Radio Host Surprised by His Listeners

You'd think after "War of the Worlds" that radio hosts would realize that trying to perpetuate a hoax on their listeners rarely ends well. Case in point:

WASHINGTON (Dec. 1) -- When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.

The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."

Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."

At the end of the one-hour show, rich with arguments on why visual identification of "the threat in our midst" would alleviate the public's fears, Klein revealed that he had staged a hoax. It drew out reactions that are not uncommon in post-9/11 America.

"I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said," he told his audience on the AM station 630 WMAL, which covers Washington, Northern Virginia and Maryland.

"For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting.

Hey, champ, these are your people. You shouldn't act so surprised.

The host then allowed his analogies to go completely off the deep end:

"Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous."

Although there was plenty of German propaganda against the Jews in the prewar years, I don't recall any Jewish organizations actually committing violent acts against the civilians and the government of Germany, nor was there any effort underway to replace German law with the Torah. To compare the modern day Muslims with the prewar German Jews is silly.

And how did the host really think people were going to react? Did he expect everyone to jam the phones lines to defend Muslims, innocent or not? I don't think that audience is listening to talk radio - at least not to that station or that host.

The fact is there is a deep suspicion among many non-Muslims toward the Muslim population, and as long as we can remember what happened on 9/11, and what is happening in many parts of the world affected by Islamic terrorism, that isn't going to go away.