ASK MICHAEL SAVAGE TO APOLOGIZE
Dear Michael Savage,
There's a problem we need to discuss. You got out of line on your show Thursday and Friday, and you need to apologize.
It has to do with Elizabeth Smart, that Utah girl who turned up last week after having been kidnapped and held for nine months.
You talked about her on your show and you were wrong. Not just mistaken, but wrong.
See, you intimated that she was a slut. And you did so angrily, mockingly and condescendingly.
Which, where I'm from, will get a man knocked on his ass.
So you need to take it back. You need to, tonight, on your show, admit that you were wrong. And you need to apologize.
You need to remind yourself what happened. You need to remember that we're talking about a 14-year-old girl who was stolen from her home and bed at knifepoint and, in all likelihood, raped repeatedly for most of a year by a filthy, deranged pervert. All while being held against her will in the most vile and deprived circumstance and subjected to threatening, demeaning and disorienting brainwashing.
We call a girl like that a victim, not a slut.
Now, there are countries where rape victims are called whores. But this isn't one of them. There are cultures where girls who are brutally raped are considered damaged goods, and subject to public contempt and mockery. But, again, this isn't one of them.
So, if you're looking for a place where your attitude fits in, I suggest you try Afghanistan. Or Pakistan. Or some other stone age land where idiocy and brutality reign. But if you're going to stay in this country -- and broadcast in this country -- then maybe you ought to think through just exactly how wrong child rape is. And maybe your reaction to sex crime should be more complex and enlightened than "she asked for it."
And maybe just for a moment you should give thought to the millions of people who have been subjected to child sexual abuse in this country and been silent or compliant in its face. You should learn from the commonalities of that abuse and the victims' reaction to it that there are predictable things that happen when you shatter a child's psyche. If you knew a little bit about this subject, or were able and willing to learn, you would find that in matters like this, the seemingly odd behavior of Elizabeth Smart is the rule, not the exception.
There's one thing you need to know and remember about what Elizabeth Smart did: She survived.
She obeyed the prime law of life, she got through. And her mind, consciously and unconsciously, got her through. In the face of things that neither you nor I can imagine, this little girl came out alive. And if you can't grasp the significance of that, or want to condemn the way she did it, I suggest you talk to any former POW, or someone who went through the Holocaust.
There are lots of things to question about this case, sir, but this isn't one of them. You leave that little girl alone.
Had she -- like virtually all such abductees -- been murdered, then you'd be wringing your hands and shedding crocodile tears over the loss. But because she lived, you've made her fair game for derision and mockery. And that's simply not right. Her virtue and chastity are none of your business and you demean yourself and your victim by pretending it is.
And "victim" is the right word.
Her abductor did her wrong in the mountains, and you did her wrong on the airwaves.
So apologize.
Now, I realize it's not my place to say this. Though our shows are broadcast on a couple of the same stations, I completely recognize that I am a no-name backwater time-filler whose job is merely to keep the lights on until the big-money syndicated shows -- like yours -- come on. I don't pretend for a moment to be your peer or your colleague. I am not in your league and never will be.
And I like your show. When asked, I've recommended that it be added or its hours be extended on stations where I work. I agree completely with your message of "borders, culture, language." I believe you are doing a good and useful thing. America needs to hear your message.
But you made a mistake.
And while it might not seem a big deal to you, it has hurt deeply some people who don't deserve to be hurt. And it has besmirched the name of a girl whose life will include still more hell as she tries to return to normal and to normal activities. Imagine Elizabeth Smart walking down the street, sir, in a town and a country which has heard you call her a slut. How much additional confusion and derision will she face because of your words?
I know this is an odd case. I know the actions of the parents -- then and now -- are troubling. I know it doesn't add up. I know you have questions.
We all do.
But this much is certain. Elizabeth Smart is a girl who has been through hell. She is a pure victim. She deserves support not snickering. She deserves an apology.
I hope tonight you will find a moment to offer it.
Earnestly,
Bob Lonsberry
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2003
