If you live in Central Indiana (or South Central IN, as I do) and listen to the radio, chances are you may have come across a radio program called Monique and the Man on 97.1. If you haven't, then let me give you a brief rundown. M&The Man is a Talk Radio program where the hosts conjure up topics, and the listeners call in and agree, disagree, or tell mildly amusing stories.
Sometimes The Hoob is more than I can bear, so I flip to Talk Radio (even though they play the dang song, too.) Anyway...
Earlier in the week, the topic was the Olympics. Monique began by saying there was too much negative press, and not enough stories about overcoming obstacles to reach the top. Then, the conversation went like this: (paraphrasing, of course)
Monique: And did you even watch that Women's Beach Volleyball?
Todd (aka: The Man): Yeah, I know, they wear some really tiny bikinis.
Monique: Well, not that, it's the cameramen and how all they wanted to do was zoom in on certain womanly parts...what's that all about?
Todd: Yeah, I liked that.
Monique: They showed to much volleyball...
This conversation was then followed by commercials...and The Hoob. I didn't make it past the Hoob song, I had the dial turned. I was furious.
Why was I mad? Monique, in a true hypocritical move, spoke of her dislike of the way everything was negative in the Olympics...then, she proceeded to bad mouth the cameramen of beach volleyball, the amount of coverage of the Beach Volleyball games, and the amount of coverage of the ladies.
Not being one to use a phone, except when necessary, I sent Monique an e-mail:
I can not tell you how disappointed I am in you, Monique, for your Olympics jabs on yesterday's show. First, you rant on about how everything was geared towards the negative...men's basketball, gymnastics, etc...and how much you disliked that, then you totally proved yourself a hypocrite by negatively bashing the US Women's BeachVolleyballers (more specifically the cameramen of said sport). You could have taken the high road and told of the amazing story of Misty May, two months removed from a major abdominal injury, who came in the games with partner Kerri Walsh and won an improbably Gold (the first US women's beach volleyball team to do such.) But instead you whined about how there were no feel good stories in these games...no "I lost my dad and here I am" stories. Open your eyes. Misty May lost her mom recently (coupled with the injury she busted her ass to recover from),and there was the women's track and field 200 meter silver medal winner, whose father was in the stands...the same father who has been to all her meets despite having leukemia for several years and needing dialysis every other day. I could go on, but I don't think you really care. Thanks for bringing your narrow minded views to the radio, now, if you'll excuse me, I have to change the radio dial.
Harsh? Yes. I never expected she would even read the e-mail, so I threw in the changing the radio dial stuff for an attention grabber. It worked...in a big way.
The next day, Monique began the broadcast, much to my surprise, by saying how she got lambasted by a listener for her volleyball comments. She proceeded to read my e-mail on the air, followed by this, her response:
You are right about a lot of things and your point was very well taken! Here is what you were wrong about; that I don't care. I do care deeply and I will be addressing your email and the points you brought up on the air today first thing. Why was it that I only knew these things because of you? They were not featured in highlights or recaps. Thank you for the knowledge and I am grateful for the time you did listen and cared enough to set me straight. America prevails because of you! Monique
America prevails because of me? I thought the way she said it sounded kind of sarcastic. Becky says she thought it sounded genuine, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
The show continued with some joker calling in to stroke Monique's ego, and tell her she isn't narrow-minded, and furthermore to tell the world that I was a coward for not signing my name. Monique took the high road this time, and didn't buy in to the "coward" label. For that, I was grateful. How was I suppose to know to sign it? Todd then labeled me the "Olympic Bomber" which I thought was kinda funny, considering I was DEFENDING the Olympics, not Bombing them...The Monique Bomber would be more suitable.
I was at work, in the mail van, so I couldn't call and defend myself, not that I would have anyway, but I did respond via e-mail.
To paraphrase, I told her the following:
1. I apologized for saying she was, or she had, narrow-minded views... that was an insult and I shouldn't have said it. She has opinions, I have opinions.
2. I told her I did believe her comments were hypocritical. A negative replacing a negative. At the very least, it was poor time management on her part. (she said that later in the show, they did talk about good stuff, but at the point I stopped listening, it was all bad.)
3. I told her I believe she should have researched something before she aired her personal views on it.
4. I told her I personally wish she wouldn't have spoken about any sport without giving said sport it's due, especially volleyball. It has a bad rap anyway, and fuel to that fire wasn't needed. Let's not talk about the skimpy outfits, or the extended coverage of behinds...if anything, lets give credit where credit is due. First US Women's Gold in Beach Volleyball, hello!!
5. I told her I didn't think she cared...ABOUT THE OLYMPICS...she said herself she only watched the highlights. It seems she didn't watch the events, cheer for the US participants, or even follow the games except for recaps and medal counts. That's like me saying "Archery isn't a sport" without really knowing the time and dedication it takes to be an Archerist or Archery shooter, or what it is they are called. It's not fair to glaze over something. I feel she glazed over beach volleyball, by saying nothing to the positive after having broken negatively about it.
6. I told her I sincerely appreciated her e-mail. I didn't expect the response...I didn't expect her to even read it. I now have a new respect for her and her show, because I do believe she cares about the listener.
7. I told her I also appreciated her not jumping on that caller's bandwagon when he called me a coward.
Her response:
Thank You so much for your response. I do care and I will pay closer attention to time management. In that instance, I was a hypocrite. I do care deeply and realize the power of the media and the words we use. All the best, Monique
It would be nice to have a job, or a webblog (HINT HINT) or something where you could receive constructive criticsm about yourself, in order to see what problems you may have, that you just can't see in yourself. I called Monique out, and I think she appreciated it...maybe. I would be thrilled that someone took the time to help me better myself. In the words of the band Smashmouth:
A man once asked, "could you spare some change for gas,
I need to get myself away from this place?"
I said "yep, what a concept, I could use a little fuel myself,
and we could all use a little change."
Yes, we could all use a little change.
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