Posted on 06/05/2002 10:58:07 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Basic indisputable truth follows. Leftists don't like talk radio. They don't just dislike talk radio a little they hate it. Left-wingers hate talk radio with a blue-steam, Grade A, unadulterated blinding passion. They know without a doubt that their loss of control in Washington in 1994 was due generally to talk radio and specifically to the influence of The Godfather, Rush Limbaugh.
Why do leftist hate talk radio so? Because they're so damned bad at it, that's why. There is not ONE successful, money-making, listened-to talk radio show in the entire nation that is hosted by a leftist. Not one. I've gone into the reasons for the leftist failure at talk radio before and I'm not here to completely rehash that question now. Suffice it to say that leftists wilt in the face of fact and logic and talk radio callers kill them with it.
So, why bring it up? Well, if you're a talk radio fan you need to know just how the left intends to destroy their nemesis. They can't succeed in the talk radio arena, so it must be destroyed. Basically, they have two game plans. Plan A is to use the regulatory police power of government to harass talk radio into submission. Plan B is to attack on the basis of political correctness.
To learn more about Plan A, just go to my "Democrats' Secret Plan for America" essay at http://www.boortz.com/demsecrets.htm (linked at the top of this page).
But what about Plan B? Here's where we encounter the leftist phrase "hate radio." Liberals know that that confrontation with conservative and libertarian talk show hosts on the actual issues is a no-win situation. The solution? Ignore the factual and logical basis behind the opinions expressed by these talk show hosts and attack those opinions as expressions of hate.
Liberals know that most people, conservatives and liberals alike, don't like people who hate. Hate is a negative emotion, one to be avoided. If you can take the argumentative points made by your political opponent and successfully brand them as expressions of hate, then you have won the argument. You win not by presenting a better, more rational argument. Nor do you win by pointing out factual errors. You win by turning our natural aversion to the emotion of hate against your opponent.
Over the past months I guess I've read a dozen or more articles about the evil of right-wing "hate radio." There is one common thread that runs through all of these articles. Not one of them not one actually sets forth an opinion expressed by one libertarian or conservative talk show host to show just how that specific opinion constitutes "hate speech." The issue is ignored. Facts are ignored. No counterpoints are offered.
One tactic one tactic only. The conservative talk show host is spouting hate speech and should, on that basis and that basis alone, be discredited and ignored.
There are now leftist websites dedicated to fighting "hate radio." One such website calls it "hatecasting." Pretty catchy, huh?
There are organized campaigns to convince advertisers that they don't really want their advertisements running next to a hate-filled diatribe from some hate-filled talk show host on some hate radio station, do they now?
Leftists are determined to regain the total domination and control that they believe is their birthright in Washington. They can't sit back and watch the fascist-socialist movement they believe in die just because some libertarians and conservatives are allowed to freely express opinions on the nation's federally controlled airwaves.
A few races going the wrong way this fall could give them the chance they're dying for the chance to destroy talk radio.
You should have read the "hate Rush" posts from the BushBots. They just didn't get it. Rush is good. He's very good.
They're playing right into the liberal hands. Boycotts and everything. No kidding!
(Liberals are little people with a Napolian complex.)
Uh-Oh! Then you better not look at my statements about "Dr." Laura.
He will jump up on his little soap box, expand his puny little chest and procede to bore everybody to death with meaningless whining about the same old boring lies that are still the standard for the Dumb-O-Crats.
The people who already listen to talk radio are already aware of and immune to the left's "hate" tactic which, despite its ineffectiveness, has been in wide use for decades now.
People who dislike talk radio -- and there are many such -- are also not greatly influenced when the Left affixes the "hate" label, primarily because it's now used so casually that they ignore it.
The only people for whom "hate" is effective are leftists or other disaffected folks, most of whom are not going to listen to -- much less be influenced by -- talk radio anyway.
With this column Boortz is demonstrating something that is damaging to conservatives and to talk radio: the declaration that the other side is "the enemy," whereby political differences are no longer something to be discussed and dismissed, but where instead "the left" is accused of a nefarious plot against talk radio.
In addition to being silly, this shifts the debate away from the real issues, where leftists invariably lose, to the leftists themselves. Ironically, Boortz has tilted the battle the left's favor, as their expertise in victimology allows them to apply the "hate" label.
When Boortz begins making these wild-eyed personal accusations, I begin to feel sorry for the poor schmuck who has to clean the spit off his microphone. That's the sort of thing the left can use to make the "hate" label stick.
I'm pretty sure they tried this when Rush started getting popular. It was the "Hush Rush" idea. I remember Katy Couric on the edge of her seat , desperately trying to convince someone that it was only "fair" to make radio station give liberals enough time to convince everyone not to be conservative. That only helped prove to me how biased the media was. I never trusted her (or the others) even a little bit after that.
Now, no issue-oriented show can get Fortune 500 sponsors. Rush has a huge audience - but crappy sponsors. Dr. Laura still has a huge radio audience - but her former Fortune 500 sponsors are all gone.
The Left is now a victim of its earlier success!
Explains:
I do like Hightower -- I don't really consider him liberal
Maybe you're not completey off the campgrounds yet.
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