KIRO talk host claims being a slave in U.S. better off than being free in africa

(If this makes you as angry as it made us- vote in our poll to the right at the very least, or call Tom Clendening at 206-726-7000 and tell him what to do about Bryan Styble. Now that Entercom is gone, KIRO may be more responsive to listeners).

In one of the most outrageous statements we've ever heard on talk radio, KIRO neocon trainwreck Bryan Styble, (Sundays, 10p-1a) argued on-air Sunday that blacks were better off in slavery in Industrial Age America than free in Stone Age Africa.

In another bloviation, Styble compared being black to being blind or otherwise physically impaired.

Being kidnapped, ripped from family and community, chained-up, transported half-way across the world, owned like cows, and worked to death for room and board, is better, by Styble's lights, than being left at home, because slaves in America had the hope of eventually enjoying the fruits of the Industrial Age and becoming free because they were now in a "constitutionally-held society."

(We won't belabor you with a rebuttle of his argument).

In a stunning example of American racism, Styble argued that America is not racist.

An incredulous African-American caller took Styble to task, comparing his to Barbara Bush's let-them-eat-cake remarks that those mostly black people stuck and starving in the Astrodome after Katrina were better off than they were in their regular New Orleans slums.

The caller had the once-a-week wonder tap-dancing like Bojangles, which was fun to hear, but didn't erase our disgust or that of the 4 other readers who wrote in.

This isn't just some politically incorrect brain fart- Styble really believes this crap, and defends it fiercely. Styble isn't used to being on-air at an hour when anyone's listening.

We think it's time for KIRO to finally scrape Bryan Styble off its shoe once and for all. He's been a repeated embarrassment; but this time his offensiveness has truly fallen short of even the minumum standards we expect in major market radio.

Comments

[The Ump]

You/me/we/everyone needs to do all we can to get Styble off the air. I can live with neo/paleo-con idiots; they can be entertaining. ; e.g., Suits in 5 min. increments. But not Styble. I made the mistake of listening Sunday night because I hadn't heard much of him, and B-W's writings made me curious. (Michael needn't feel badly. I made a choice.) I immediately showered after Styble compared being African-American with being disabled (blind). Styble might deny he intended an equivalence (though maybe not) but, really, truth will out, and he can't help himself.

What struck me the most, even more than his infantile racism and lack of intelligence, was his verbosity. He goes on, and on, and on, and on, and . . . . He revels in the sound of his own (irritatingly whiny) voice. It seemed he had callers on hold (oddly, it made me feel better knowing I wasn't the only listener), but WHAT DID HE CARE? He believed, with his entire soul, we needed to hear his every thought. Perhaps his inner self was afraid of what those callers would say.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS? Seattle deserves better. America deserves better.

[JC]

Yeah, I found the comments rather cringeworthy. It just is an area as a white person you shouldn't even go. If the black community wants to argue Bryan's rationale fine, but the oppressed race needs to stfu on this issue. What will he argue next week, that the internment camps were good for the Japanese Americans because deporting them to Japan would have meant certain death in the war? Bottom line, both were tremendous stains on America's history and no rationalization is justifiable, especially when the race who carried the acts out tries to.

When you are on the air hours at a time spouting off your opinions, you need to be equiped with a common sense chip - something Styble seems devoid of.

But the alternative - When Radio Was or even more Bob Brinker?

[JC]

whoops, oppressed should be oppressor

[sparky]

ok,...the atmospheric conditions were "just right" last night and I was surfing channels after i went to bed and I heard The Sty...I decided to see what all the fuss was about and I couldnt believe what I was hearing...I caught the part where he said that " Afro-centric names" cause unexpected consequences and that the whole reason for the Civil rights movement was for "equal opportunity" but if African Americans continued to insist on giving their kids " Afro-centric names" they would never be equal!!!!!!!!! I sat straight up in bed and said OH MY GOD!!!!!! out loud. He had some young 18 year old young man on and The Sty said " HEHE..Over the break you told me your RACE! Would you like to tell the AUDIENCE your RACE??? HUH HUH HUH HEH" and the young man said,,," um, Im black"...and The Sty said " YES! YOU ARE BLACK! THANK YOU FOR CALLING IN !!!"
Holy crap...

[sparky]

Oh and he also said that there should NOT be BET
(Black Entertainment Television) because there is no such network as " White Entertainment Television"...oh my god....
I would have to say that SPIKE TV comes pretty close.

Yes, Ump...he went on and on and on and on and the 18 year old kid got in about 4 words, besides the part where he told the world he was black...and at the end of this 5 minute Sty Soliloquey, he THANKED the caller for calling in
( being his personal audience of one, I guess) and you could hear the disgust in the kid's voice when he said "..uh...yeah.."

[joanie]

Aren't there a lot of hosts that do that on the right. . . in your face radio?

I turned him off after Goldstein as I always do. Does anybody think he's going to last at KIRO? Really?

[SR]

I don't know. Working in radio, I don't like people being fired for things they say - they are after all, hired to give their opinion.

He should be fired because he is BAD. Unlistenable. His "old school style" of talk radio as he calls it is just horrible. And if he would just stop talking himself up for once and listen to callers, I may actually be able to listen to the show.

Even bad radio that pisses me off I'll listen to because of the sheer entertainment factor. But I can't even listen to him. I think he's the only radio I have ever turned off because it was just - just too much!

[sparky]

I dont think racist comments qualify for "in your face radio"...but I am not a station owner. If it were up to me, he would be packed and outta there. He isnt talented enough to pull off a rhetorical bit...

[mango]

who is this guy? I work in radio- I could never say anything like that. It's like Holocaust denial. He needs to get a black leader on the air and apologize.

[mango]

who is this guy? I work in radio- I could never say anything like that. It's like Holocaust denial. He needs to get a black leader on the air and apologize.

[shadow]

Kiro management should apologize.

[misty]

Styble is no neoconservative, he's just a blowhard. You can say what you want about them, but they are not racists. This guy is an embarrassment to all conservatives.

[sparky]

well...to me, telling black people that their "afro-centrist names will cause trouble" sounds pretty racist to me....

But as Ump said...even if he had been reading the phone book, he seems to have no clue as to what his job is...why have callers if he isnt going to let them get a word in edgewise? Call it The Talking Sty Show.

[JC]

If this jerk would have been on a conservative station like KVI or KKOL, there would have been a stink like you would have never seen and he would be fired by now. There is a double standard in the stations in this town for liberals.

[cyn]

I'm writing to Robert Jamieson on the P-I about the Stiblehead. He's an African-American pundit who writes in a fair and balanced way about race relations around here. He should know about this. This is the civil rights equivalent of Holocaust denial.

[email protected]

[Ron D.]

Why do they keep rehiring this disaster? Now we find out he's a racist disaster. Styble is example of what has become of KIRO which used to be my favorite station. I never turned it off, now I hardly ever listen

[jen]

Is there a podcast of this? i would like to use it as an example for my teenagers of the kind of racism that passes for acceptability, even in liberal Seattle.

[mercifurious]

I caught the part where he said that " Afro-centric names" cause unexpected consequences and that the whole reason for the Civil rights movement was for "equal opportunity" but if African Americans continued to insist on giving their kids " Afro-centric names" they would never be equal!!!!!!!!!

Oh, this was just the TIP of the Stybleburg.

During this rant about so-called "Afro-centric" names, Herr Styblehead went on a rant about B-Ball pro Anfernie Hardaway's name. Styble claimed that Anfernie was so-named because his uneducated mom mispelled "Anthony". I looked it up - bogus racist BS that Styble pulled from his arse

[puxcatawney]

I thought that jerk was RIP long ago. You mean to tell me he is on the air when regular people are up? I heard him say similar things when he was talking early in the morning, but nobody heard him, he was harmless.

[ballrdboy]

I never could stand Styble OR Goldstein (I think it's his voice that bugs me). Remember the old days with shows like Brian Williams? The Dr's? Where did they go? Good non-conflict radio that you might actually learn something

[sparky]

oh I heard the "anfernie" part as well...ya his mom was too much of an illiterate black woman to know how to spell correctly......

and of course, Mr. Hardaway has suffered greatly from having an " Afro-centric" name.

[sparky]

..and I think "The Sty" is the best possible descriptive name...

[Stephen]

As an African-American man, Styble's remarks are what I'd expect to hear on the radio back home in Tennessee, not Seattle--even though I find Seattle racist in a passive way. What Styble needs to do is spend some time in my shoes, walking in say, Northgate Mall.

[EvergreenRailfan]

I missed the rant(saw something I liked on TV better). I wonder, was Styble just ranting, or was he commenting something on the History Channel the night before called "USS Constellation, Fight For Freedom", about a patrol off the coast of Africa in 1859-1861 by a U.S. Navy Squadron, supressing the slave trade. The Documentary was great.

Now the comment Styble made, especially if it was just a general rant, might be way out of line.

[mercifurious]

I wonder, was Styble just ranting, or was he commenting something on the History Channel the night before called "USS Constellation, Fight For Freedom", about a patrol off the coast of Africa in 1859-1861 by a U.S. Navy Squadron, supressing the slave trade. The Documentary was great.

The subject that hour was Black History Month - pro or con (Styble came in on the later). All to which Styble added his rabbit trail rants about Slavery as Cotton candy, Afro-centric names, and Anfernie's uneducated mamma.

You be the judge. But if/when he loses his KIRO job, he'll be an excellent candidate for David Duke's campaign manager

[Duffman]

HE sure generates the comments on this blog, tho doesn't he. Is any one twisting your arm to listen to him (or KIRO, for that matter).

[mercifurious]

Duff - I've always been a strong proponent of "Operation: Turn the thumb screws on Professor Asperger"

There's ratings in them there hillz.

[spambutcher]

this does not sound good at all - although not hearing it myself I gotta be skeptical.

I gotta think Kiro has tapes - I'm sure they will be reviewing them.

I think there's an element of truth to the afro-centric name thing.

Having a name that stands out for any reason can be tough for kids / awkward for adults.

Residual racism may indeed be a factor also. I'm not saying black parents shouldn't do it though - it's a complex issue.

[cyn]

We could not listen to KIRO, but why should we have to listen to this pompous racist when maybe they could air somebody like Carl Jeffers like Saturday nights? He is bad radio, besides being offensive without even knowing it.

[sparky]

I dont usually listen to KIRO because;
1. It sucks
2. I cant normally get it on the radio here in the hinterlands

but for some reason it came in, and I didnt want to listen to Dr. Strangelove on KGO or the money guy on KPTK, so I was just going up the dial and I heard the first of several of the offending comments and I stopped to see if I had heard right....I finally turned him off because he was so lame. And his voice sucks.

[Chad Stanley]

Brian has taken the opportunity to dance atop the third rail of political discourse – race relations. The problem here of course is that dear Brian does not have the subtlety to argue his point without making ham-fisted generalizations that only serve to subvert his message.

Better off in chains than living in a village? Com’on. That’s just stupid.

IF however he wanted to cast a spotlight on the continuing ‘woe is me’ party line of the blame-first black intelligencia (Jackson, Sharpton) he would have been far more convincing if he would have mentioned the writings of Dinesh D'Souza – ‘the End of Racism.’

A fascinating read, that pretty much sums up what some brave souls in the black community have been saying for years (ie: Bill Cosby) that if you act like a victim and you tear down those who desire to better themselves, you’re going to be stuck in that cul de sac of victimhood. And I believe that – Mr. Cosby showed guts and integrity in calling it like it is. Of course, he does have the carte blanche to argue his point – far more than a white guy like me in Seattle.

If I were on-air and I considered broaching this subject, I would clearly, carefully articulate my position, while knowing that even the most well reasoned argument would open myself up to the slings and arrows of the racist cat-call.

It is a third rail, and talking about it in a flippant, shock manner only stirs the pot without leading to a meaty debate. It’s like joking about Northern Ireland or Kosovo – don’t go there.

At the end of the day, I hope that KIRO doesn’t fire him over this. I’d rather hear him stumble and bumble next week explaining just ‘what’ he was trying to say. One thing for sure, it’ll result in some compelling radio…unleash da hounds!

[lukobe]

nice post, chad.

[lukobe]

has anyone mentioned what Dave was talking about this morning, that woman on Colbert who said Obama wasn't black?

[shoreke]

A Jewish slave in Pharaoh's Egypt was better off than a Jew in a Nazi concentration camp. Is that an anti semitic statement?

[KIROlifer]

It doesn't matter to KIRO that he's obnoxious and nobody listens to him, they continue to employ him, however tenuously.
Does he have to pull the station into the perilous politics of race for them to wise up? KIRO is having enough trouble as it is without having to take the shit spewing randomly from this asshole. If he survives this, with his history of terrible ratings, you know nobody is paying attention upstairs at Eastlake. Maybe Bonneville will put Styble where he deserves.
Limbaugh got fired from his footvall job for comments less inflammatory and controversial.
Oh, that's right, this is Seattle, we are not racists around here.

[sparky]

Chad, it wasnt even close to being that nuanced...it was more like someone who drinks MD 20-20 trying to expound on the finer points of a Duboeuf 2005 Fleurie Chateau des Bachelards or a Guigal 2003 Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Hamfisted, indeed.
At first I thought he was going for the idea that it would be nice to think about influential african americans all year long instead of just in February for a special Black history month. But if he was trying to go there, he soon dissolved into about every racial stereotype there was..he should stick to talking about what he knows best---himself.

[neo-realist]

"As an African-American man, Styble's remarks are what I'd expect to hear on the radio back home in Tennessee, not Seattle--even though I find Seattle racist in a passive way. What Styble needs to do is spend some time in my shoes, walking in say, Northgate Mall."

You can say that again about seattle's passive racism: Styble could also try walking in my shoes in places like Borders Books or a downtown art gallery, where some white seattlites can't get it into their heads that black people appreciate books or art, but are out to steal.

[Duffman]

Oh how easy it is to kick someone when they're down or when they're just trying to get started in a new market. We should be so proud of ourselves.

[Andrew]

Dori and Bryan Styble probably use this disparagement as leverage in their performance reviews. What you call offending everybody they can call provoking debate and listener dissent.

Hosts like this seem to go for an easy contrary stance by intentional fudging the relative values of the pros and cons in any particular issue.

Styble will say blacks are better off for having been slaves because now they're in America after the fact while not bothering to honestyle compare it to the drawbacks. You can't convince me that he's not aware of how they suffered and that it far outweighed the pros on multiple levels.

Dori will promote a bridge over Elliot Bay because it would give Seattle a land mark, and he intentionaly won't admit that the drawback of having a big ugly fucking bridge-to-nowhere obstructing the view from both sides is much greater. He can blame ravers for their being shot by a mad man without admitting that shooting innocent people is much worse, like to the 100th power, than sleeping in a house with people you don't know too well.

I think school teachers should have their pay based on the performance of their students. Isn't that fair? Won't that get results? Unfortunately, my mind is made up. But let's see what you have to say.

[spambutcher]

> Styble will say blacks are better off for having been slaves because now they're in America...

that's not the argument I've seen him accused of making.

if that's actually what he said - I don't think that on it's own is racist. (like noting that modern Israel came about as a result of the holocaust isn't anti-semetic)

this is why I'm a little hesitant to burn Styble at the stake quite yet.

I want to see some verified quotes - then maybe it's time for the gasoline and matches.

[sparky]

Ah, yes..Merit Pay

[KIROsombody]

Mr. Styble works for free. He's allowed to tape his show on the skimmer and send demos to other stations.

[joanie]

What a funny thread. I bet his numbers are up next week.

Want him off? Turn him off.

[KS]

Styble was off his meds. He is as wacky as the talk show hosts on the far left and I won't listen to him.

[coiler]

What is Styble like, medicated?

[Stephen Schwartz]

Styble is even less talented than Frank Shires. Kiro REALLY ought to find hosts who can spell iggerant korrctly!

These guys are worse than boring. Shires pushes himself as an expert on everything rightish ... whether ti is global warming or Iraq. he says things all the time that are irresponsible. Stubles is worse. Yet they both act as if they had neutrino powered brains.

[Brian]

I have been telling you guys all along about the Over baked Brain , The One The Only StybleHead. It's more than Just bad , It's just plain wrong!
Having Herr" Styblehead on is like passing a Kidney Stone!!
Hooty hoo !

[mercifurious]

Don't get me wrong, Styblehead should get the slip o' pink for this - and probably will. (Albuquerque re-visited)

But deep-down, inside all our gutty-wuts, don't you just hope they keep him for one more Sunday night of Mano-a-Syblo Mad-Maxian radiolocalypse?

Just one more round for all the marbles.

[sparky]

maybe a call-in fest of Blatherwatch members?

[lukobe]

call-in fest of Blatherwatch members = radios turning off all across the city ;)