In article <...>, ... (Steve Martin) wrote:

There can be over reaction is such circumstances.

On a very well known UK radio station where I had a regular slot, there was a bit of a bus anorak conversation going on – I think it was when they were killing off some of the proper London buses and I was a bit annoyed.
During the conversation I asked it a certain route was a "Paddy Bus". JEEZ!
From the reaction of one listener you would have thought I committed murder. I was a racist, this that and the other person. Same person also suggested they would complain to the Race Relations Board and OFCOM.
I'm not gonna say how some reacted, but what I will say is that one person leapt to defend me and actually said on air my comment was fully justified and certainly in context of the comedy style I used on-air. As it goes the night manager of some buses around that area of London was actually called Paddy, he was one of the regular contributors and as such a minor show celebs.
So you see how something minor can become a major thing if the PC brigade are allowed to jump in.
Just in case you're wondering, the person complaining was well and truly ripped for his e-mail. Strange thing, he kept coming back for more :-)

On another occasion a person, I use the term loosely as they admitted to being a columnist in a newspaper and that made them important, complained because I wouldn't slam a company on air.
The person had clearly made a BIG MISTAKE and I explained that to them in the nicest of ways during a LIVE call. That's when the 'I'm a jour..' bit came in.
I asked if that made it different and added he/she was equally able to screw-up as normal people do.
Because said person had not been born in the UK, I was again branded as being a racist because I was supposedly rude.
(I could get a phobia about this, but I won't).
Needless to say it was one of those times when the call was ended and we suffixed/ended the conversation with "Twit".

On a slightly different tack, but still down the same route of some listeners being just outside of help. We had quite a popular little show which I thought had run its course so we killed it off, replacing it with a more modern show.
The new show had a different focus and a new name denoting the topic of the new show – now you'd think that would help, OH NO!

A couple of twits complained to the regulator that had sent in news to the new show, as they did under there own free will and without request from me to the old show, and the new show was a very bad thing because they didn't get there news on the new show.
GRIEF! An official complaint was made, cassette tapes requested etc etc. Needless to say the complaint wasn't upheld and in fact the complainant was told in writing not to waste valuable time in the future with such complaints.

The point of the above is to, hopefully, demonstrate that such minor things can create the most amazing wave of stupid anger.

Now it has to be said that when someone threatened to complain about me breaking an Elvis 45 on air if I ever did it again, that was a very different matter – I replied GO FOR IT, or what ever the cool phrase was at that time, and offered to trawl junk record stores for a box full of 45s so I could have a regular slot of breaking said music.

(Sorry should explain to those without a bus pass that a 45 is something I found in a studio once, it was explained to me that it was the forerunner to CD, but it made a better on air noise when broken. Breaking CDs on air can seriously damage your hands, 45s don't).

Eric