Sunday, July 26, 2009

The Influence of Anger

Reading the hate filled and angry bile in the Enquirer's comments sections has really baffled me. I watched Moyers Journal the other night and all was made clear. I don't listen to talk radio. Can't stand it. Air America was horrible. The local college show, Explore Cincinnati is ok - at least they don't yell and harrangue. I am too cheap to pay for Fox News and CNN on cable (I get "Lifeline" service from Time Warner) so I was unaware of what people like Glenn Beck, Mike Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Oreilly and that ilk were up to. It appears people are just picking up on these goons and aping their style of talking. It's kinda like teenage "wiggers" emulating the speech of popular rappers. Childish, to be sure, but when you look at the antics of the local right wingers on the COA T & HamCoGOP blogs, the old Whistleblower and the quotes from Tea Baggers, you can see you are not dealing with a very mature lot. When you see these people gaining political clout it can make you feel like you are living in a Lord of the Flies sorta world.
What Moyers points out is that people are acting on what the announcers defend as "entertainment". This is like my reader actually building a zombie shelter. I can't imagine that happening but hopefully, if he does, it will prove useful for him when his mother in law comes to stay.

PBS Moyers story, "Rage on the Airwaves", here

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