Latest / The Wes Carroll Morning Show / When Lives Were On the Line, Politics, Race, and Gender Didn't Matter

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When Lives Were On the Line, Politics, Race, and Gender Didn't Matter · The Wes Carroll Morning Show

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The news, opinions, commentary, and interviews. You need to start your
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day and you're listening to the West Carroll Morning Show Monday morning, eleventh day
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of September. I'm Wes, thanks for joining me. It is obviously a
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very big day in our history, a day to not forget, although many
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I think have. I often spend time on September eleventh thinking about the days
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that followed and the way Americans came together for one of the very rare times
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I don't know in the last thirty years, where everybody seemed to find something
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in common with one another rather than looking for our differences and reasons to spit
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in each other's direction, reasons to hate each other, reasons to just be
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angry at one another. And sadly, it takes an event like what happened
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in two thousand and one on this anniversary date to sometimes bring people together,
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and that's really sad. It's like the sentiment that has often expressed at funerals
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when people say, Wow, we should all get together more often. It's
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sad that we only see each other at funerals. There's a lot of family
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that does it. I have family members I only see at funerals. And
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that's quite tragic, isn't it. And it's terrible to think that it takes
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some sort of massive invasion like invent to take place in the US for people
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to come together and try to help one another, to help each other up,
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to run into burning and collapsing buildings without going in and asking, well,
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how are you going to vote in the next election before you save them,
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or how did you vote in the last election, or what are your
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politics or what are your thoughts on the following issues before I can pull you
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out. No heroes ran in and saved people with zero regard to what their
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politics were, to what their thoughts were, to what their religion was,
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to what their race was. That's not what it was really about when things
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actually counted, and that's worth remembering. I know it's hard to think back
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on the attack. It's hard to think back on what happened and the lives
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lost, the lives deserved to be remembered. But obviously the attitudes of the
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people who went in and were heroes, the attitudes of the people who went
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out of their way to make sacrifices. Sometimes at eventual health. We know
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there's been health issues for some of the people who actually did make it back
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out of the buildings after they ran in, and it's important to remember their
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sacrifice. It's important to remember the senseless loss of life, but it's important
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for us to remember that when everything else was put aside, the only thing
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that mattered was that there were other human beings inside the buildings, that there
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were other Americans inside, not even necessarily Americans, but we'll say the Americans
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who were inside the building. That's all that mattered. It was that there
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were human lives inside the building that needed to be saved. That's it.
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And when people went in to save those lives, they didn't care about all
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the other stuff. And it is possible for us to get to that stage
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again because on the twelfth and thirteenth and even fourteenth of September in two thousand
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and one, everybody cared about each other. Sure, there were some instances
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where there was talk of politics. I remember in the office after the attacks
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happened, and all the staff was just kind of around and just really in
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shock, didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. All
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the radio stations had cut over to live cut live footage cut ins from different
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TV stations that were covering it. There was nothing much that could be said
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after a certain point by anyone on a local level. The news was national,
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it was international. So as staff stood around, I remember one person
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in particular, I vividly remember this, and I remember this one moment of
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someone saying, well, if George Bush hadn't won reelection, this would have
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never happened. And that was the only one for several days, and that
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was still the default. Then. I'd like to remind everybody that this we
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feel like things have certainly gotten worse, and I agree with that it's gotten
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worse. It should not have gotten worse, but it has. But I'd
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just like to remind everyone that no, back then, we were still that
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divided, we were still that hateful. There were election deniers then in two
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thousand and one, and that was an election denier who made that statement Al
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Gore really won and if they had done the right thing, this would have
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never happened, which was a ridiculous thing to say. There's no way that
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that whole thing was planned, just since Inauguration Day with the elaborate, coordinated
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attacks that took place. But I digress. My point this morning is that
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we do need to take time to reflect. We do need to take time
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to remember. We should remember important moments in history, and that is an
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important one in recent history, and it is important for us to take time
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to remember and realize that when all else was off the table, the only
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thing that mattered was that there was human lives in those buildings and that people
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went in to pull them out and sacrifice themselves to pull them out. There
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were people on an airplane who intentionally took a plane down because they did not
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want the White House to be sacrificed. They didn't want the President to be
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sacrificed, probably not fully aware of where he was at the time. Didn't
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matter what the politics were, President United States stood for more than that to
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a plane full of people who made a decision to let's roll. So it's
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important we remember them. It's important that we remember that we are better than
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the squabbling, we are better than the fighting, we are better than all
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of the nonsense. I want to change gears this morning, and this will
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be a very different topic from that, because I do want to talk about
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something that is just something that I've had a little time to reflect on over
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the weekend, and I'm certainly not an expert on what's going on with the
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Hollywood SAG after strike. I can't speak to it with you know, insider
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knowledge to it. I have talked to a few people about it. I've
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gotten their thoughts and reflections on it. But what I'm about to say isn't
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anything I've gotten from anyone else. This is just merely an observation that I
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have about a few things. I did talk to someone and the last another
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reporter that was covering some events and has covered some events, and we talked
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a little bit about the state of where entertainment industry is right now, and
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I can't help but going to the default that in many ways Hollywood has has
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created the problem that has before them, And I'll give you my thought.
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This is just merely an observation I've got. And this is just me kind
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of asking questions because I can't tell you the inner workings of what's gone on
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with the strike with any side of insider information. I don't have that.
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I'm not coming at it from that perspective. I'm just making an observation to
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someone who has just kind of been paying attention. And it's not just about
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the strike specifically, but something that I've noticed is and these are all things
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that I don't know that anyone is supposed to say, but I'm just gonna,
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you know, make observations with it. We know that there has been
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a push for more representation in Hollywood. That's been a big push. I
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understand that sentiment. I do. I understand that there has been a situation
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in Hollywood for a really long time where, you know, certain roles and
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certain jobs only went to certain people. I do understand that I understand why
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people would like to see a better representation on the screen and behind the scenes.
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But I guess my question, and this is just things that I've noticed
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and that I've observed, is there have been situations in certain TV shows and
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certain movies where there's been a bragging of look at the way we have such
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great representation, look at the way we're making sure that all of these groups
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are represented, and and we're going out of our way to do that.
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And then you watch some of the projects that they're talking about, and then
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you realize, in some cases, certainly not all of them, the quality
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just isn't quite there. It's not the best project that's been put forward.
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And then there's confusion about why the project isn't doing as well as maybe it
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would have. There was one show in particular I'm trying to decide if I
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want to say the name of it, I will. I'm not going to
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say the specific actor. I'm not going to pick on anybody specifically. But
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there was a show that Disney produced, a Obi Wan Kenobi series, Obi
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and Wouldn't It was an obi wan Kenobi series, and there were some acting
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choices in it that were questionable, some I think more egregious than others.
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And what's interesting to me is anytime I watch something and someone who has watched
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a lot of movies and TV shows in my lifetime, whenever I see someone
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in a role that really doesn't seem like they even auditioned for it, like
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it was just given to them, and you know, they just have the
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role, they're in it, and I think, my gosh, they're just
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not doing a great job. This wasn't a main role in the series.
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This wasn't anybody who would have jumped off the page at you because they got,
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you know, many episodes or anything. This was just one role in
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particular that I thought to myself, my gosh, I'm really glad this person
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isn't in this show more than this. And when I make those observations,
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it seems that when I'm on line, those are the people that get bragged
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about about what a fantastic job they're doing. And that's happened with movies,
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that's happened with TV shows. It's it's the standout actor that or actress.
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I guess you're just supposed to say actor now performer. It's the standout person
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that they brag about that sometimes is the one that you go, oh,
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they weren't that great. I think I could have done that, and I
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can't act at all. So when you notice that in something and then the
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person they brag about them, or then there's accusations of one didn't like them
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because dot dot dot, they don't like them because their gender identity, or
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they didn't like them because of their transitioning, or they didn't like them because
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of their race or whatever it is, when in reality, it's just I
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don't know that they'll cast the best person for the job. And I start
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thinking about the overall quality of entertainment right now? Are we better overall than
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we were before? I mean, if you're rating it based on representation,
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Well, you'd have to say it was better. But does that mean that
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the quality of the shows is better? Does that mean that the best actor
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and I mean that for both gender or all every gender involved, we'll say
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it that way. Does that mean that the best candidate for those jobs is
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getting it and then we're getting the best possible production? Does it mean that
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the producers and does it mean that the directors and writers of these projects?
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Does it mean we're getting the best possible product? In some cases it doesn't
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really matter, you know. I mean, let's be honest, a lot
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of things that get made aren't very good anyway. But when you start putting
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rules in place that say you can't win an award like an Academy award,
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you can't win an Oscar unless your project checks a number of boxes that qualify
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you. And there's representation boxes that have to be checked, including the number
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of people working on and off camera, And if that's something that has to
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be taken care of for you to qualify to win, and if maybe the
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best people for those jobs aren't getting the jobs, does that mean the overall
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quality of your Oscar winner for Best Picture or whatever the particular award is for
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does that mean that the overall quality is dropping if it's not the best people
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to do the job, if they're not doing a great job. So I
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guess my question is, if you're doing that and the number of people that
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are being cast in those roles or sometimes not necessarily the best candidate for the
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job, does it create a dynamic where well, just anybody could do it.
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I think about the last years of radio. There was a time when
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I got into radio where it was really hard to get on the air.
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You couldn't get a radio speaking gig until you had put in some time.
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You had to earn your equity. You started, you did a bunch of
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jobs around the building that really nobody else wanted to do. They checked your
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attitude while you were doing those jobs, and then eventually, oh maybe a
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year, two years pass and you end up on the air. That's not
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what radio has become now. At a TV now it's hey, yeah,
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we're gonna hire you. You're part time. We're gonna put you on the
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afternoon show. But I've never worked on the radio. It doesn't matter.
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You're gonna figure it out. You'll start tomorrow. Good luck, No training
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no expertise, nothing has passed down. You just learn it on the job
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and you figure it out. I don't think it's a big surprise that many
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of the folks in TV, some of the long time people, they just
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disappear from the airwaves for one reason or another. They get replaced by someone
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who's brand new, and maybe he doesn't even really know what they're doing.
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It happens. It happens on the local level, and it's happening in Hollywood.
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It's happening in a big way in Hollywood. And my guess my question
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is does that not kind of feed into the strike situation to the people that
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are making the projects in some ways feel like they could find somebody else to
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do it. I'm just asking the question. I'm just making the observation based
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on what I've seen, and does that not give them a little bit more
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staying power from their side? From a negotiating standpoint, I get it seeing
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other people that you know look different on the screen certainly has value to culture.
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I don't disagree with that, but I also think that it is in
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the best interest of everyone involved that you put the best person possible in the
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job. Now, when it comes to acting. Yes, many things get
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made regularly that are expected to not do very well. Studios often make you
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know, they make a handful of movies every year. They know that maybe
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aren't gonna necessarily be very good, but they're gonna make a lot of money,
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and they're going to take the money from that, the profits from that
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Fast and Furious franchise, they're gonna take the profits from that, and they're
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going to use it to make other movies, sometimes indie movies, sometimes movies
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that will eventually win awards. They're not necessarily worried about the overall quality of
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the big franchise transformers. They're mainly worried about the money that will come in.
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Obviously they want the money, but then they can use the money to
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make other projects, and they're looking for a profit as well. It's not
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just that they're trying to completely just cash in and only make indie movies.
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That's not what they want to do. But they're able to take that over
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and turn that into the occasional Oscar winner, and sometimes they're able to do
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that. So there is that aspect of it. There is that aspect of
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yeah, they're not all going to be great movies. Are they going to
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sell tickets? That's the first concern. Are they going to sell tickets?
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Are they going? And you get the occasional one that you know does all
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of it. You get the occasional one that comes along and it's a huge
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blockbuster hit and it also gets Oscar attention. A Top Gun, the Top
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Gun sequel Maverick, that's one of those. I guess this Barbie movie has
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kind of had that, and I guess it kind of checks all the boxes
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because it's well on its way to well, it's surpassed a billion and it's
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well on its way to probably getting some Oscar attention next year. I don't
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know that it's deserved, but it's gonna get some Oscar attention. So when
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it comes to Hollywood, is it really that big of a deal. Well,
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it is to the people involved when it affects you directly, right,
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it's a big deal in radio and TV when the jobs start to dry up
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over someone who'll come in and do it for next to nothing with no experience.
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But when it does matter is when it's affects banking in the country.
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It does matter when it affects I don't know, the White House, it
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matters when there's more of a focus on representation in the White House than having
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the right people in place to do the jobs. Shouldn't that be the top
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priority of an elected government. Shouldn't it be about getting the best possible people
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in place to do the jobs. I understand we have two parties overall.
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We got some independence mixed in there, but we basically have two parties.
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I think the parties now encompass a very wide spectrum of what it means to
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be in those parties, especially on the left, it's a very wide spectrum.
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But when one party is in power, isn't it the responsibility of that
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party but the best people possible in the job, and not just let's worry
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about checking these boxes for representation, let's brag about I don't think they're still
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bragging about it. They were for a while until people started to say,
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you don't have the right people doing the jobs. These aren't people with experience
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in these yields. These aren't people who know what they're doing. They're just
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there so you can say, hey, look look at our representation. We're
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trying to get all of this is the first person of this race to have
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this position. This is the first person of this sexual identity to be in
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this position. Those are the boxes that they're worried about checking while things are
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getting overlooked. The border is overlooked. The border is so bad that we
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have a mayor in New York who's screaming New York is gonna end because of
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illegal immigrants coming to New York. He's not necessarily talking about the rest of
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the country, but he's talking about really what he was elected to do,
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and that's to worry about New York. But if New York is that bad
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off because of people crossing the southern border, I think it's safe to say
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that the whole country is pretty screwed. Right. Isn't that the case.
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Isn't it a situation where if one city, our largest city, is screwed,
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aren't we all screwed? Isn't this a horrible situation to be in and
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no one is there. There don't seem to be any adults in charge.
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There doesn't seem to be anyone in position to do anything about it. So,
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again, just an observation about the strike. Again, this is just
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me, as someone who watches movies and TV shows, making an observation about
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the overall quality of it and how it really puts things in the hands of
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one side when it comes to the negotiations. Now, Sadly, as we
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talk about the problem that we're having in our White House and our current administration,
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who does that then put in power from the negotiating standpoint? Is it?
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It's not American citizens? I don't know. Is it China? Is
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it? I don't know. Number of countries that wish us harm sadly may
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very well be the case. Today's show brought to you by Columbus State University's
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five eight forty five hundred seven h six three five eight forty five hundred O
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DC Columbus dot Com more West Carol Morning Show. Right after the break.
25:38
Hey, thank goodness, Nancy Pelosi is running for reelection next year. At
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eighty three. She's not going anywhere. She's ready to run again next year.
25:47
So at least we got some consistency rolling on into things with her jumping
25:53
back in there again. All right, So you know, it's pretty common.
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And I guess I was talking about the movies and things earlier. If
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you go to the movies, I guess something that people have learned to do
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over the years. They get their popcorn. Maybe they buy some kind of
26:08
a snack and they dump it into the popcorn and mix it up and it
26:12
gives them that salty sweet combo. By the way, if you're not doing
26:15
that, I mean, I don't do it. But if you're not doing
26:21
that, apparently you're missing out. And I am too. But there are
26:26
a number of suggestions that people say are the ultimate snack to buy when you're
26:30
in there. Reese's Pieces apparently is among the best. Also, skittles,
26:33
the sour gummies, Not to me, that takes a little bit away from
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that salty and sweet thing. But the cookie dough bites, the butterfinger bits
26:42
or whatever, the bunch of crunch and goobers in general. So, and
26:48
there's lots of goobers in the movies anyway, aren't there. Well. You
26:52
know, marriage as an institution has certainly made some changes over the years,
26:57
but one tradition seems to still will be intact. According to a Pew Research
27:02
poll of opposite sex married couple, seventy nine percent of women are using their
27:07
husband's last name at number a little lower for women under the age of fifty
27:12
at seventy three percent. Overall, fourteen percent of brides have been keeping their
27:18
own last name and about five percent hyphenating the name. So that's interesting.
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I mean, I know that there's a certain tradition to it that people like
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to continue with. I know some people that have have the hyphenated names.
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I know some people that kept their own last name. I do know some
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of those representations, but overall, for the most part, for me in
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my circles, yes, most people do actually take their husband's last name.
27:51
Kate Spade and her company that makes the bags, She's no longer with us,
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but the Kate Spade company as working on sort of bags for dogs.
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dollars for your dog for your dog. All right, let's talk insects,
28:30
because there's a exterminating firm called Mister Sniffers that has done the research and named
28:40
the companies that have the highest number of cockroaches and rats in the last year.
28:45
And these are the top ten cities. I don't think anybody listening in
28:52
the Chattahoochee Valley area is gonna be overly shocked now. And these are I
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guess largely big cities that are represent it here, so not going to be
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shocked to know Atlanta finished number one. I mean, you get into the
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Deep South and there's gonna be cockroaches. I can't speak to the rats in
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Atlanta, but the cockroaches certainly in the State of Georgia, Miami, Boston,
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d C, Houston, Riverside, California, Dallas, Philly, San
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Francisco, and New York finishing out the top ten. So all right,
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that'll do it for this Monday edition of the show. Thanks to our sponsors
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and patrons. Thank you for listening. I'll catch you back here tomorrow morning.
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as well. Seven oh six three five eight forty five hundred seven O six
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three five eight forty five hundred o DC Columbus dot Com. Have you checked
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out the Made of Stars podcast, yet well you probably should. The Georgia
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Association of Broadcasters as named Made of Stars the best podcast series at the annual
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GABBY Awards. Every Thursday, doctor Shaun Cruising from Columbus State University's Coca Cola
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Space Science Center and I talk about the week space news, including what's going
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on at NASA as well as companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Axiom Space,
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and Boeing. Plus we fill you in on what's happening beyond our atmosphere,
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throughout our Solar system, and into the deepest known regions of space.
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Check out Best Podcast Series GABBY Award winning Made of Stars. New episodes every
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Thursday on Spotify, Apple, Google, or wherever you listen to your podcast