Montel Turns the Tables on a Fox Morning Show

Fox Stooge #3: "Was the pressure of stardom too much for the young actor (Heath Ledger)? Someone who knows how it can be under the glare of the celebrity microscope is Montel Williams who joins us in the studio this morning."

All Stooges: "Yeaah! (etc.)"

Montel: "Good morning; thanks for having me."

Fox Stooge #3: "It's good to have you here, boy we talk about a tragic situation - Heath Ledger - weigh in on that for us."

Montel: "I gotta tell you, my heart goes out to his family, but I have been repulsed, honestly, by all the coverage; and here's a question I have: watch this. How many people have died in Iraq since January 1st?"

Fox Stooge #1: "It's about, it's about twenty."

Montel: "No. It's not about. It is twenty-eight."

Fox Stooge #1: "Excuse me - "

Montel: "I say it that way because we're gonna spend fifteen minutes talking about this. I've not seen one death, one name of a soldier, one person who allows us to do this, and you're in the military (referring to one of the fox stooges); we're the ones who defend this democracy. Those guys are over there dying, and we're gonna sit here and speculate about a young man who passed away, who's somebody's child, who's somebody's father, has not even been buried yet, and I think it's gone way too far."

Fox Stooge #2: "But why do we do that as a society? I mean - "

Montel: "Because it [unclear] this appetite to bring on ratings. That what it is. We know it. We know it as a fact; let's be honest about it."

Fox Stooge #2: "Of course it's ratings, but it's the appetite - we're feeding the beast - "

Montel: "Yea, well, cart before the horse - horse before the cart - I don't know who drives it. I think right now if we woke up this morning and instead of talking about Heath Ledger we talked about the troop who died last night by the IED - "

Fox Stooge #1: "Montel, look, we have numbers..I'm mean look..I..I..I..It's kind of a sad reality, though; troops have been dying in Iraq since March of 2003 correct?"

Montel: "And we don't talk about them."

Fox Stooge #1: "Well, I mean, look, we talk about the war plenty. I was actually embedded. I was there for the invasion. I mean, we, I think everybody in this country knows we're at war."

Montel: "Nobody in this country knows who died yesterday. And if I know about Heath, I wanna know about the troop."

Stooges 1 & 2: (chatter)

Fox Stooge #3: "We talk about Heath because he was an icon. He was someone that really stood out - "

Montel: "And I admire him. My heart goes out to him. I didn't know him. And there are alot of people; yesterday, probably in this country, another four-hundred people passed away. I don't know any of them."

Fox Stooge #1: "Is there any realistic way to talk about four-hundred people who died individually? I mean - "

Montel: "All of the troops yesterday, and I'm sorry, let's have this discussion about Heath Ledger, but I wanna tell America: twenty-eight troops died since January 1st. That's what I wanna talk about, for me. Now, I mean, you guys can do it if you want; it's cool. I'm not gonna knock you. Talk about it if that's part of what you do, and that's part of what we need for ratings. I don't need 'em (ratings).

Fox Stooge #1: "Tell us about one of the troops who died since January 1st that [unclear] - "

Montel: "The only story I heard about was two days ago, while I was taping, was the IED that went off beside a truck. It was going through, troops got out supposedly took a look, talked to one of the Iraqi soldiers that was nearby, and look, I don't know the name. I don't know the name, so I'm as disgusted with myself this morning. I got up and searched; yesterday I searched I [unsure] the number everday, and I didn't find the name this morning. I looked up on casualties of war; they didn't give me the name, today."

Fox Stooge #3: "We're talking to Montel Williams about a situation going on right now, Heath Ledger, uh...he also has a book called Living Well, we're gonna talk about it in just a few moments. We'll have more with Montel in just a moment."
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"But why do we do that as a society?"

We do not do this as a society. You do this as a so-called news network. Furthermore, things that are societal by nature, such as human sexuality, are censored by your network unless they're part of a "news" fluff piece.

"Of course it's ratings, but it's the appetite - we're feeding the beast - "

You are the beast. It is the smut and non-news that your network espouses that directs and stimulates the intellectual decay of society.

"...troops have been dying in Iraq since March of 2003 correct?"

Yes, they have. How about covering it? Or is it too depressing? Gone on too long? Too difficult to report day after day after day? If this is the case, perhaps you as a network should stop actively supporting war-hawk politicians and stifling dissent.

"...I think everybody in this country knows we're at war."

Yes, jackass. "Everybody" knows the dehumanized generalizations about the war that your network broadcasts. It is the human element that is lacking. Mentioning the daily number of troop deaths as a segway to another smut piece does not put a human face on this war, does not remind us all that these are human beings, sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers.