What is Digg?553 Comments
- MercyPolitics, on 11/21/2008, -33/+183Bill Moyers: One of the last real journalists left ( with Dan Rather). It is too bad that most Americans do not watch great programs like the ones on PBS. Great post, thanks.
- Anomaly100, on 11/21/2008, -16/+138Savage reaches more than 8 and a quarter million listeners! That is even more pathetic than his tired verbiage. These guys should have a toilet lever on their jaw to keep flushing the crap out. I don't get how there are so many people that listen to this garbage they are spewing. I'm was almost sick when I read this regarding the Katrina victims:
"That wasn't the cries of the downtrodden. That's the cries of the useless, the worthless. New Orleans was a welfare city, a city of parasites, a city of people who could not, and had no desire to fend for themselves. You have a hurricane descending on them and they sit on their fat asses and wait for somebody else to come rescue them."
New Orleans is my home town, where I was raised. My entire family's homes were wiped out except my mother's (yay Mom!) According to him, they're parasites. At the very least, folks in NO have spirit and tenacity beyond belief, but these guys wouldn't understand something that isn't hateful.
I know they are exercising their freedom of speech and I get that, but isn't their a point where violence and hatred is instigated and someone should be held responsible. Freedom of Speech, yes, but shouldn't we be responsible with such powerful rights?
Jews, Muslims, blacks, whites, liberal, poor, welfare, successful, it doesn't matter, they hate everyone. Sorry I was lengthy but indifference is almost impossible when I'm this pissed off. - thepoliticalcat, on 11/21/2008, -23/+114People who listen to hate radio will NEVER read, look at, or listen to anything that interrupts their frothing venomous hate with a touch f sunshine and clean air.
- JenniferInMO, on 11/21/2008, -13/+81I saw this when it first aired. I wish people who listen to hate radio would watch this. I'm not sure it would do much good, but they need to know how they are being played emotionally and taken to the extreme.
- thejimmyo, on 11/22/2008, -9/+73Video here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09122008/watch.h ... - sarahlee, on 11/21/2008, -18/+74I thought that was a great program. Probably will need reposting from time to time.
- Zera, on 11/22/2008, -6/+53I think the best defense against "hate" speech is education. I'm not sure what else we can do, but CENSORSHIP is the
- peheimbach, on 11/22/2008, -17/+62My wife came home from church one Sunday (just before elections) and related that her pastor had expressed deep frustration that his words didn't seem to be 'hitting home,' that he felt like he was talking to brick walls. (FWIW, this is a pretty hip, large, young church, supposedly known for its "spiritual vibrancy" ... the pastor's pretty ballsy and straight-up .. church usually tries, at least officially, to practice what it preaches.)
I eMailed him the next day and suggested he ask two questions (essentially that he probe for a list of reich-wing haters I pitched, and then how much time his flock spent listening to that list.)
Next Sunday, he actually asked,
"How many in this service (they do three) listen to right-wing talk radio for more than an hour a week?" (Show of hands.) Two hours? Four hours? ... On up to twenty, where he stopped. The wife says that about 5% of hands were still up. She's not real sure, but feels that a third of hands were up in the beginning.
Don't know what the results of the other services were, and haven't talked to him since then, but based on his remarks the next Sunday, as passed along to me, I think he found his answer, or at least part of it.
Folks used to count on an hour or two one a day a week of preaching, mass, whatever, to "mould their souls."
Now that hour a day is overwhelmed by hours of hate and ignorance.
I still wonder how many of those who raised their hands that day saw the irony in what they were doing. - Zera, on 11/22/2008, -2/+45worst possible path. It's the active discussion of these topics, especially when stirred up in a powerful piece like this that ultimately defeat "hate" speech.
(no idea why it only posted half my comment) - jessehadden, on 11/22/2008, -0/+38"I was reminded of a story from folk lore about the tribal elder telling his grandson about the battle the old man was waging within himself. He said, 'My son it is between two wolves. One is an evil wolf: anger, envy, sorrow, greed, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is the good wolf: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.' The boy took this in for a few minutes and then asked, 'Which wolf won?' His grandfather answered, 'The one I feed.'"
- Shiloah, on 11/22/2008, -15/+49Sad thing is, many talk-radio devotees are so jaded they don't even know their listening is an exercise in hate.
- seltaeb4, on 11/22/2008, -5/+33Here's something interesting about Michael Savage (whose real surname is Weiner.)
I live out in the SF Bay Area where he got his start in the early-mid 1990s. He started as a part-time fill-in host on KGO radio, and sat in when the true talent had vacation, was sick, etc. He was moderate to liberal on everything. He didn't scream or say anything outrageous. In all of KGO's printed newsletters, he had his face concealed by a hat—the wheels were already turning as to how he could make a name for himself. He didn't want to be recognized, physically or otherwise, as the liberal-to-moderate he is before he launched his career as a right-wing shock jock.
He had figured out he could make a mint by screaming and spewing sewage, and that's just what he started doing. He doesn't believe any of the crap he spews; but having seen Limbaugh's career arc, he decided to jump on the gravy train. Telling a bunch of ignorant idiots that they are brilliant is the easiest money to be made on earth. If there are so many millions of gullible mouth-breathers out there, he figured, why should he miss out?
The funny thing is the rubes who tune in and buy his books gobble up his ***** like it was oatmeal, brown sugar and cream. He's no doubt laughing his ass off every night at the mouth-breathers who worship him while he counts their money. - woodsjransom, on 11/21/2008, -29/+55Radio is a HUGE medium in the South. Hmmmm
- Delphium226, on 11/22/2008, -9/+35Turns out Bush did a fine job of humiliating himself.
- mikeymondavi, on 11/22/2008, -4/+29And who decides if it's hate speech? The majority? The minority? Like it or not, no one has a right to not be offended or insulted. Once you start saying it's ok to ban one type of speech, it's perfectly ok to ban another, no matter what the point of view is. Where does that lead in the end?
- cutcopy, on 11/22/2008, -14/+38Isn't Christianity supposed to be about loving your fellow man?
Bill O'Reilly keeps spewing out his perpetual message of hate and still has the nerve to call Jesus "his guy".
I'm an atheist but sometimes I wish there was a God because the hate mongers of the religious right would get what's coming to them. - palehorse864, on 11/22/2008, -10/+33Radio is a HUGE medium in the North. Hmmmm
- inactive, on 11/22/2008, -0/+18....it becomes the internet.
- MunkeyPirate, on 11/22/2008, -4/+22It amazes me the amount of broad generalizations and even just plain hatred of people with opposing views on Digg.
You say, "The right/left are a bunch of brain dead bigots." I say look in the mirror. You say, "I'm open minded." Then condemn people for not thinking like you. You look to commentary for facts, and it's easy to paint you as ignorant. You blindly accept propaganda and lose the ability to tell fact from fiction. You lose yourself and give into Big Brother and the 1984 Orwell warned against.
In order to have power, our political leaders need us to be fearful (of each other) and unable to reason for ourselves. The use of class politics is just one tool to divide us. Whether that be rich/poor or left/right.
We need to begin to trust ourselves again, before we see the truth in front of us. We need to recognize that our choices may differ, but that our principles are largely the same.
If you value diversity be weary of intolerance in the guise of religion. God is not intolerant. If you value freedom be weary of extreme liberalism. You will only sacrifice those freedoms to the government's charity of the month. And both of these horrors will lead you to fascism. - jeopardydd, on 11/22/2008, -1/+18show me where Air America ever had somebody saying this: (from the article)
"Take them out and shoot them. They are traitors to this country, and shoot them. But anybody who would do that doesn't deserve to live. You shoot them. You call them traitors, that's what they are, and you shoot them dead. I'll pay for the bullet. - tacobueno, on 11/22/2008, -2/+18censorship is not the answer
- doctorfungi, on 11/22/2008, -12/+27Free speech until someone says something you disagree with, right?
***** pathetic... - fr0mundacheese, on 11/22/2008, -17/+32So... if we ever have opposing points of view, that mean hate speech? No turning back now.
- doublefelix, on 11/22/2008, -5/+19I DID read all the comments thus far and the only one that resorted to a personal attack on ideology including name calling and vitriol was yours.
- staticneuron, on 11/22/2008, -3/+17The thing about him, and those that believe him, are terrorist himself. Their speech actually reminds me of the fear movement that Nazi's used to demonize the Jewish.
- JT706, on 11/22/2008, -1/+15I'd feel the same way, but it's hard to ignore a guy with a shotgun.
- arpad, on 11/22/2008, -8/+22Actually, that's exactly what it does mean.
A good journalist would have vetted his sources and rejected the clumsy forgery that Rather based his story on. But Rather was so anxious to replay his glory days of humiliating Nixon that he couldn't be bothered with verifying his source. If he gave the possibility any thought that the documents were forgeries I'm sure he thought he could, at least, skate away unscathed.
After all, it was Bush he was after and it's obvious that the standards of evidence weren't/aren't that high so he didn't have much to worry about. If the story blew up in his face there'd be plenty of people happy to defend him for just trying to hammer Bush, as we see here.
Didn't work out that way though. Turns out there are lots of people who don't love or hate Bush, they just want to hear news without an obvious bias so Rather didn't just hurt himself he also hurt CBS which wasn't so forgivable even if he was trying to destroy Bush. So he got an early retirement and most news people would just as soon forget the whole episode.
Gives advocacy journalism a bad name to be caught at it the way Rather was. - dhuude, on 11/22/2008, -3/+17Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of human psychology understands why this article is so important. We owe it to our evolutionary roots to be distrustful of other groups, and all it takes to incite some people is a little hate speech to dehumanize the enemy. Once sufficiently dehumanized, the enemy is destroyed with impunity, as any trace of their humanity has been erased through careful conditioning. The military has known and practiced this principle since time immemorial.
- SaintStryfe, on 11/22/2008, -13/+27His source ended up being bad. Doesn't mean he's a bad journalist. He was hung out to try by a kowtowing corporate media.
- jeopardydd, on 11/22/2008, -3/+17how about when it tells people to go shoot other people?
the article lists plenty of examples of this from savage, beck, etc. - dragnonfly310, on 11/22/2008, -4/+18A differing viewpoint becomes "hate" when the speech whips others into a frenzy to kill the opposition or commit any other violent act against them. It becomes hate when you would be convinced to deny your fellow man his civil rights. It becomes hate when you can't see the opposition as human beings, just like the article said.
Go ahead, digg this down. I'm SICK of what has been coming from the supposed "right" of this country. Hate, and lots of it. - fabkebab, on 11/22/2008, -5/+18I am a foriegner who has lived in America for >10 years - I have listened to a lot of right wing radio because it fascinates me -
The people who talk are very sophisticated - Micheal Savage is especially clever and engaging because his opinions are usually so counter-intuitive but somewhat reasoned- He has a peculiar charisma.
The thing that frightens me when I hear it is that I know a lot of people are probably more easily influenced than me - Talk radio has fashioned itself into an appealing "sauce" that can make a plate of cr!p almost paletable- If you dont look carefully at what is there, you risk swallowing some of it - jeopardydd, on 11/22/2008, -1/+14when it's this stuff
"Take them out and shoot them. They are traitors to this country, and shoot them. But anybody who would do that doesn't deserve to live. You shoot them. You call them traitors, that's what they are, and you shoot them dead. I'll pay for the bullet."
then yes, regularly listening to this IS an exercise in hate - SpeedSteamBoat, on 11/22/2008, -6/+19Who the hell is talking about suppressing the media? Aside from the oddball commenter who gets buried, who is denying that these people have a right to their free speech? No one. Yet, you insist on demonizing Obama and the liberal "cool aid" and on and on. Don't you see that you are a part of the problem? You are contributing to the break down of political conversation in this country, and it is hurting all of us. Stop with the divisive hate speech. Stop putting a label on everyone so you can dismiss their ideas and tear them down. STOP DEHUMANIZE THE PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT.
- pintomp3, on 11/22/2008, -2/+15video games aren't preaching hate.
- Delphium226, on 11/22/2008, -6/+19So if I said - "Right wingers are a bunch of traitors to the constitution, fascists, small-dicked, insecure and pig-ignorant little cowards with single digit IQs who should be lined up and shot after being tortured for leading this country down the path to ruin" you wouldn't consider that hate speech?
- kanojo1969, on 11/22/2008, -3/+16Education is the only way to fix this stuff. Unfortunately the US education system is obviously not working.
- Spektr4, on 11/22/2008, -2/+14And this is how they've acted when Republicans were in power. Imagine how it will be when Obama takes over.
- jericho4119, on 11/22/2008, -2/+14Did you watch the segment?
How would you characterize speech that pushed a man to enter a church and start shooting people? - freeth1nker, on 11/22/2008, -0/+12"Democratic elections" are great up to a certain point. It's the duty of the courts to protect minorities from the majority. If democratic elections were the deciding point for equality and civil rights, there'd still be racial segregation in the South.
- kinerry, on 11/22/2008, -2/+14We are not a democracy, get that through your skull. We are a representative republic for exactly this reason, to protect the rights of the majority and to prevent the majority from taking rights from the minority through a popular vote.
Civil rights cannot be put to a popular vote, if they could women and blacks would still be begging for rights. - malex, on 11/22/2008, -1/+13From the article:
Why did Adkisson hate "the liberal movement"? Police said that he told them "that all liberals should be killed ... because they were ... ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and ... ruined every institution in America...." Police said that Adkisson had targeted the Unitarian Universalist Church "because of its liberal teachings." The church advocates social justice and tolerance, and it openly welcomes gay, lesbian, and transgendered members. According to police, Adkisson said that, "Because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would target those that had voted them in to office."
You really should read it, if you're going to bother making comments in a thread like this. - d3matt, on 11/22/2008, -0/+12it saddens me that Bill O'Reilly is the best "Christian" example you have.
- thealsir, on 11/22/2008, -1/+12I agree with everything you're saying, except with the idea of regulating radio. Where does that start and where does it end? I think people should be free to say what they want to say as long as it is not slanderous, or inciting acts of violence. Perhaps that is what you mean.
- violaxcore, on 11/22/2008, -3/+14In five years, replace "Airwaves" with "Blogosphere." Then again, a lot of that hate is all over the internet already.
- dragnonfly310, on 11/22/2008, -6/+17"Radio is a HUGE medium in the South. Hmmmm."
"Radio is a HUGE medium in the North. Hmmmm."
And, the majority of the talk radio in both markets is from right wing nut jobs. Hmmmm. - jeopardydd, on 11/22/2008, -3/+13show me where Air America ever had somebody saying this: (from the article)
"Take them out and shoot them. They are traitors to this country, and shoot them. But anybody who would do that doesn't deserve to live. You shoot them. You call them traitors, that's what they are, and you shoot them dead. I'll pay for the bullet. - SpeedSteamBoat, on 11/22/2008, -2/+12No, not really. The message is old, but the medium doesn't have to be. Just saying, I'm not even religious.
- Spektr4, on 11/22/2008, -1/+11They should watch Hotel Rwanda. Hate radio was key in demonizing part of the population, and it sounded almost to the word like Michael "Savage" Weiner radio rants.
- woodsjransom, on 11/22/2008, -2/+12I feel ya, ^5
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