Deadman27  

I originally was not going to say anything, but the more that I thought about this the more upset I got. To be honest, ultimately I will not ask for an apology; I'm going to let it go, but before I do, I will exercise my Right to express my opinion about what happened last night on the Woodshed and why I'm upset.

Disclaimer: This is my raw opinion, and does not reflect those of Ben & Dom, or anyone else for that matter, because no one does my thinking for me.

Sunday's "WTF Were They Thinking" episode of the Woodshed Radio Show was the most controversial episode I've been a part of since I've been a co-host. The show was designed to be a fun and enjoyable episode, but it turned out to be one of the ugliest episodes I've ever been a part of. A controversial topic was brought up, raw nerves were touched, things got personal, and the shiit hit the fan. This hits me hard personally.

I say that this hits me hard personally, because, in my opinion, not taking anything away from Ben & Dom (who did a lot of work for this episode as well), this episode was my baby: I'm the one who came up with the idea, the design and execution of the show, the advertising on Facebook on our fan page there, the creation of the discussion thread for the show there. I put a lot of heart and soul into this episode. As I said, this show was designed to be a fun and enjoyable show (who doesn't love to hate on the true morons in the news), and was not meant to take the political turn it took.

All was going well for the first 90 minutes of the show. We got new listeners, we gained more fans for our show, and everyone was enjoying themselves. We had an active chat room from our great listeners; listener/fan participation is something I love to see, whether it be in only the chat room or calling in. This episode was on the track of being one of our best episodes for the right reasons.

Eric called in, and provided his two cents on the topics at hand, which was great. Then he insisted and proceeded to bring up an article about a woman in Omaha. This woman quit her job because the raise she got where she worked would disqualify her from receiving government assistance for child care. Eric thought this woman was "lazy," and cheating the system, while Ben and I disagreed and saw nothing wrong with the issue. The discussion took a sharp political turn that got ugly quickly, and ultimately killed the episode's spirit, as well as turned away our great listeners and active chat room participants.

Before the show that day, Eric posted the same article he brought up on the show in the discussion board that I designed for this episode. After reading it a few minutes after he posted that link, I replied to that with the link on the same site he got his article from (the link of the cat in the bong), in the hopes that he would imply from it that the article he chose and brought up on the show really was not appropriate for what we were doing that night. Apparently that message was not received.

And with what happened, I couldn't help but to feel, especially afterwards, that the episode of the Woodshed that I had a big hand in, got crashed because of Eric's political stance, and his seemingly need to inject it anywhere he goes...in our show, on his show, in Annie & Burl's show, on Dr. A's show...anywhere he goes. The show where I put in a ton of effort in got crashed. And it hurts.

I will go as far and say that earlier in the show I did inject politics when discussing the church shooting that happened earlier that day. I will also like to say for the record that I only brought it up then because the previous church shooting that took place in Tennessee was purely politically driven. I did NOT bring it up for political one-upsmanship over Conservatism. I even went as far as stating, and I quote, "I do not want to go political tonight," because I knew then what would transpire when it was brought up again....the show's spirit got killed, people were turned off, people stopped listening, and bad things happened.

And I only state this observation of Eric's behavior because we got annoyed by a certain person on BTR who would "invade" other people's shows, twist the topic of their show towards things that they do on their show. In a sense, with Eric so far, not only in the Woodshed, but other places, has injected his view of politics in shows, and in our case from last night, he completely turned our show on its head to flaunt his political ideals/stance. And this is coming from someone who HAS HIS OWN POLITICAL SHOW, The Alamo Show, every other Friday on BTR, starring him and Burl.

In other words, in my and only my opinion here, Eric, the article you brought up last night, and the way you expressed it, was completely inappropriate for what we were doing last night. I will say that it led to interesting discussions and led to a memorable moment for the show, but it really wasn't fitting for what the episode was about. If you wanted to turn this into a political discussion, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do it in an appropriate setting, maybe your Alamo Show. The topic you brought up was too important for the setting that we--Ben, Dom, and I--worked so hard to establish for that episode. I know to you that article may have met the qualifications for a moron in the news, but when the people who run the show you're calling on (and don't get me wrong, we love it when you, and anyone who calls in calls) says they don't see it, let it go!!!!!! This would be almost like me calling in on your 24 show on Damage, Inc. on Thursday to divert talk from 24 to talk about Family Guy, or me calling to take over the show you produce to talk about why I feel Conservatism is a dying political thought in the 21st century world.

That's all I have to say about why it upset me. About the argument itself, to quickly sum it up...I could write pages on what I believe... I believe Eric is right that if she's abusing the system she should not get it. I would agree with him about her quitting her job being bad, if and only if, she was not actively searching for employment that would allow her to continue receiving that assistance, but the same article stated she had interviews next week, so I can't agree with him there. I believe Ben is right, because kicking a person while they're down in poverty by themselves, being fuked by nature because twins are double the responsibility at once, is grossly unfair on a grand scale, and that the assistance system must be in place for those who need it to meet the challenges of the 21st century world. But ultimately there are way too many unknowns in this case alone to make a legitimate judgment if she's abusing the system.

Love it or hate it, this is how I feel.

PS: To clear the air, I will go into why I tend to "hate" (really tease in a mean yet friendly way) on Eric on a constant basis.  I "hate" on those who I have a high amount of respect for.  I do this with my friends, Ben & Dom.  I respect and consider Eric a friend, even after all this, no matter what I said in this statement.  Just to clear the air, it's hating with love lol.