St. John and Scott Fish are back on the air today after a one-day suspension for an April Fool’s Day joke involving Lee County’s water supply.
The hosts of the “Val and Scott In The Morning Show” on the Bonita Springs-based country music station were suspended Monday after perpetrating the joke that involved telling listeners there was dihydrogen monoxide in the county’s water. Dihydrogen monoxide is another way to describe water.
Some listeners didn’t get the joke, however, and began calling the Lee County Utility asking about the issue....
Tony Renda, 101.9 general manager, said in a message to The News-Press today that suspension of the two deejays remained in effect until the following was accomplished:
“Although the VAST MAJORITY of our listeners got the joke, some didn’t. We needed to ensure that ALL of our listeners understood that there was no problem with the water,” Renda said in the message, adding that the station had to ensure that both the Lee County Utility and Lee County Health Department were both satisfied with the efforts.
After seeing the very funny Penn and Teller episode (where they have environmental activists signing a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide), I am not surprised that people did not get the joke. The amazing thing is the fact that the radio station, and society in general, felt the need to pander to this ignorance by actually suspending the radio show hosts. In effect, they were forced to apologize for the public's appalling ignorance.
This is the society that progressives have been fighting for -- one in which the listener defines acceptable vs. unacceptable speech based on his or her own hurt feelings and ignorance.
