Image by Tak Toyoshima
We’re kidding with that headline. Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports is obviously the pinkest asshole in Hub media, having tweeted for drivers to run over demonstrators who tried blocking I-93 last week. That said, you already know this, and Portnoy embraces it, so we thought to instead knock a shitstain who slips under the radar of progressives too often, and who deserves to be trolled and ridiculed relentlessly.
Here’s the thing about Dan Rea, whose daily radio show “Nightside” can be heard from Cape Cod to Ohio due to the freakish power of the WBZ frequency: Despite his somewhat moderate or fair façade, he’s hardly more enlightened than Rush Limbaugh, or Mark Levin, or any other dink you can think of. And like the rest of them, as the #Boston4Ferguson protests raged, he decried the return of Occupiers, slammed young folks who stood up for themselves, and shamelessly satiated the savages and dumbfucks who worship him.
There was the brilliant caller Harry, a self-styled “pretty intelligent individual” who thinks white people are suffering from the legacy of racism in America. Without any pushback, Harry went on to pull the Al Sharpton is the biggest racist in America line, which provoked Rea to spit his catchphrase about Sharpton being a “racial arsonist,” a claim the host made enough times to start fire by hyperbole.
Several callers, and Rea himself, have also been unsettled about protesters blocking traffic, and about the potential destruction of strip malls and various other commercial establishments. Let’s call them the white property is more valuable than black bodies crowd; as countless memes served to demonstrate last week, this particular breed doesn’t blame those who participate in riots over things like sports teams winning or Black Friday sales. Just those hollering for social justice.
Blatantly ignoring the baseline issues protesters were actually confronting, Rea yammered on about “losers taking advantage of the Michael Brown situation,” and about how “their view of the world is somewhat distorted.” His message to those angry about the Ferguson verdict: This situation is no different from “your favorite sports team losing,” as in fans should just throw in the towel.
Perhaps most hideous, and Rea isn’t the only person tugging this line, is the tokenization of Danroy “DJ” Henry, an Easton, Massachusetts, native who was killed by a police officer in Mount Pleasant, New York, in 2010. The Henry case is sad, despicable, all of the above. But the only thing more outrageous is the insinuation that while that shooting was heinous, all the other senseless slayings of black people by cops are warranted. Whether Rea realizes it or not, and he probably does, that’s essentially what he’s saying every time he holds the Henry case up as the only incident people should be clamoring over. Yup, he’s the white guy who likes telling people of color what they should be mad about.
Of course, we shouldn’t expect intelligent chatter from listeners who get a hoot out of calling the POTUS “Barack Hussein Obama.” But as Boston erupted last week, at least two people rang WBZ to criticize state violence. There was a meathead who believes police brutality is a problem because he was strangled by police while partying in Atlantic City, as well as Blackstonian publisher Jamarhl Crawford, who called to kick the curmudgeonly bigot in his nightside. Unlike Media Farm, Crawford trashed Rea like a gentleman, and was even invited back on to further explain how Boston police aren’t the angels that white radio listeners think they are. We hope Crawford takes Rea up on his offer, or else we’re more than happy to go a few rounds with the penultimate jackass in Mass media ourselves.
RECOMMENDED FROM OPEN MEDIA BOSTON: ARE MASS ARRESTS THE NEW NORMAL?
[Media Farm is wrangled by DigBoston News + Features Editor Chris Faraone]
FURTHER READING
LOOKING BACK ON THE MASSIVE #BOSTON4FERGUSON RALLY BEFORE LOOKING FORWARD
MEDIA FARM: FUCK THE MOTHERFUCKING BOSTON HERALD
WHY HARVARD STUDENTS ARE WALKING OUT WITH THEIR HANDS UP
#BOSTON4FERGUSON DISPATCH AND ANALYSIS
COUNCILOR JACKSON HOLDS COURT IN THE MIDDLE OF #BOSTON4FERGUSON DEMONSTRATION
PICS FROM THE BIGGEST PROTEST IN THE HUB IN YEARS #BOSTON4FERGUSON
EVEN WITH FERGUSON BACKDROP, MASS MEDIA BARELY REPORTS COPS GETTING AWARDS FOR FATAL SHOOTINGS
PLEASE STOP COMPARING FERGUSON TO THE BOSTON MASSACRE
THE ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM IN FERGUSON
BOSTON SITS IN SOLIDARITY WITH VICTIMS OF POLICE BRUTALITY EVERYWHERE
Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.