Friday, April 13, 2007
Conservative talkers can spew hate without consequences
The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that Don Imus was sacrificed to appeal the ire of the public. His comments were horrible so I'm not excusing him nor do I disagree with his being fired. However, it seems the conservative talk show hosts, such as Druggy Limbaugh, Michael Weiner Savage, Glen Beck, Ann Coulter, BillO, etc. get a free pass on their divisive hate speech. Sure there is some public outcry, but all of these jerks are still on the air or they get lots of exposure in the conservative media. Why is it so? It is very simple. It doesn't bother the listeners. The listeners basically agree with the dribble being spewed by these conservative talkers. Another thing about the listeners is that they are by and large a STUPID audience. Why do I say this? Any smart individual would have tuned them out, which would likely reduce sponsorship for these shows, ultimately resulting in their being removed from the air. This stupid conservative listening audience is told what to think, and they are easily duped. They re-elected Bush. There is evidence that this audience is waning, but it is not gone. Neither Limbaugh nor BillO will ever get booted from their air so long as their stupid audiences continue to listen and approve of their hate speech. Imus said lots of racist, bigoted and inappropriate things throughout the years, but the premise of his show was not about spewing propaganda. Imus was booted because he had a more diverse audience that didn't approve of his hateful comments. All it took was one comment to get him booted. Conservative talkers say it every day.
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4 comments:
I hope you're not saying that that the likes of OxyContin Rush, BillO, Glenn Dreck, Wienersavage and the Adam's Apple should be arbitrarily booted from the airwaves. I certainly hope not. We need the bloodsport. In a free society, everybody should have the right to make an idiot of themselves. Rather than suppressing their rhetoric (including hate speech), those of us who disagree should sieze every opportunity to ridicule them. That's the way to counter hate speech. Not suppress it. Take a look at the recent postings on Huff Post and Media Matters where bloggers are suggesting that such right wing nuts should be booted off the airways. That's troublesome. Rather, they should be ridiculed at every opportunity. They should drop off the airways by natural economic processes, such loss of audience interest (they're getting less stupid) and loss of sponsorship. Arbitrary firing is a form of repression. Firing establishes a very dangerous precedent. What will happen the next time Jesse or Al make an anti-semitic reference?
I believe this is what I was saying as you eloquently put: "They should drop off the airways by natural economic processes, such loss of audience interest (they're getting less stupid) and loss of sponsorship."
As for the anti-semitic comments, there is a double standard because I've never heard people get taken to task for it. It hasn't really had an impact on Jesse, Al or Mel. It's really unfortunate.
Then we agree. By the way, when do you think Imus will get a gig (or even a station) on Sirius or XM (or the conglomerate)?
Probably in a year after this thing dies down a little. I wouldn't listen to him, though. I occasionally listern to Howard Stern. He says some offensive and racy things. I'm not sure I would call him a racist because he doesn't spew any hate. They were having lots of fun at Imus expense the other day.
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