Saying Somethin’ Stupid

So it looks like I’m going to have to write about Kyle Sandilands. Damn. I let the whole ‘rape revelation on air’ debacle in July pass by, because it spoke for itself in poor taste and overall stupidity. But then King Kyle went and got himself suspended again, for the second time in two months, this time for quipping Magda Szubanski could lose more weight in a concentration camp, which is an overall imbecilic thing to say and becomes doubly unfortunate when one considers Szubanski’s Polish background.

When news first broke of his and Jackie O’s lie-detector stunt gone wrong (for those who are not privy to the masterpiece that is The Kyle and Jackie O Show, a fourteen year old was attached to a lie detector on air and quizzed about her sex life on air; she then revealed she had been raped at twelve, and in a panic, Kyle said ‘and is that the only sexual experience you’ve had?’ The show must go on, right?) my initial response was, ‘why is everyone surprised?’

Seriously.

Kyle and Jackie O have made a small fortune off throwing fish guts at each other (catch the videos online), tracking cheating spouses, offering people in need money on the provision that no one calls the station in the next 30 seconds (which invariably someone does, thus taking the money for themselves), licking the asses of various celebrities and just generally discouraging sophistication of thought and expression over three painful hours every morning.

In short they’re cheap, tacky and senseless.

Which is why the furor over the ‘radio stunt gone wrong’, the surprise that such a thing could happen, was laughable. And now this, his second, shall we say ‘gaffe’ in as many months – sure, it’s not discussing underage sex and revealing rape live on air, but it’s just another thing King Kyle has blurted out without any thought to what it actually means and with no respect for the person he is talking about.

Speaking of which, in response, Magda Szubanski, who clearly doesn’t want to get dragged into Kyle’s muck, has calmly said, ‘I couldn’t give two hoots what he says about me. The only thing really I think it’s uncool and really not on to trivialise what happened to people in concentration camps. You know, I find that sort of abhorrent.’ She’s also pointed out, because Magda is intelligent and funny and someone whose book Kyle could afford to take a leaf from, that concentration camps and weight loss aren’t two things one often puts together.

It’s all really boring, actually, this story; stupid person, public profile, lots of money, a long leash. The combination is a volatile one and can only work for so long, and I use the term ‘work’ loosely, so as not to give the misleading impression it ever worked creatively, humorously or cleverly. Because it didn’t. Soon enough, it implodes, and when it does everyone thinks ‘oh my God, how did that happen?’ and the opinion editorials roll and the paparazzi snaps him leaving work, only fuelling his narcissism, because people like Kyle don’t see things like this as having screwed up; they see it as side effects of ‘who they are’ – controversial, boundary pushing, not bound by societal norms. Get over it people, that’s just the kind of guy I am. So, why are we all surprised when a stupid person (who has hitherto never been pulled up) says a stupid thing?

And you know, it’s not so much what he says anymore – the man says unfathomably stupid things everyday, catching a gem from him is like shooting fish in a barrel – it’s that he doesn’t seem to care enough about his listeners, about his public profile, about his capacity to make an impression, to keep himself in check. Where there’s a ‘shock jock’ there’s controversy. Obviously. And generally speaking, controversy isn’t a bad thing. Controversy can provoke action, force questioning – it undoubtedly has its place. But where there is a public standing (and a bloody well paid one at that) a young audience and a platform of influence, there is also responsibility, whether we like it or not. And being controversial for the sake of being controversial, or acting with complete disregard for a public position you have chosen for yourself and for a set of consequences that are far reaching in their impact, is really objectionable.

But, don’t worry guys, Kyle has apologized. It was just ‘one of those things.’ It wasn’t his ‘intention to upset anyone’ – no, you dick, clearly it wasn’t your intention. No one is saying it was your intention. No one is asking you to apologise for an intentionally insensitive comment. What people are saying is that you’re an idiot. They’re asking you to apologise for being inappropriate, impudent and insensitive – whether you intended to be this way or not is almost irrelevant. Your intention has nothing to do with your overall ability to process what is and isn’t socially and culturally appropriate, an ability you sorely lack.

Ultimately, I really don’t care if he’s stupid. Or insensitive. Or whatever else he is. I care that he gets paid more than midwives, more than researchers, more than teachers, to spout this absolute drivel on mainstream radio. I care that impressionable people listen to his uneducated, thoughtless, dim-witted comments. If he can’t employ any sense of discretion or sensitivity or fundamental intelligence I have only one question – what the hell is he still doing on my radio?

Let’s stop giving these people so much money and so much social standing and such vast platforms from which to broadcast their dull wits, and then we won’t have to get our knickers in a knot when they go and do something so completely expected; something stupid.

——–

More reading:

An article over at Onya Magazine and The Punch

——–

Kyle Sandilands – Image credit 

Magda Szubanski image courtesy of Australian Women’s Weekly