Recommended Reading

[Donna Halper]

>Dan B wrote--
>But it is interesting that the most of the major stations that Air America 
>is supposed to be the alternative to do not play to only one side of the 
>political spectrum even if most of the hosts are right of center.

I must disagree.  Listen to the rhetoric on many right-wing 
stations.  Listen to how they demonise and insult anyone who doesn't agree 
with the president or with ultra-conservative points of view.  Listen to 
the name-calling, and how there is an "us= good Americans" versus "them= 
liberal, pinko commie traitors."  Okay fine, I exaggerate, but not by 
much.  Listening to some right wing talk shows, you really do get the idea 
that "either you're with us or against us".  So if you are creating a 
villain ("the left", "liberals", "the 'hate America' crowd", "those 
obstructionist Democrats", "activist judges", "the homosexual agenda", 
"feminazis" etc) and presenting yourself and your audience as the only 
good, true, patriotic Americans, and if you do as Limbaugh does and refuse 
to take any callers who don't agree with that viewpoint, how is that an 
example of "playing to all sides of the political spectrum"?????????

Since the sad day when the Fairness Doctrine came to an end, the right wing 
has had years of uninterrupted dominance and has been able to express their 
views in what to me are often stereotypic and harsh terms.  They have not 
encouraged an exchange of opinion, but more often than not, they have 
encouraged hatred of anyone with a different point of view.  As a moderate, 
I have no problem with the right wing point of view, and on a few issues, I 
even agree with it.  But I don't like the nastiness and the exaggerating 
and the refusal to admit that there might be some truth on the other side 
of the issue. As I have said before, I believe many conservative talk show 
hosts have played to the lowest common denominator, even if that meant 
skating perilously close to fostering contempt for what is to me just 
normal healthy disagreement.  Equating loyalty to the president with being 
a good American and saying that anyone who doesn't support the president 
hates America really gets me upset.

So why listen?  Until recently, there was no other game in town,  so if you 
wanted to hear talk, that's what there was, whether you  agreed with it or 
not.  I don't think everyone who listens to right wing radio does so 
because they find it so appealing-- they listen because it's there and they 
wanna know what is being said abou their particular group.  For example, as 
a Jew, I was heartily offended when in December, I heard a speaker on the 
O'Reilly Factor claim that "the Jews" control Hollywood and they are trying 
to enforce a separation of church and state because they hate Christmas and 
hate Christians. And Mr O'Reilly did NOT dispute that-- in fact, according 
to what I heard, and according to the transcript of the show, he seemed to 
agree.  Now, I hate neither Christmas nor Christians--  but I really do 
hate being insulted... and on right wing talk shows, that's what happens a 
lot-- the host sets up one group as representative of evil, and proceeds to 
beat up on that group relentlessly.   If that's your example of playing to 
all sides of the political spectrum, Dan, we as a nation are all in serious 
trouble.