Don't Drink and Drive, But If You Must, Call Tom and Share a Couple Of Laughs With Him About It

In the pantheon of horrendous ideas hatched in the interest of keeping us all entertained, what I heard on the radio while driving Monday evening shoots immediately to the top of the list. I was listening to the incendiary Tom Leykis on KLSX-97.1 (aka "Free FM"), because while the nationally syndicated Leykis is wholly outrageous I generally find him somehow intriguing. But not this time. His theme --supposedly tied in to the holiday -- was this: If you're out there and you're drunk behind the wheel, especially if you're taking big gulps from an open bottle at this very moment, call in and tell us all why!

Hmmm...let's see...oh, I know: because you're a self-destructive, unthinking, potentially homicidal twit. How's that for starters? I could not believe my ears. Men who clearly were inebriated, sloshed, trashed, blotto, slurring their words and humiliating themselves -- having a good ol' time chatting up Tommy while tooling around in a metal-encased killing machine. And they're bragging about how blissfully cool it all feels.

Yeah, that's a bright idea, Tom Leykis: glorify this reprehensible activity by turning it into some twisted badge of honor and at the same time make sure these prideful would-be manslaughter perpetrators have their concentration and reaction time compromised still further by engaging in a cell phone exchange with you. From what I could hear, it was all framed in a party hearty frat-boy spirit and wasn't about chastising these drunken oafs in the slightest.

Shouldn't there be some kind of law prohibiting this precise use of the airwaves, when a talk show host callously promotes and quite possibly stokes unlawful mayhem? Hello, FCC? Instead of worrying so much about an innocent expletive slipping through in primetime, how about busting a radio personality for wantonly and shamelessly using the public airwaves to essentially encourage and potentially exacerbate criminal behavior in progress? That's the kind of crackdown I'd have to support, free speech zealot though I may be. This absolutely crossed the line in my view, with Leykis bearing a real measure of responsibility should an accident or severe injury result during one of these on-air phone calls.

I'm still feeling utterly dumbfounded by this. I mean, hey, why not just ask men who are abusing their wives or kids to call in and describe what that feels like as they're in the process of doing it -- and then share a knowing chuckle together to celebrate your mutual disdain for women and children? To my mind, this isn't much different. Unfortunately, Leykis appears too smugly taken with his own sense of magnificence to give even a moment's thought to any possible consequences.

ADDENDUM: I've just seen another blog post (affiliated with the Dallas Morning News) that indicated Leykis was trying to make a serious point with his stunt about how our drunk driving laws don't work and we need far more stringent penalties. I seemed to have missed that, but I stand by what's stated above. Just because a bunch of yahoos call up your show to revel in their inebriation and you claim to have a larger social responsibility agenda doesn't make what you're doing a scientific exercise. It's shock radio in the guise of moral rectitude, which actually makes it even more appalling.