Controlling interest

Maybe being the only decent writer in the Times-Dispatch's columnist staff has swelled Michael Paul Williams' head. Maybe his radio doesn't have an off-switch. But after reading Williams' most recent column spelling out the reasons Star & Buc Wild's morning show should be pulled from The Beat 106.5--Star likes Rush and Ayn Rand! He's tasteless and offensive! He appreciates David Cassidy!--I can't help but wonder who's the tasteless moron here.

Obviously, there's something else Williams and local NAACP head King Salim Khalfani, who's received literally tens of complaints about the show, could do about Star's show: Not listen. Of course, being a Richmonder, Williams feels the need to try to control what his fellow citizens do, think, hear and see. In that he's not dissimilar to unreconstructed Boss Hoggs like the Ukrop brothers, who succesfully lead a boycott to keep Howard Stern off the air (Bobby now spends his free hours trying to figure out how to block satellite transmissions of Stern's show) and tried to get city council to pass a law making Marilyn Manson concerts illegal.

It occured to no one of these well-intentioned boobs to simply let the market sort itself out--but that's the achilles heel of most Richmonders of all political stripes: They just don't trust others to make the right decisions! That's probably for good reason--I mean, look at our city council--but just because you don't like something doesn't mean no one else gets to enjoy it.

Moreover Williams' indignance is selective. If he really wants to get offended, he should tune his dial to WRVA, which employs such mental giants as Glenn Beck and Michael Savage. Why's he not campaigning against those bozos?