HAS SOCIOPATH NEAL BOORTZ BEEN SUSPENDED? (or did he just take an unscheduled vacation?)

civildisoBDence

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Mon Mar-24-08 06:28 PM
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HAS SOCIOPATH NEAL BOORTZ BEEN SUSPENDED? (or did he just take an unscheduled vacation?)

Cross-posted at http://newsprism.wordpress.com">NewsprismBlog

According to his website, boortz.com, Neal is on vacation this week. Normally, Boortz talks about upcoming vacations on the air, but this time he announced it on his website as an "Afterthought." He also claims that he hasn't taken his full vacation time in five years.

What odd timing ... just as a groundswell of condemnation hits him for mocking and ridiculing a nine-year-old disabled child on national radio, he takes a powder.

Boortz has a history of making light of the disabilities of children. You might remember Bethany Hamilton, the then-13-year-old surfer who had her entire left arm bitten off by a shark in 2003. Boortz called the girl "stupid" and "inarticulate" and joked that her arm was "shark food" and that she'd "never be a typist."

Beginning on March 7 of this year, Boortz began playing an audiotape of a nine-year-old north Georgia boy who suffers from ADHD along with other disabilities. Boortz mocked the child's speech patterns, said he sounded "dumb as a stump," suggested that he'd never be anything more than a "tire changer" or a "worm farmer," and accused his father of "child abuse" based solely on the boy's speech.

The abuse of this child continued for nearly two weeks. The only sign of contrition came when the following post was removed from Boortz's website, probably on orders from above (and I don't mean that far above, but rather, Cox Communications):

...looks like we've really twisted a few knickers out there with our panning of Lil' Buford's communications skills. You remember Lil' Buford, don't you? The 10-year-old kid who can't speak the English language? Yeah .. that one, the future worm farmer.

The boy's name is Jordan, by the way, and he's nine, not ten. How a grown man can abuse a little boy like that is beyond comprehension. It smacks of mental illness, specifically, sociopathy. See how many of these symptoms of what was once called "moral insanity" apply to Boortz:

Glibness and Superficial Charm (a must in talk radio)

They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used (like a nine-year-old boy or 13-year-old girl used to hype ratings)

They may dominate and humiliate their victims (looks like a pattern, doesn't it?)

Grandiose Sense of Self (ahem...)

Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt (as in, proud to abuse disabled children on national radio)

Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities (even disabled children)

The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way (not even the feelings or mental health of disabled children)

Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person (like hearing disabled children abused on national radio)

Living on the edge. Verbal outbursts ... are normal (not just normal, but rewarded)

No sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others (you get the picture)

Callousness/Lack of Empathy (Neal's middle names!)

If a cowardly sociopath like Boortz winds up profiting from this public child abuse, what does that say about our culture and our civil discourse? Hopefully, the courts---both the justice system and the court of public opinion---will stand up for Jordan and give Boortz an appropriate punishment.

Has Cox Communications done the right thing by suspending this hateful bully, or is he just sunning himself somewhere as he enjoys the fruits of abusing disabled children?

http://www.newsprism.com">Newsprism