I am not entirely shocked by Olbermann's departure from MSNBC this week. The timing is perplexing, but not so much the thought that Olbermann would be leaving. The writing, so to speak, was on the wall.
Another reason that it was not a shock is because it backs up my belief that establishing Progressive voices and a Progressive media infrastructure in this Country seems almost impossible. This has been the case for the past few decades. It is difficult for Progressive media to really take root.
I suspect that part of the reason for Olbermann's difficulty...and the problem with MSNBC as a whole has to do with the fact that it is hard to embark on a truth-telling enterprise using a purely corporate for-profit model. There are too many divergent and conflicting viewpoints & interests among stakeholders, which guarantees the butting of heads.
The Olbermann fiasco also exposes what most who have been paying attention already knew.... but exposes it for more to see - that there is a clear double standard in news/political media in this Country. Progressives and even Centrists (like most at CNN) are held to one standard, while Fox News, and Conservative talk radio (collectively the Republican media) is held to a completely different standard. In an organization like MSNBC/NBC (and now Comcast)... There is no loyalty to truth... all loyalty is reserved for shareholders. At NBC, there are so many different people to answer to. The ideology of board members, the company President, VP's, Department managers, executive producers etc, may not match up with the world view of the host. In fact, I would venture to guess that many of those higher ups are Republicans. So it is hard to create the conditions for good synergy. The experiment was doomed from the start. This is the fundamental cause of the double standard. This is why everything that a Keith Olbermann, a Rick Sanchez , a Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz...or any other Progressive host says is examined down to the atom level. Company execs are overly sensitive about everything and are in a constant state of paranoia, because they don't want to get in trouble with shareholders or with the bullies of the media - the Right wing Republican media- which dominates the airwaves.
Progressives like Keith Olbermann are sent packing (often fired immediately) for minor - even trivial - issues, while Fox and Conservative talk radio hosts are allowed to make the most outlandish, ugly, racist & offensive comments as a matter of routine...and are allowed to stick around. Why? Because at Fox and with AM radio, the synergy is impressive. Everyone from Rupert Murdoch to Roger Ailes, and the executive producers down to the hosts are, more often than not, generally on the same page ideologically. Everyone has bought into the belief system of the organization. All of the stakeholders support the mission.
This double standard puts Progressive media at a distinct disadvantage. This is why there should be an effort to build Progressive media from the ground up. Progressives need their own media infrastructure that does not leave those like Keith Olbermann (and his supporters) beholden to the interests of a corporation.
Countdown was one of the few political news programs that I really enjoyed watching on a regular basis. Although I would prefer to see something more along the lines of a 60 minutes... (call me old school). We need more serious, trusted, investigative reporting. But I enjoyed Keith Olbermann's contribution.
I have a funny feeling that he won't be the only host leaving. When you get rid of the Captain of the ship.... the man who had the top political program in the line-up... well that to me is an indication that the execs at NBC may be looking at other changes. Part of it may be a reaction to the results of the November elections. MSNBC is one of those networks that reshapes itself based on the changing winds. Again... it goes back to the corporate business model... there is nothing that drives any ideological belief system..no mission based on values like honor, truth, etc... the only belief system driving these cable networks is the belief system of making money.
Here are his final remarks on Countdown. According to whispers on the twittersphere.... he may be interested in going back into sports broadcasting..... wow. Interesting. But I can't say I would blame him if he did decide to go back into sports. The American voting public is a source of disappointment & hopelessness for me... not to mention the politicians who are supposed to serve in the public interests. I can definitely see why people would want to get out of politics.
Showing posts with label Keith Olbermann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Keith Olbermann. Show all posts
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Keith Olbermann's Commentary on Shirley Sherrod
Keith Olbermann nailed it with this commentary. Definitely one of the best he has ever done.
As I mentioned in my earlier comments, this is not just an issue of race. Race, in my view, should not necessarily be the focus of discussion. We don't need another race dabate. To be honest, they just don't do much. We have had that debate half a dozen times (or more) since Obama announced his run for the Presidency. What the nation should really be focused on is the obscene level of power held by Republican right wing media. This is something that I have blogged/written about probably dozens of times and it is the focus of my sidebar commentary, written a couple of years ago. I tried to warn people about just how big of a threat right wing media is.
The right wing media is simply the communications department for the Republican political machine. They have a very specific political agenda. Telling the truth and presenting actual news is not part of their program. It is a behemoth that is so powerful that when they tell Democrats - especially the Obama Administration - to jump, the Obama Administration asks how high? In my warning about Conservative media, I explain what their aims are... and that the playbook is an open secret.
The national mainstream media seems to ignore this information imbalance. No one wants to look into why Republican right wing media is allowed to control so much of the national debate. No one wants to look deeper into how Faux news (Radio Rwanda) is allowed to set the tone... by creating a certain narrative, and why mainstream media accepts their narrative as a legitimate starting point for their own reporting. Basically they take the Fox News narrative and they run with it...often without verifying information. Keep in mind, Fox News is, for all practical purposes, a propaganda operation. Fox News is so far removed from legitimate journalism that it's like night and day. In other words, legitimate news organizations have little reason to trust Fox News the way that they have been. Fox hasn't done the kind of reporting that deserves such a high level of trust. So the way that other networks parrot Fox (and other right wing outlets) is just incomprehensible to me. Furthermore, it's equally troubling how other networks fall over themselves to provide a platform for Republican right wing propaganda pundits, many of whom have little to no credibility. To make matters worse, these pundits are often unchallenged when they appear on the more legitimate networks. So what we have today is a situation where mainstream media is complicit in the misinforming and dumbing down of Americans. They have been co-opted by Republicans and used for propaganda purposes. This leaves a social/political environment where it is very difficult for a robust countervailing view to grow and challenge Conservative opinion.
I have been sounding the alarm on this for a few years now. The dangers of Conservative media are real. We just had another domestic terrorist attack thwarted this week, this time in California... although it didn't make it as a top story on most networks (perhaps because this has become so common). But the suspect was another Terrorist & Tea Party nut angry about left-leaning politics. Read more here, here and here. He opened fire on police on a California freeway after realizing he was caught. Luckily this terrorist was stopped after a long shootout before he could carry out any mass killings. But can you guess what fueled him? (Check the links above).
What we are in the midst of right now is an ideological war for the hearts and minds of Americans. It's a fight for the soul of the Country. Within that war is an information/PR battle. While President Obama shut down his campaign and his communications/PR war room... the Republicans never did. Republicans never ended their campaign after 2008, they simply changed its focus. Instead of running on a platform (as if they ever had one) or asking for votes, they shifted the focus to discrediting Obama, delegitimizing his Presidency, framing him as un-American, as an outsider, as dangerous, weak on security, etc. Republican/right wing media is in an all out war against President Obama, on two fronts. One is an information/image war... the other focuses on Policy (political obstruction, so that he is seen as a failure).
The kind of misinformation campaigns being waged right now... are, in many respects, similar to the kind of nonsense the CIA was doing 30 years ago in Countries around the world to confuse/mislead local populations, by putting out media stories favorable to the U.S., etc. The corporate PR companies today use some of those same strategies. The only difference now is that the tactics are being used against American citizens.
Progressives are at a disadvantage, because they have no media infrastructure that can match what is coming out of Conservative media. The right is just too powerful when it comes to media dominance. It's just not a fair fight. And this is occurring at a time when we have a President who has become synonymous with the term 'PR disaster'. If the White House had a strong war room, had strong PR people, a President who was more engaged and in tune with what is happening on Main Street, someone controlling his image...who has his back, a team of brilliant advisors providing the best guidance & information, then the Democrats and this President would be in a better position to combat the right wing media. But none of these things exist in this White House in my opinion. There is no PR/media war room. If there is one.. they are incompetent...and those running it should be fired immediately. There are no strong PR people. If he has them, they should be fired tomorrow. If the President is engaged...and in tune with the Country, then I don't see it. I have been a serious observer of politics for 20 years...this is one of the worst Administrations in recent memory when it comes to basic situational awareness. How in the Hell do you go to Maine for vacation while the folks in the Gulf are still suffering and are struggling to keep their hotels and restaurants open, struggling to make their rent, struggling to save their livelihoods -and AFTER you encouraged Americans to go and spend money? Yeah.... we all need a vacation every now and then, but sometimes the Captain of the ship has to lead... especially on a ship that is taking on water. If you can't vacation in the Gulf, at least put off your vacation until things settle down....just out of respect for those who are suffering. If you must have a vacation... send the First Lady and the kids.... while you stay in Washington. This is about leadership folks. A walking PR disaster indeed.
If he has someone in charge of image... they should be fired forthwith. If President Obama has brilliant advisors... they have been giving the him terrible advice, at least on the image/PR front. We have had 747's flying over Manhattan for photo ops scaring the daylights out of New Yorkers (beyond comprehension in a post 9/11 World), the White House not responding to attacks from the right (even ridiculous lies), Van Jones & others being forced out, the President commenting on issues that he should not have commented on..at least without knowing all the facts, the lack of a clear plan...and the huge absence of at least the image of the President attempting to create jobs & alleviate the problem of unemployment....instead he is out playing Golf, the bungling of the PR response to the Gulf oil spill, the bungling of Gitmo, using horrible strategy in the Healthcare debate, allowing the right to dictate his foreign policy, reaching out to Republicans...even working to water down legislation for them just to be fooled in the end with the knowledge that they were never going to sign on to his policies, and generally looking weak as a man and as a President. Now enter Shirley Sherrod. This is perhaps the most breathtaking of all of the PR debacles thus far. This is one for the history books. It will take me quite a while to wrap my brain around this. But it basically encapsulates, in one event, all of these PR weaknesses...and all the examples of incompetence.
This whole situation is a perfect example of why Progressives need to establish their own PR/media infrastructure. If they don't, they will continue to struggle with Conservative media for years. The right will continue to poison the airwaves and threaten livelihoods, and they will continue to win elections when they shouldn't.
But Progressives have been slow to respond. This week, for the first time, I heard at least two major Progressive commentators acknowledge what I stated years ago... that we are in the midst of an ideological war for the hearts and minds of Americans. There has finally been an acknowledgment that there is an ongoing, well orchestrated PR war against President Obama and Progressive politics. Maybe this incident was the wake-up call that Progressives needed. It took years just to get to a point where this could be acknowledged. Unfortunately I didn't hear many calls for the establishment of a robust Progressive media infrastructure to rival the Republican machine (not by telling lies...but simply by telling the truth...doing real journalism). And yes, I support bringing back the Fairness Doctrine.
The most effective antidote for the madness that we are seeing today in the U.S., is a well informed electorate. There are other things that I believe must be done as well as part of reaching that goal.... such as requiring a certain amount of civics education, global education, geography, World history, political science, constitutional studies, etc... in all schools, public and private. It should be Federal Law. But the end goal should be a well informed electorate. This is what new media could help to accomplish.
The sooner Americans wake up to what KO, I & others are saying on this... the better.
As I mentioned in my earlier comments, this is not just an issue of race. Race, in my view, should not necessarily be the focus of discussion. We don't need another race dabate. To be honest, they just don't do much. We have had that debate half a dozen times (or more) since Obama announced his run for the Presidency. What the nation should really be focused on is the obscene level of power held by Republican right wing media. This is something that I have blogged/written about probably dozens of times and it is the focus of my sidebar commentary, written a couple of years ago. I tried to warn people about just how big of a threat right wing media is.
The right wing media is simply the communications department for the Republican political machine. They have a very specific political agenda. Telling the truth and presenting actual news is not part of their program. It is a behemoth that is so powerful that when they tell Democrats - especially the Obama Administration - to jump, the Obama Administration asks how high? In my warning about Conservative media, I explain what their aims are... and that the playbook is an open secret.
The national mainstream media seems to ignore this information imbalance. No one wants to look into why Republican right wing media is allowed to control so much of the national debate. No one wants to look deeper into how Faux news (Radio Rwanda) is allowed to set the tone... by creating a certain narrative, and why mainstream media accepts their narrative as a legitimate starting point for their own reporting. Basically they take the Fox News narrative and they run with it...often without verifying information. Keep in mind, Fox News is, for all practical purposes, a propaganda operation. Fox News is so far removed from legitimate journalism that it's like night and day. In other words, legitimate news organizations have little reason to trust Fox News the way that they have been. Fox hasn't done the kind of reporting that deserves such a high level of trust. So the way that other networks parrot Fox (and other right wing outlets) is just incomprehensible to me. Furthermore, it's equally troubling how other networks fall over themselves to provide a platform for Republican right wing propaganda pundits, many of whom have little to no credibility. To make matters worse, these pundits are often unchallenged when they appear on the more legitimate networks. So what we have today is a situation where mainstream media is complicit in the misinforming and dumbing down of Americans. They have been co-opted by Republicans and used for propaganda purposes. This leaves a social/political environment where it is very difficult for a robust countervailing view to grow and challenge Conservative opinion.
I have been sounding the alarm on this for a few years now. The dangers of Conservative media are real. We just had another domestic terrorist attack thwarted this week, this time in California... although it didn't make it as a top story on most networks (perhaps because this has become so common). But the suspect was another Terrorist & Tea Party nut angry about left-leaning politics. Read more here, here and here. He opened fire on police on a California freeway after realizing he was caught. Luckily this terrorist was stopped after a long shootout before he could carry out any mass killings. But can you guess what fueled him? (Check the links above).
What we are in the midst of right now is an ideological war for the hearts and minds of Americans. It's a fight for the soul of the Country. Within that war is an information/PR battle. While President Obama shut down his campaign and his communications/PR war room... the Republicans never did. Republicans never ended their campaign after 2008, they simply changed its focus. Instead of running on a platform (as if they ever had one) or asking for votes, they shifted the focus to discrediting Obama, delegitimizing his Presidency, framing him as un-American, as an outsider, as dangerous, weak on security, etc. Republican/right wing media is in an all out war against President Obama, on two fronts. One is an information/image war... the other focuses on Policy (political obstruction, so that he is seen as a failure).
The kind of misinformation campaigns being waged right now... are, in many respects, similar to the kind of nonsense the CIA was doing 30 years ago in Countries around the world to confuse/mislead local populations, by putting out media stories favorable to the U.S., etc. The corporate PR companies today use some of those same strategies. The only difference now is that the tactics are being used against American citizens.
Progressives are at a disadvantage, because they have no media infrastructure that can match what is coming out of Conservative media. The right is just too powerful when it comes to media dominance. It's just not a fair fight. And this is occurring at a time when we have a President who has become synonymous with the term 'PR disaster'. If the White House had a strong war room, had strong PR people, a President who was more engaged and in tune with what is happening on Main Street, someone controlling his image...who has his back, a team of brilliant advisors providing the best guidance & information, then the Democrats and this President would be in a better position to combat the right wing media. But none of these things exist in this White House in my opinion. There is no PR/media war room. If there is one.. they are incompetent...and those running it should be fired immediately. There are no strong PR people. If he has them, they should be fired tomorrow. If the President is engaged...and in tune with the Country, then I don't see it. I have been a serious observer of politics for 20 years...this is one of the worst Administrations in recent memory when it comes to basic situational awareness. How in the Hell do you go to Maine for vacation while the folks in the Gulf are still suffering and are struggling to keep their hotels and restaurants open, struggling to make their rent, struggling to save their livelihoods -and AFTER you encouraged Americans to go and spend money? Yeah.... we all need a vacation every now and then, but sometimes the Captain of the ship has to lead... especially on a ship that is taking on water. If you can't vacation in the Gulf, at least put off your vacation until things settle down....just out of respect for those who are suffering. If you must have a vacation... send the First Lady and the kids.... while you stay in Washington. This is about leadership folks. A walking PR disaster indeed.
If he has someone in charge of image... they should be fired forthwith. If President Obama has brilliant advisors... they have been giving the him terrible advice, at least on the image/PR front. We have had 747's flying over Manhattan for photo ops scaring the daylights out of New Yorkers (beyond comprehension in a post 9/11 World), the White House not responding to attacks from the right (even ridiculous lies), Van Jones & others being forced out, the President commenting on issues that he should not have commented on..at least without knowing all the facts, the lack of a clear plan...and the huge absence of at least the image of the President attempting to create jobs & alleviate the problem of unemployment....instead he is out playing Golf, the bungling of the PR response to the Gulf oil spill, the bungling of Gitmo, using horrible strategy in the Healthcare debate, allowing the right to dictate his foreign policy, reaching out to Republicans...even working to water down legislation for them just to be fooled in the end with the knowledge that they were never going to sign on to his policies, and generally looking weak as a man and as a President. Now enter Shirley Sherrod. This is perhaps the most breathtaking of all of the PR debacles thus far. This is one for the history books. It will take me quite a while to wrap my brain around this. But it basically encapsulates, in one event, all of these PR weaknesses...and all the examples of incompetence.
This whole situation is a perfect example of why Progressives need to establish their own PR/media infrastructure. If they don't, they will continue to struggle with Conservative media for years. The right will continue to poison the airwaves and threaten livelihoods, and they will continue to win elections when they shouldn't.
But Progressives have been slow to respond. This week, for the first time, I heard at least two major Progressive commentators acknowledge what I stated years ago... that we are in the midst of an ideological war for the hearts and minds of Americans. There has finally been an acknowledgment that there is an ongoing, well orchestrated PR war against President Obama and Progressive politics. Maybe this incident was the wake-up call that Progressives needed. It took years just to get to a point where this could be acknowledged. Unfortunately I didn't hear many calls for the establishment of a robust Progressive media infrastructure to rival the Republican machine (not by telling lies...but simply by telling the truth...doing real journalism). And yes, I support bringing back the Fairness Doctrine.
The most effective antidote for the madness that we are seeing today in the U.S., is a well informed electorate. There are other things that I believe must be done as well as part of reaching that goal.... such as requiring a certain amount of civics education, global education, geography, World history, political science, constitutional studies, etc... in all schools, public and private. It should be Federal Law. But the end goal should be a well informed electorate. This is what new media could help to accomplish.
The sooner Americans wake up to what KO, I & others are saying on this... the better.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against GOP to Stop Passed Health Care
From Denny: This was to be expected from the Party of No Conscience. Their latest dirty dealing from the army of lobbyist lawyers was to try and find some arcane detail to call the health bill null and void "as Social Security might be affected and Social Security is not allowed to be addressed with reconciliation." Find out the latest GOP efforts to derail the health care bill that was passed by the House Sunday. By the time the public gets through with all this health care media coverage all of us will be well versed in our national law governing the House and Senate. Pass law school and go directly into your law practice. :)
Keith Olbermann rips these guys to shreds, shining a light onto the true perspective and reality of their silly efforts.
Obama Makes History with Health Care Reform
Now what can we expect from this new health care bill? How long will it take for new changes to reach the public? How much will change?
Hate speech directed at House members by other House members and protestors. What is this? A 1960 retread of running the gauntlet?
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
Keith Olbermann rips these guys to shreds, shining a light onto the true perspective and reality of their silly efforts.
Obama Makes History with Health Care Reform
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Now what can we expect from this new health care bill? How long will it take for new changes to reach the public? How much will change?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Hate speech directed at House members by other House members and protestors. What is this? A 1960 retread of running the gauntlet?
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Father
Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Struggle with Father and Healthcare.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Carrie Prejean: Woman of Many Talents
@Moderator: We here at Future Twits have an exclusive interview with Keith Olbermann and Carrie Prejean about the discovery of Carrie's sexy sex tape earlier this year.
@Moderator: Carrie, lets start out with you. You've admitted earlier this year that you made a sex tape for your boyfriend when you were a teenager. Does this seem to be keeping with the moral values that you publicly espoused during the beauty pageant?
@MissCalifornication: Um, I would answer that, but I really, really, have to go to the bathroom.
@Moderator: It's all that water you drank in the car, I guess.@MissCalifornication: Yeah . . . something like that. I just need to . . . hey, does that laptop have a webcam?
@Moderator: Yes, I guess it does. I'm not sure why that's important though.
@MissCalifornication: Thanks! I'll be about 10 minutes.
@Moderator: Wait! My computer! Open the door!
@FatIdiot: With her gone, maybe we can talk about that tape! Have you see it? Good old "two fingered Girl Scout salute", eh?
@Moderator: First off Keith, I don't watch child porn and think anyone who does, including you if you saw the tape, is sick. Second, you're a misogynistic jerk, ESPECIALLY for your girl scout salute and all of the things that shows about what you think about women. Third, why do you care? It's a personal matter between her, God, and her boyfriend at the time. She did the same thing that probably 48 out of the other 49 contestants have done/will do, and I don't see anyone digging up their old boyfriends to look for sleaze. The only reason you or anyone else even found out about it is because she said something politically incorrect.
@FatIdiot: But, she's a HYPOCRITE. I mean, voicing her opinion about moral matters that way and then making a sex tape . . .
@Moderator: Listen, Dough Boy, everyone is a hypocrite when you come right down to it. Liberals love to throw that word around, but they are some of the biggest hypocrites of all. They talk about love and accepting people who live and think differently from you, yet when a public figure says something that they don't like, they try collectively to destroy that person. Sound like hypocrisy to me. Also, you've let so many of your own kind slide on personal morality, even after they made judgements about the personal morality of others (Letterman vs. Bristol Palin, for example), that I think you can let one of the opposition slide.
@FatIdiot: She wasn't that hot anyway.
@Moderator: Keith, let's face it, she's hotter than any girl you've ever been with that hasn't (probably) been with you because of your fame and money. You're fat, loud, obnoxious, and you always have a look on your face like you need to take a number two right this minute. Get over it.
@MissCalifornication: I'm done in there. Now, when you delete something off the hard drive on a computer, it's gone forever, isn't it?
@Moderator: Um . . . yeah, sure it is. Do you know what the recycling bin is?
@MissCalifornia: The what?
@Moderator: Yeah, just leave it on the table. I'll have Maxim . . . I mean the Geek Squad look at it to make sure everything is gone
(10,000$ here I come!!!)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Keith Olbermann -- Worst Person on Television
Ah, Keith Olbermann. I hesitate to call him a prick (it's part of a man) or a douchebag (it has a good chance of being close to a woman), but I have to call him . . . something.
In any case, Future Twits has been honored with an exclusive interview from this faggy momma's boy. Enjoy.
@Moderator: We here at Future Twits are very privileged to have Keith Olbermann with us today in the studio.
@PhatSnob: I hate Bill-O
@Moderator: Hold on there, Slick! Let me start out by asking you a question. One of the staples of your program every week is a segment called “The Worst Person in the World” where you name different people that have done things that you disapprove of during that week and then post their picture and a short description of why you think that they're such a bad person, correct?
@PhatSnob: I hate Rush Limbaugh.
@Moderator: That's nice. Now, my question to you is this: you don't literally mean that these people are the “worst people in the world”, do you? I mean, if I was going to make a list of the three worst people in the world, I'm pretty sure that no one that you've ever mentioned in any of your segments would be on there. Even though I don't agree with all of the politics of people like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, George Bush, etc., I still think that they're probably okay people in real life; and they certainly don't count as among the world's worst three people – probably not even in the top 100.
@PhatSnob: I hate Bush-wacker.
@Moderator: Right. Got that already. So . . . my list of world's worst people would include dictators like Kim Jong Il, Robert Mugabe, and Omar Hassan al-Bashir – all of whom have let millions of their own citizens starve to death for political reasons. After them, I might throw some ordinary criminals onto the list, like serial killers or child molesters. I might even be tempted to throw on a few people like Bernard Madoff, who stole billions and ruined thousands of people's lives. But, even there, I would feel a little bit inhibited because I don't know these people like God does.
@PhatSnob: God! That's another of the worlds worst people . . . if he existed, that is.
@Moderator: Uh huh. Let me ask you something, KO. Do you have brain damage by any chance? You seem very prone to outburst, and it's one of the classical signs of head trauma.
@PhatSnob: *sob It's true! I was at a gay parade, and I got my head stepped on by a big burly from Vermont.
@Moderator: Wait, how did you get your head stepped on . . . actually, don't answer that. I don't think that I want to know.
@Moderator: KO, don't you think your rhetoric might be a bit over the top though? Except for the small contingent of hard core lesbians that watch your show every night, I doubt that the the rest of the small audience that you have really appreciates that level of exaggeration – which might be the reason MSNBC is losing ground so quickly to Fox and CNN.
@PhatSnob: I hate everyone who has children, or loves Jesus, or . . .
@Moderator: You know what? I'm just going to put you out of your misery right now, KO. Someone get the phenobarbital and vodka!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Tolerance Is Becoming Intolerance
Modern America preaches the value of tolerance. This says you have the right to your opinion, and I have the right to mine. We can agree to disagree. While this level of tolerance for all viewpoints has never been completely achieved, those on the left certainly preach it when they are vilifying those who hold traditional values, and attempt to label them as intolerant. In recent years, and culminating in the election of Barack Obama, we are entering a new era where you have only the right to agree with the modern liberal view, or else be ostracized as an extremist.
Upon Obama's election, he promised to usher in a new era of post-partisan politics. No more conservative and liberal -- just hope. On abortion, he said he wanted to move past the tired old politics. Translation: he wants to repeal all restrictions on abortion, but expects pro-life supporters to drop their disagreements and support him. Obama said it's no longer about whether government is too big or too small, it's about how effective it is. In reality, Obama has ushered in the largest expansion of federal government in any 100-day period in United States history. This period of censorship of disagreement goes well beyond Obama to many of the liberal elites.
Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano joined the thought police by allowing her department to issue a report labeling any person holding a conservative political viewpoint a potential terrorist. This is the same Department of Homeland Security that said from now on, terrorism will be called man-caused disasters. Napolitano will tolerate Islamic terrorists, yet she has no tolerance for pro-life individuals. People who favor a smaller federal government are considered dangerous enemies of the state. This type of discrimination against opposing viewpoints is becoming rampant in our society.
American "enemies of the state" took to the streets to show their support for fiscal responsibility by attending tea parties. Because this view was not approved by the liberal elites, these protesters were mocked incessantly on CNN, NBC and CBS. The worst case of disdain for tea party participants came from Janeane Garofalo. Speaking on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," she said, "Let's be very honest about what this is about. They have no idea what the Boston Tea party was about. They don't know their history at all. It's about hating a black man in the White House.This is racism straight up and is nothing but a bunch of teabagging rednecks. There is no way around that." Garofalo proceeded to claim that conservatives suffer from a mental disorder. None of this was refuted in any way by host Keith Olbermann. Evidently, hate speech is only allowed when it is against Christians or conservatives. There are allegations that the FBI was spying on these very peaceful demonstrations.
Another example of this suppression of traditional thought occurred at the Miss USA pageant. Celebrity judge Perez Hilton, a famous gay blogger, asked Miss California if she supported gay marriage. She very politely and graciously said that is up to the different states but she personally opposes it. The Miss USA contest strongly disagreed with Miss California's position, and after the show Perez Hilton launched a diatribe calling the young lady a "dumb B" and later called her the C-word. These hateful attacks would certainly be repudiated if it were a conservative saying them. However, Perez Hilton and his far-left cohorts are free to say whatever they want as long as they are attacking conservatives.
This same principle applies as the left pushes the fairness doctrine and attempts to pass hate-speech laws that will silence Bible-believing Christians. If you disagree with them, then you have no right to speak your beliefs.
America is founded on the principles that all men are created equal and have inalienable rights protected by our Constitution. These rights and protections are what separate our free society from authoritarian governments that have no constraints on government power. Yet Alexis de Tocqueville warned about coercion of thought in his classic book, "Democracy of America." He cautions us, saying that democracies can become even more oppressive than other forms of government when conformity is pushed in the culture. This conformity is being shoved on our society at an alarming rate. Christians and people who hold conservative viewpoints are demonized and mocked in schools, in the media and now by the Dept. of Homeland Security and the Obama administration. Those who hold traditional viewpoints had better speak out; otherwise, in the near future they may be forced to keep their lips zipped.
WRITTEN by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown and published by Townhall.com on May 1st, 2009 and viewable by clicking on the title of this posting.
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