GLAAD adds to the new list list several additional companies that now claim they weren’t show sponsors. Several companies say they were never sponsors, or they weren’t sponsors in 2009. None of the non-sponsor companies, by the way, seem to have any opinions about the whole abusing transgender kids matter.
Huh.
State Farm’s carefully worded note is particularly, um, unsatisfying. Rather than just saying, “We’re not sponsors, get us off your site,” they throw in this little qualifier.
Thank you for your comments regarding State Farm running advertisements on station KRXQ in Sacramento. We have read your concerns and those of others with similar concerns. We take very seriously each comment we receive.
State Farm has not advertised on KRXQ in 2009. Once this particular show ran, we discovered that the station had not removed our company logo from their website and that mistake has been rectified.
So we get you don’t want your logo up there, you don’t want any hate mail, and you take the whole thing seriously…
We still have to wonder what you think about laughing about abusing transgender kids, of course, as you seem to have skipped a dandy chance to voice an opinion on that.
There must be a PR handbook rule, that if you can wiggle out of an accustion of defaming a controversial minority, do so while being careful not to voice support for them. I mean, it makes perfect sense.
But we don’t have to like it.
Non-Sponsors with No Opinion now include:
- State Farm
- Albertsons
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Red Bull
Filed under: KRXQ Sponsors Respond to Controversy
Open Letters to KRXQ Sacramento 
Did you major in nitpicking? Have you people who really believe that Rob and Arnie were FOR REALS ADVOCATING VIOLENCE AGAINST TRANSGENDERKIDS ONOES!!!!! even bothered to call the police yet? CPS? The Sheriff? McGruff the Crime Dog?
Oh yes, I’m SURE that those companies all secretly wish transgender kids quite literally get the boot. That sounds exactly like a conclusion you would jump to; we’ve already come this far. Well done!
WordPress, you crack me the hell up. The word transgender is STILL showing up as an incorrectly spelled word in the comment box. Again, bravo. Asshats.
Read this.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7328091&page=1
Then you can come back here, and apologize for being a sociopath.
Some words kill. Some words are yelling fire in a crowded fire house. Think of the Muslim extremist cleric calling for jihad, for the murder of innocent jews and Christians.
Read about the suicides. Ever had one in your family? Ever had a child you love hang himself with an electrical cord because he couldn’t stand being called names by everyone, constantly, all the time?
If you haven’t, then here’s a clue from the folks who live in this world.
We will not tolerate this language. it doesn’t matter that you don’t get it. We will call the sponsors by the hundreds and thousands and shut this down anywhere it happens, any time. And those that don’t want to stand up and be counted, we notice that too. Most people are cowards when it comes to anything that doesn’t directly affect them. We get that.
We have enough spinal column to go around on this.
We’re winning this one. Climb on board or get run over. This is how change is affected.
We asked nicely, and Rob and Arnie said, “We were only joking,” or more to the point, “Go fuck yourselves. We don’t care about kids who kill themselves. We don’t think we live in a world with them or their parents. We don’t care enough about this possibility to modify our behavior one rats ass., So bye bye. Fuck yourselves.”
So we took the station and it’s sponsors down. And we’ll do it again and again and again everywhere this happens.
So get used to it.
Oh yes, changing hearts and minds. Erm, I mean strong arming until you get lip service. Because they are practically the same, you know. Just minus the integrity on that latter part.
You do know that Thursday’s show will all be a charade, don’t you? That is not affecting change, and it’s sad to see that you’re really allowing yourself to believe you’re changing …anything at all.
You sound entirely serious about this. And so again I’ll ask: DID you call the police? No, you called Chipotle and Snapple. Then, others like you say “if a company wants to pull advertising, that’s their business, tough luck.” To which I say I totally agree. Businesses should do what they want to do.
EXCEPT. Oh, but except… that’s not completely true, is it? It’s not just a company’s business what it wants to do. Because until they cave, State Farm *must* want the hearts of transgendered kids on a platter. And when they finally do cave to you, “oops, well it’s their business! I can’t change what State Farm wants to do!”
“Climb onboard or get run over” is right. That sounds EXACTLY like something that would come out of your mouth.
The hearts and minds we seek to change are in the audience; Rob and Arnie proved that without behavior modification they weren’t going to listen. I didn’t post any sponsor information, I believe, until after they had said, “It’s a joke. Fuck you.”
The audience will listen and hear something. Do you realize how fast the public perception of gays and gay marriage, even has changed over the last ten years? How fast the notion of race relations have changed? Inter-racial couples used to make a lot of people viscerally ill; it made them want to, need to, vomit. It is the same unreasoning fear now directed at transgender.
hatred of transgender isn’t inevitable, it isn’t hardwired. (Though, I fear, some sort of hatred might be, of some sort of other.) It can be learned.
I’m sorry about my self-righteous tone. That should be edited out. But I said it. And it feels dishonest to remove it. So I’ll leave these comments instead. Self righteousness doesn’t change anything, you’re right. I’m not religious, but there’s an idea in Christianity, of acknowledging sin and achieving redemption, which is powerful. I don’t understand how one gets there, exactly, though I’ve been there myself. Being confronted by the people you’ve hurt is one way people learn. it’s something that we do in the anti-bullying work. You put people together, eye to eye, outside of the context of the bullying, and you make them encounter each other in a place where the name calling is out of bounds. There’s a moment, where one acknowledges the humanity of the other.
You may not like them, be friends with them, want one to marry your sister, but the feelings therearter aren’t blind hate.
We live in a special community where my son isn’t bullied. At all. We live with a broad crossection of humanity, income level, racial and religious mix. There is some cirtical mass, some tipping point, where the hate percolates but does not dominate. Human nature being what it is, this is inevitable. But the culture of our commons keeps a lot of people safe that are victimized elsewhere.
So I know in my bones that a better world is possible. Maybe I’m doing nothing here, maybe you’re right. I’m trying, though. Maybe other people’s efforts will help more. Maybe yours will. If my doing it wrong makes you do it right, then more power to you.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for calling me an asshole.
That’s awesome that you found a great community for your family. It looks like in addition to the points I made, you were afraid that I was also about to go off on some homophobic, transphobic tirade. No, I was born and raised in San Francisco, where there’s a wide variety of people with equally diverse backgrounds …so you can imagine the varied set of friends that I have.
No, what my comments touched on really is only what I took issue with – and those points only. I’m not in the “Rob and Arnie can do no wrong” camp. No need to assign homophobia, but even if you do, I won’t be calling you and asshole …or a troll. It’s just not my style.
We have lots of contact info on our facebook page, BOYCOTT KRXQ, and we would love your help in calling advertisers and sending emails, etc.
Thank you
paulackerman:
p.s. I understand that what probably attracted you to this controversy in the first place is your love of character assassination, so I’m not too surprised to see the sociopath comment.
But sociopaths are people too, aren’t they? With mental disorders, who need help?
Tsk, tsk. See how easy it is to find yourself in that place? You should be standing over there with Rob and Arnie. Go on, scoot.
Oh, it’s time to stop feeding the trolls here, I see.
I have a gender non-conforming son, dear. Been wearing the dress since he was two. Fought against it for years. Finally learned. I’m making amends here for every homophobic comment I’ve ever made before he was born, and every moment I struggled with this afterwards.
Rob and Arnie didn’t have the benefit of my experience. It was my hope that a sincere discussion would produce results. When it didn’t, behavior modifaction was called for. I have neuro-atypical friends with elements of personality disorders. The difference between them and Rob and Arnie is that they have learned the golden rule, the hard way, even though they’re not fully wired for it.
I don’t know what your problem is. My tone of voice, I guess, which can at times be strident and off-putting.
If you read my original post, you’ll see that I acknowledge having had these feelings, Rob and Arnie feelings in the past; I am aware of the irony. What I know is, if confronted by the person I am now, I would listen, I would learn, I would be ashamed and I would move on. I know that because that is what I did.
Good luck to you in your future trolling endeavors. It’s all part of a dialog.
That’s awesome that you found a great community for your family. It looks like in addition to the points I made, you were afraid that I was also about to go off on some homophobic, transphobic tirade. No, I was born and raised in San Francisco, where there’s a wide variety of people with equally diverse backgrounds …so you can imagine the varied set of friends that I have.
No, what my comments touched on really is only what I took issue with – and those points only. I’m not in the “Rob and Arnie can do no wrong” camp. No need to assign homophobia, but even if you do, I won’t be calling you and asshole …or a troll. It’s just not my style.