An unexpected convergence of events and people this week inspires me to write my very first diary to tell a story which, although I know it's not news, is another version of a shared American experience told as a cautionary tale on the importance of a free and vigorous Press.
I had never heard the name Mancow until the morning of September 11, 2001. That morning I was busy working away at my job which that particular day was installing a ceiling in the kitchen of a Pizza Hut. Somebody's radio was blaring away and, as was usual for a construction site, the radio host was shamelessly expoiting his audience with right-wing boilerplate.
When the first plane flew into the building a few guys stopped to try an figure out the odd reports coming from the radio. There was no interruption of the Mancow show, no special bulletin took us to real reporters just a scared guy who knew nothing and after the second plane hit was trying to get the hell out of his own building as he was convinced it would be the next to go.
The first thing I wanted to know was, was the same event being reported on any other stations but the guy with the radio refused to change from Mancow. So for the longest time I considered to whole thing the foolish stunt of a radio goof who was going to get into alot of trouble. I kept on working, then this Mancow starts going on about the Pentagon. It a comes across so staged, so very over the top. I become even more skeptical.
Just as I'm finishing up someone comes in to say it's on the internet and it's all true the Towers are gone and the Pentagon's been hit. I get in my car and finally hear what has been happening. Finally, news, objective reporting, the calm dispassionately told truth of the situation. You don't miss it until you really want it and it's nowhere to be found.
Today I read about this guy again. This fellow I know so well because I spent 911 with him. This man I haven't seen since. And I learn Mancow has had a "come to Jesus" on water torture. And I thought is this what it takes? Because if this is what it takes we'll never outwit the forces of ignorance because they pour forth from every source and they never cease. And look what it takes to knock some sense into their heads.