Why I Won’t Discuss the Boston Marathon Tragedy

Kids, I think we all are a little taken aback by what happened yesterday afternoon in Boston.  I heard about it a little after it happened Monday afternoon, and I wrestled with myself about it all afternoon.  But I made a decision.I was given a phone number for a girl named Megan who was the finish line at the marathon. She was there and was willing to talk.  I called and didn't get through, and then I had a good long talk with myself.  I was debating whether or not I should say anything, whether I should call her back, and what I should do.

"Look, self," I said.  "You don't know what's going on.  You don't know any more than the people on the news do.  If you go on the air with this girl anyway, all you're gonna do is give people more half truths."

Panic does that.  People who were there may know what they heard and saw, but they may not know the whole story.  And there's no way that someone in a different time zone, like me (who admittedly isn't an expert of any kind) will have any idea about the ins and outs of all this.   So, do you really wanna go on the air with half truths and rumors - or facts?"  Of course I wanted the facts.  Of course I wanted the truth.

The long and short of it was, I didn't have the facts.  I didn't have the truth any more than you did.   So I decided not to feed into the rumor mill and let our news staff at Fox News cover it as best they could.  I felt like it was more responsible to let the news do the news.  I wasn't exactly sure what I could say, anyway, even if I did just speak about my own opinion.  Do any of us really have the words?  Do any of us really know what to make of it?

Today, I made sure to acknowledge what happened, and to play a bit of sound of some things that were recorded on the scene - but again, I've made a conscious decision to not go into it in depth.  After all, I'm not a reporter.  I'm not a trusted news source.  I tell jokes and play music.  And at the end of the day, it's not like people necessarily need MY opinion or my speculations about who did what and why.

So that's why I've decided to do what I DO know how to do; talk about music.  I want to acknowledge what went on and be sure to notify you of our updates on the website, but when it came to actually talking about it, I defer to the news team.  I feel like when you go to get breaking news, you turn to someone trusted.  You go to Brian Williams, not Yakov Smirnoff.  So that's why, on the show, you'll hear a lot about music and hopefully that will be a bit of a respite or relief from all the horrible news you'll hear all day and night tonight - and in the coming weeks.

I may not know much, but I know what I do well.  And hopefully what I do will be alright if you want to be distracted just enough to not get bogged down in despair.   We all feel helpless, confused, angry, and downright hurt.  But all we can do is dredge forward, at least for now.

So, dredge with me, if you like.

Behka