Friday, January 15, 2010

A portrait of ignorance: Puerto Rican DJs.

As I was driving to work this morning amidst the now ever-present rain, something extremely stupid came up on the radio. I was tired of a particular station so I started scanning through the ones available. I fell upon one of the most popular programs in Puerto Rican radio; one I don't listen to usually because the DJs are downright moronic at times with their attitude and commentary. They have that Jay Leno attitude of "I'm better than you!". Normally, I just ignore them and wait for the Boricuazo section, but today, I was rapt with attention. Not because they were saying anything particularly interesting, but because I was downright furious.

It's all over the news that Haiti is suffering the aftermath of a horrible earthquake. People are being sent to help and, honestly, most of us feel bad and have this country in our thoughts. However, the DJs at this station apparently have something "better" to do and decided to share it in the form of a poll.

They asked their audience if they felt that the earthquake was "a punishment from God to Haiti". Excuse me? What did they just say? "Call now or text to 1-xxx-xxx-xxx to cast in your vote! Yes or no, the Haiti earthquake was a punishment from God". Oh, no they didn't.

Did they really just say that? On the air? To an audience of hundreds of thousands?

Look, I'm not religious. Let's not even pretend. I veer from agnostic to atheist to somewhat believer and it depends on the time of the year and the position of the moon. I respect religion and its followers, but I do not follow it. I also generally believe that religion is turned into a device for immense stupidity and error, specially in this case. What did Haiti do to deserve such a catastrophe? If we're on the topic of punishment, then the world wouldn't have any nations because they would've all been wiped out. Spain wouldn't exist due to all the damage it perpetuated across the world thanks to colonization and evangelization. China and Japan wouldn't exist either thanks to the wars and genocide they've committed. And, can we forget Germany? If an entire country must pay for a few individuals' crimes, then bam. Holocaust, anyone?

I consider this station's DJs and their statement to be offensive to all. Atheists and religious people can be offended because a) it's insinuating that every natural event is caused by God and b) God would punish a hapless population for simple capriciousness. It also offends common sense.

So, DJs from El Circo de la Mega. Shame on you for perpetuating ignorance. You should know better. But clearly, you don't.

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