But, after I thought about it
a little more, I started to wonder how he was going to cope.
The last time I heard The Edge
Breakfast discuss anything remotely religious was when they interviewed Christine
Weick. I say interviewed, it was more harassment and bullying than anything
else. Christine made headlines last year when a video of her accusing Katy
Perry’s dad of producing satanic offspring went viral. I had a problem with
this “interview” for two reasons. Firstly, Christine Weick is not a Christian.
She believes she is, but she also believes it’s ok to make signs that say
“Thank your mum today for not being gay.” Interviewing Christine as an example
of Christianity is like interviewing Jihadi John as an example of Islam. It’s
not fair, and giving these people air time only leads to a more divisive and
intolerant society. Secondly, despite the fact that Christine is clearly not a
very nice person, by the end of the interview I actually felt sorry for her.
When she tearfully declared “I can see you’ve only called to mock me” before
muttering something about the state of their immortal souls and finally hanging
up, I found myself incensed on her behalf. What would the impressionable young
Edge listener take from this dialogue? All Christians are crazy, and it’s funny
and socially acceptable to treat them like crap.
Still, by replacing Mike with
a Christian, surely Jay Jay and Dom don’t really believe that? They must be
totally ok with having a religious co-host.
Hmm, maybe not.
It seems every time I tune in
to the Edge someone is making a subtle dig at Randell. Last time I listened Jay
Jay was reading ‘scandal’ and said “Lorde, not the Lord Randell is in to, …”
Really? Is that a necessary distinction? Did she really think her listeners
would confuse pop star Lorde with our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ and think
he’d been spotted leaving a party with Diplo? Still, this is the station that
thinks people won’t realise Clinton and Clint from the afternoon show aren’t
the same person, so maybe she did feel the need to specify.
Maybe this is just a
coincidence though, maybe these are isolated events and because I listen so
infrequently I’m getting the wrong impression.
I decided to listen to a full
week of podcasts to see if I was right.
Then I remembered I am a
working mum of an eight month old and I don’t have that kind of time in my
life.
I decided I’d listen to three
podcasts.
Then I realised they were roughly
two hours each.
Ok, one podcast! If they can
get through one podcast without making a dig at Randell I will take it all
back.
I listened to their entire
podcast from April 1st 2016.
Two minutes in, yes, literally
TWO MINUTES IN, here’s what happened.
Dom: “How are you feeling
about your world record attempt today?”
Randell: “Pretty nervous! I
threw out a couple of prayers on the way to work.”
Jay Jay: “Oh for goodness
sake.”
Dom: *laughing* “Did you rub
your Saint Christopher on the dashboard? That sounds way dirtier than it
actually is!”
And just like that Jay Jay has
implied praying is a childish waste of time, and Dom, unsurprisingly, has
turned it into a sex joke.
Despite this horrendous start,
the rest of the show is fairly unremarkable. Then we get to a segment called
“Breakin’ Bree”, where the team are aiming to “break in” the new receptionist whose
name lends itself to a snazzy radio segment. Randell questioned if the point of
the exercise was to make Bree cry, which, given what he has to put up with every
day, is a reasonable question.
Dom responds: “I don’t know
what sort of hijinks you got up to on that religious station Life FM, but
that’s not how we roll around here!”
A throw away comment. Fairly
harmless, but with the subtle implication that all Christians are of the
Christine Weick ilk.
This podcast, teamed with the
random snippets I hear in the car, suggest that this taunting of Randell is a
regular occurrence. They are always met with a friendly chuckle from his end. Does
he notice? Does he care? Does he consider the wider implications?
Randell was last seen doing
body shots off Dom in Rarotonga, so perhaps not.
I loved that a Christian was
given such a high profile media position, but I am starting to wonder if it’s
doing more harm than good. These casual yet derogatory comments cannot continue
to go on unchecked.
Randell, please, take some advice
from an indie pop ballad that most people have probably forgotten about but whose
lyrics happen to apply perfectly to this situation.
Say something.
You’re Christian listeners are
giving up on you.
Say something.
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