Don C said:
Never let logic get in the way of a good theory. If he never listened to talk radio, how would he know there were hosts that needed to be threatened?
Oh. I forgot. He received the message during a lucid dream.
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Fairness Doctrine Talk Returns
- Thread starter TalkShowGuy1979
- Start date
Never let logic get in the way of a good theory. If he never listened to talk radio, how would he know there were hosts that needed to be threatened?
Oh. I forgot. He received the message during a lucid dream.
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Actually, he probably heard how "bad" these hosts were in one of the insane conspiracy theorist websites he frequented. The only show that even comes close to the crazy stuff this guy believed is Alex Jones, and it appears Loughner didn't even listen to him.
Well, Don, I am indebted to you for your next to the last post. I had to make a road trip this afternoon and that is for me a great time to get unplugged and do some serious thinking. Without thinking our way through all of the connections that go with the current debate over how Talk Radio affects or does not affect what is going on in our world, we have all tried to see a very one-dimensional question.
Much like a housewife reducing the drippings from a roast down to gravy we are all shouting over each other's head with the following logic as the result of cooking down the assumed facts: Talk Radio is bad because people listen and become so disenchanted with what they hear that they want to go shoot somebody. No, only people who agree listen, and there is no proof anyone has ever done something bad because of what they heard on Talk Radio. And, this debate is uncalled for because the Constitution gives us Freedom of Speech. We can say anything we want to on the radio. GAME OVER. WE WIN.
30 years ago I got a call from a young lady who spent six years fighting through Architecture training being one of only six females in a school of 80 students. Went to NYC for internship and then for first employment. In tears because of the contents being broadcast by someone I had not yet heard of: some guy named Howard Stern. I gave some great advice: Don't listen. I know for a fact that your radio has an off button. I know for a fact there is more than one radio station in NYC. Now as logical as the advice seemed to be there were related problems: At work people were laughing and carrying on: Did you hear what Howard said about women this morning. Yes, and its so true. The off button on the radio does not solve that problem. Ride the subway home that night and there is an advertising poster in the subway showing Howard in living color and quoting something sexist from his broadcast. The off button on the radio does not solve that problem.
Howard and the station had a free speech right to not have the government tell him what he could and could not say. There is no protection in the constitution that says advertisers cannot tell Howard, clean up your act or we drop our advertising. There is no protection in the constitution that says the chamber of commerce cannot pressure the broadcast industry to rethink their programming directions. There is no protection in the constitution that says business firms cannot inform city leaders: "We are going to relocate our offices to another state because our employees are leaving us, saying they are not happy living and working in a polarized community.
And there is nothing in the Constitution that keeps the resident psychologist in the company Human Resources department from advising the corporate board that the constant noise level in the office people arguing about the topics currently hot in talk radio is killing corporate productivity. There is nothing in the Constitution that keeps one Fortune 500 corporate CEO from quietly telling another Fortune 500 corporate CEO as they share a corporate jet ride to the Super Bowl: My company is suffering because of the Talk Radio noise level your corporation is funding. As a personal favor, I want that crap to die, and I want it to stop NOW.
The real issue for our country is NOT whether Talk Radio influenced a troubled soul to go on a shooting spree. I find it interesting that the political group in this country that is so loud about the need for tax policy that maximizes corporate operating profits does not want to have a serious discussion on whether Talk Radio my be hurting hurting corporate profits worse than bad tax policy.
Much like a housewife reducing the drippings from a roast down to gravy we are all shouting over each other's head with the following logic as the result of cooking down the assumed facts: Talk Radio is bad because people listen and become so disenchanted with what they hear that they want to go shoot somebody. No, only people who agree listen, and there is no proof anyone has ever done something bad because of what they heard on Talk Radio. And, this debate is uncalled for because the Constitution gives us Freedom of Speech. We can say anything we want to on the radio. GAME OVER. WE WIN.
30 years ago I got a call from a young lady who spent six years fighting through Architecture training being one of only six females in a school of 80 students. Went to NYC for internship and then for first employment. In tears because of the contents being broadcast by someone I had not yet heard of: some guy named Howard Stern. I gave some great advice: Don't listen. I know for a fact that your radio has an off button. I know for a fact there is more than one radio station in NYC. Now as logical as the advice seemed to be there were related problems: At work people were laughing and carrying on: Did you hear what Howard said about women this morning. Yes, and its so true. The off button on the radio does not solve that problem. Ride the subway home that night and there is an advertising poster in the subway showing Howard in living color and quoting something sexist from his broadcast. The off button on the radio does not solve that problem.
Howard and the station had a free speech right to not have the government tell him what he could and could not say. There is no protection in the constitution that says advertisers cannot tell Howard, clean up your act or we drop our advertising. There is no protection in the constitution that says the chamber of commerce cannot pressure the broadcast industry to rethink their programming directions. There is no protection in the constitution that says business firms cannot inform city leaders: "We are going to relocate our offices to another state because our employees are leaving us, saying they are not happy living and working in a polarized community.
And there is nothing in the Constitution that keeps the resident psychologist in the company Human Resources department from advising the corporate board that the constant noise level in the office people arguing about the topics currently hot in talk radio is killing corporate productivity. There is nothing in the Constitution that keeps one Fortune 500 corporate CEO from quietly telling another Fortune 500 corporate CEO as they share a corporate jet ride to the Super Bowl: My company is suffering because of the Talk Radio noise level your corporation is funding. As a personal favor, I want that crap to die, and I want it to stop NOW.
The real issue for our country is NOT whether Talk Radio influenced a troubled soul to go on a shooting spree. I find it interesting that the political group in this country that is so loud about the need for tax policy that maximizes corporate operating profits does not want to have a serious discussion on whether Talk Radio my be hurting hurting corporate profits worse than bad tax policy.
I don't even disagree with any of that. I don't think anyone here is claiming First Amendment protection. What we're trying to say is that the climate isn't as bad as we're being led to believe. Look at the garbage that passes for TV now. The sponsors don't seem to have a problem with that. But when someone behind a microphone calls the president a "socialist" all hell breaks loose.
The problem is the double standard. There's a double standard in which media are allowed to go "over the top", and there's a double standard in which side of the political aisle is allowed to use nasty word to criticize.
Finally, the reason this is such a distasteful example of the double standard is because guys like Paul Krugman and Markos Moulitsas were pointing fingers before the first ambulance arrived on the scene, and continue to do so. The shamlessness of this is appalling.
Your market based solution where the sponsors decide what is and isn't acceptable is the way things should be done. In reality, though, if there is enough manufactured "outrage" the sponsors can be bullied into dumping shows by a small group of people. Just ask Mr. Imus about how that works.
The problem is the double standard. There's a double standard in which media are allowed to go "over the top", and there's a double standard in which side of the political aisle is allowed to use nasty word to criticize.
Finally, the reason this is such a distasteful example of the double standard is because guys like Paul Krugman and Markos Moulitsas were pointing fingers before the first ambulance arrived on the scene, and continue to do so. The shamlessness of this is appalling.
Your market based solution where the sponsors decide what is and isn't acceptable is the way things should be done. In reality, though, if there is enough manufactured "outrage" the sponsors can be bullied into dumping shows by a small group of people. Just ask Mr. Imus about how that works.
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