I've
written before about Mike Trivisonno (Triv, for short), whose drive-time call-in show dominates the Cleveland airwaves. Triv's show, if you've never listened, is an exercise in ignorance, bigotry, pessimism, sexism and racism cloaked in the guise of a sports talk program.
In the recent past, Triv has said that those with HIV working at restaurants to be appropriately "labeled." He called his African American producer a nigger in jest. He said foster parents scammed the system to take advantage of monthly stipends for special-needs children. He generally blames the poor for their condition, telling poverty-stricken women to stop having children, calling the poor lazy.
With his hateful past as a backdrop, would you suspect anything different from Triv in the wake of the terrible devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina? Of course not.
Driving home yesterday in the steady rain caused by the remnants of Katrina, I landed on Triv's show. No more than 30 seconds had passed when Triv began talking about the people living in the disaster area. If they knew Katrina was coming, he yelled, why didn't they leave? If you know that you're living in a hurricane-prone area, he continued, why don't you move?
Earlier in the show, someone had called saying that the people in New Orleans - given the voodoo mysticism - somehow deserved the tragedy that had befallen them. Later, when pressed on the issue (and, for fairness' sake, many callers rebutted those charges), Triv gave a no-answer that said a lot about his lack of character.
Triv launched into a lecture about whether "the Lord" was responsible for the weather, for storms like Hurricane Katrina. He didn't know, he said. And then he said we - the listeners, everybody - didn't know either. So call Triv on the fence for the notion that the destruction of much of the Gulf Coast - and the tragic loss of life - was an act of God.
Caller after caller spewed one ignorant, bigoted opinion after another. As those trapped died and many remained stranded to our south, the phone lines at WTAM were jammed with individuals blaming those trapped there for their predicament. Arguing that they shouldn't be required to provide their hard-earned money to help those living in a doomed city. Bemoaning the victims' collective stupidity for not realizing they chose to live in a hurricane zone.
All the while, Triv said nothing. Well, nothing more than repeatedly making the tortured point that if we rebuilt New Orleans, it would only be destroyed again thanks to another devastating storm. Why rebuild, Triv? Why did we choose to rebuild Chicago after 1871? Why did we choose to rebuild San Francisco after 1906? Why did we choose to rebuild Ground Zero after 2001?
For the same reason we will choose to rebuild the Gulf Coast after 2005. Because we're Americans, Triv, that's what we do. We move on. We learn from our mistakes. We build upon them. We don't let setbacks prevent us from progressing as a people. It's our tradition. It's our national character. This, sadly, is something your loser, woe-is-me, pessimistic following will never comprehend.
It was reported yesterday that Cleveland is no longer the poorest big city in America. Having fallen to a still-terrible twelfth, the city by the lake - if Triv's show is any indication - has risen to first on another shameful list: America's most pessimistic, closed-hearted cities. As someone living in the area and who has always loved Cleveland, it pains me to say that.
Former Cleveland radio talker Bruce Drennan used to close his show by saying, "I love ya, Cleveland!" After yesterday, I wish I could say the same.