How Glenn Beck Ruined My Life.
I can't give the newest talk radio/TV/porn personality ALL the
credit. There were many before him. Bob Grant, Dr. Laura, Rush
Limbaugh. I grew up on conservative talk radio. From morning to
night, the radio in the house was tuned to the local radio station
which picked up these 'reputable' syndicated talk shows. And that's
all they were- talk, and some yelling. I remember listening to Bob
Grant every night at dinner. He would invariably rant and rave
about what Bill Clinton was doing wrong, how Mario Cuomo was
ruining New York, how welfare was the worst thing the government
did, and how Reagan was the greatest President ever.
As it often does, something funny happened when I was a teenager. I started questioning what he was saying. I started getting annoyed at the fact that the man could not have a conversation with someone who disagreed with him without yelling. Someone would call in and defend Bill Clinton, and Grant would shout 'GET OFF MY PHONE, YOU FAKE PHONY FRAUD!!!!'. Yeah, that's healthy. I asked my parents, 'how can you listen to this shit?' Ok, maybe I didn't say 'shit', but I meant it. And listen they did. I'd say my parents have spent the better part of the last two decades listening to these guys.
The problem, I have found, is that arguing with a listener of conservative talk radio is akin to arguing with an insane person. They believe what they are saying, hearing, and feeling is reality. But it's not.
I recently wrote a blog that was supposed to be a kind of tongue-in-cheek fire-starter- http://www.knowyourpro.org/members/profile/2/blog-view/why-conservatives-hate-america_25.html. Instead of getting comments, we lost a couple of members, and I lost some cyber-friends. How is this possible? Well considering the fact that I have not had a rational, subdued conversation about politics and policy with my own mother in about 15 years, I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the outcome. She screams 'LIBERAL!' at me like it's an STD. She calls me a communist. A socialist. She even says that I am brainwashed, which for obvious reasons is both ironic and sad.
This is what Glenn Beck, and those who came before him have done. They have RUINED our ability to talk to each other. Labels divide us, and they thrive on that. Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and the rest make MONEY off of getting one half of the country to despise the other. Eventually, they will have to take responsibility for what they are doing, but it won't be anytime soon, and it will be long after my family, and millions of families like mine are split in half. How sad is that?
How pathetic is it that a few 'characters' on the radio have such power?
I despise conservative talk radio, and I am not afraid to say it.
As it often does, something funny happened when I was a teenager. I started questioning what he was saying. I started getting annoyed at the fact that the man could not have a conversation with someone who disagreed with him without yelling. Someone would call in and defend Bill Clinton, and Grant would shout 'GET OFF MY PHONE, YOU FAKE PHONY FRAUD!!!!'. Yeah, that's healthy. I asked my parents, 'how can you listen to this shit?' Ok, maybe I didn't say 'shit', but I meant it. And listen they did. I'd say my parents have spent the better part of the last two decades listening to these guys.
The problem, I have found, is that arguing with a listener of conservative talk radio is akin to arguing with an insane person. They believe what they are saying, hearing, and feeling is reality. But it's not.
I recently wrote a blog that was supposed to be a kind of tongue-in-cheek fire-starter- http://www.knowyourpro.org/members/profile/2/blog-view/why-conservatives-hate-america_25.html. Instead of getting comments, we lost a couple of members, and I lost some cyber-friends. How is this possible? Well considering the fact that I have not had a rational, subdued conversation about politics and policy with my own mother in about 15 years, I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the outcome. She screams 'LIBERAL!' at me like it's an STD. She calls me a communist. A socialist. She even says that I am brainwashed, which for obvious reasons is both ironic and sad.
This is what Glenn Beck, and those who came before him have done. They have RUINED our ability to talk to each other. Labels divide us, and they thrive on that. Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and the rest make MONEY off of getting one half of the country to despise the other. Eventually, they will have to take responsibility for what they are doing, but it won't be anytime soon, and it will be long after my family, and millions of families like mine are split in half. How sad is that?
How pathetic is it that a few 'characters' on the radio have such power?
I despise conservative talk radio, and I am not afraid to say it.
4 Comments
We have the John and Ken Show here in Southern Ca http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/jk2010.html These guys are constantly raising hell with local politicians. To their credit they have exposed many a PORK BARREL etc. in their time. These two usually annoy me if I listen to them too much as they are really redundant with their stuff. I am sure this is also by design to make sure the hard points get maximum exposure. I do not listen to Rush or Beck enough to know if they have really ever changed anything.
No doubt that these guys wear their 'entertainers hats' first, or else their bank accounts will not continue to swell.
Question: Have any of the power mouths you have mentioned ever successfully run for public office after making a name for themselves on the radio? I can not think of one.
If not I can only guess that the pay check is not as good.
Keep up the good stuff. Maybe someone who has it in them will chuck some of your mud back at ya:)
PS Our mothers' could be good pals...
No, they have never run for public office. This is rationalized by the fact that they wouldn't make as much money, and therefore they are just being good capitalists by sticking to business. A true patriot to our nation would not put money before principles. If they truly felt that they could do a better job, they should go for it. Instead, they sit on their butts and somehow command respect. Amazing.
A Democratic Republic relies on a well informed populace (at least the voting populace). Many of their listeners are not like Paul, they do not seek other (unaffiliated) sources of information on a topic. Their words are taken at face value as fact when in reality most of it is lies by omission, half truths or miss-direction. They actively and aggressively teach their audience to have contempt for other points of view, fear those who think differently and actual propose that anyone who does is a liberal America hating socialist who cant be reasoned with anyhow. That last part is what really grinds a moderates a** when trying to have a genuine exchange of ideas. Exchanges of ideas have now become a source of confusion for them, they've been told what to think and can't support it with principle or logic because of the way it was presented to them. In short, they serve to make a significant portion of the voting public dumber than they would be otherwise.
That said, the upside seems to be that their audience is such a large unified group spouting absolute nonsense that they stand out like a sore thumb. This appears to bring reasonable people out of their cynical fog a bit of involvement.
On a related note: Why do so many people who chose to live in closed neighborhoods with severely restrictive covenants fear socialist ideas and profess a desire to preserve personal liberty as a rational against them? Loaded question.
Sorry for the novel and thanks for the post.
P.S. Elected Office implies accountability.
P.P.S. I'd add Michael Moore into the mix
P.P.P.S. Al Franken got elected...uh...barely
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