US radio host compares Paris shooting with sacking of anti-gay firefighter
Conservative radio host Erik Erikson compared the shooting at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris with the sacking of a fire chief in Atlanta, Georgia.
Fox News contributor Mr Erikson began his show by saying: “We’ve got to talk about the terrorism situation,” leading listeners to believe he was about to discuss the attacks on the French satirical magazine. He repeatedly apologised for what he was about to say, and the fact it might make people angry.
“I apologise for any ears that may burn, heads explode, heartburn you may get from what I’m about to say about the terrorism but I feel very strongly that it needs to be said and it needs to be said in the way I’m about to say it.”
He then went on: “The terrorists were offended by a publication, that mocked them, that heaped scorn on them, that offended them and pointed out the fallacies of their religion, and so they had to seek revenge, they had to destroy the people who did it.
“But you need to understand what the destruction is about, yes it is about destruction but the destruction had to be done as a public spectacle, it had to be done in a public way, it had to be done in a way so that other would second guess ever doing it again.”
He specifically mentioned the publisher “mocking them, publishing other things that mocked their faith, mocked their prophets”.
However, he then went on to say: “So they did the only thing they could do, the only thing they knew to do – they went to the mayor of Atlanta and demanded he fire the chief of the fire department for daring to mock them.”
Fire chief Kevin Cochran was recently fired for self-publishing a book comparing being gay to bestiality.
Mr Erikson drew direct comparisons between the two events.
“We gotta talk about what happened in France, but I think it is worth pointing out that one group destroys the livelihoods of those who dare to mock or dissent, and the other took their lives, but both are doing it to drive debate from the public sphere, to shut them up, to shut them down.”
Listen to the full segement below, via Good As You:
