Radio

Be very concerned about its message because it is, not surprisingly, in the Corporate interest...not yours. For example they would have you believe that the corporate marketplace is a better way to organize than is democratically elected government. Likewise, Christian radio advocates theocracy. Carefully compare those ideas with your copy of the Constitution.

In the last few years, as a result of the 'conservative' agenda, there has been a massive transfer of wealth to the richest 2%, real wages have stagnated or declined, working hours longer, pensions are quaint, sick time is optional for employers, vacation a vanishing benefit, and the middle class is shrinking rapidly. (Europeans get universal health care, four to six weeks of vacation, plus generous sick time, often free higher education, quality eldercare unlike US gulags, etc).

Decades of media consolidation, paid for by the vast right-wing conspiracy, have not only dumbed down broadcasts, turned up advertising, produced programs corrosive of all cultural values, and made hateful divisiveness part of US everyday values. It is fair to attribute violence, declining educational standards, misinformation, exploitation, and the attitude that ignorance is cool to corporate broadcasters.

Talk radio's strong anti-union positions enable the Walmart southern labor style, and the rest of the race for the bottom.

Right now the shock jocks are loudest when attempting to undermine reform efforts for our badly performing healthcare. Whether you think healthcare is a right (I do), it is never denied anyone that is truly in need. (At least you won't hear about it if it is.) So expenses for the uninsured, after the bake sales and the victim's bankruptcy, trickle down to the taxpayer anyway.

Corporations, since they own media, have become so powerful that they can now pretty much buy the Congress, control any government initiatives, and reward themselves obscenely. They have crashed the market, but paid no penalty yet. Instead, another round of consolidation and bonuses have been funded by taxpayers, new regulations have not appeared, so it is all the more likely to crash again. By the way, the dictionary definition of Fascism is government controlled by Corporations.

Talk radio brought out the brownshirts in Germany in the 1930's, it incited genocide in Rwanda, and it looks like they are at the town meetings for the healthcare discussion. Many insist on being armed. That's 'conservative' ?

There's a few dirty words that they can't say, but that seems to be about their only speech limit. You cannot falsely cry 'fire' in a crowded theatre, but shouldn't there be some other limitations of the first amendment ? Particularly for licensed broadcasters who are supposed to be serving the public interest ? Michael Powell, John McCain's choice for FCC Chairman and son of Colin, didn't believe in the public interest. That's, apparently, what being a 'conservative' is all about. It's the YOYO agenda. Your On Your Own.

Is it ok to call for rebellion on talk radio ?

Van Jones and the Boycott of Glenn Beck

Rush Limbaugh's Assault on Obama (1/28/2009) Rush has a $400 million contract with Clear Channel...which is in deep financial trouble. Clear Channel, like the troubled right-wing newspapers, deserves to fail.

Hint: Let Home Depot know what you think because it is a major sponsor of Rush. See this note.

Bill Moyers: Uncivil Discourse (9/6/2009)

A Note About Media

It's not just radio, corporate Media should be held accountable for the exploitation, hate speech, misinformation, and right wing propaganda that is prevalent on US air waves. It is likely that broadcasters are not only responsible for large scale cultural decline, but falling educational standards as well. Partisan Republicans are anti-intellectual and have undertaken a war on science.

People listened to talk radio, believed the misinformation, and voted for Bush Republicans. They have been scammed. You can see the wreckage everywhere now. Unless you are in the very highest income bracket, say the upper 5 percent, the Republican agenda is not in your interest. (your pension is shrinking or disappeared, healthcare coverage unaffordable or unavailable, 401k a fraction of its former self, tuition is on a usurious credit card, interest on your savings near zero, home value down, jobs scarce, union busted, but, in spite of the statistics, you know that the economy is shaky. See here.) It is probably the end of the middle class. The very wealthy made great gains, often funded by massive government deficits, and that was the scam.

Many media companies in financial trouble, they downsize, take on more debt, continue to consolidate, but never do they consider that they should moderate their right-wing propaganda. They are not at all influenced by the result of elections. They cannot admit the failure of the Bush Republican agenda. They think torture is ok. They know that Jesus loves guns. They are inciting armed revolt. There is a run on stores selling ammunition.

Shock jocks are agents of a wealthy elite who are perpetrating a scam on Americans. Wing-nuts like Rush, Hannity, Savage, Coulter, and others are operatives of the vast right-wing conspiracy financed by Scaife, Olin, Coors, and others who are strongly motivated to reduce taxes. They are greedy, racist, war mongers, empire builders, fascists, conspiring to undermine the elected government. See David Brock's Blinded By The Right: . When they talk about downsizing government, they mean that they will cut healthcare, welfare, elder care, or anything else that benefits people. They are virulently anti-union, so that it is no surprise that people are losing their pensions, healthcare, and wages are on a decline. They are anxious to spend unlimited amounts on the world's largest military though. War is profitable.

Republicans brought on yet another gilded age, rolled back new deal stabilizers, allowed the financial sector to run out of control, and as a result we are again seeing financial collapse. This could be a Weimar moment.

It is not about keeping us safe, it is about world domination. The US military is larger than the rest of the world's combined and it is a security force for insatiable corporate interests. US empire requires unlimited military expansion, a strong-man President, revocation of democracy, sharply curtailed civil liberties, financial overextension, and, like all empires in history, is headed for destruction. (See the summary.)

It is not just Imus. "Media Matters for America has extensively documented, [that] bigotry and hate speech targeting, among other characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity continue to permeate the airwaves through personalities such as Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Michael Smerconish, and John Gibson. http://mediamatters.org/items/200704120010

http://www.radioproject.org/archive/2004/3504.html">Listen to the National Radio Project's show "Documenting Torture: Holding the United States Accountable," featuring interviews with Carlos Mauricio and Father Roy Bourgeois.