It ALL Sounds This Way!

[DXDXDX]

In another topic, the poster compared Rush Limbaugh to a nagging wife...constantly complaining, etc, etc, etc. (Maybe we should also use the GM as a comparison too!)

But lets face it...it ALL sounds this way! It doesn't matter who you listen too, you listen one minute, you've heard the entire broadcast day! And who are these people? Washed up, has been jocks who are suddenly experts on foreign affairs, finance, the military, politics and any subject you can image. People wonder why AM radio is just about dead. Why the average listener's age, (of those who still listen) is beyond 55!

We wonder why the country is in the shape it is! There are tons of people who view these has been, washed up, dried up disk jockeys as gods! If these people have so many good ideas and are so-o-o-o skilled in foreign affairs, why don't the run for office?

I can just see it now...its Meet the Candidates Night. "What experience do you have Mr. Talk Show Host?"..."Well....well....for 10 years I took requests from 10 year old girls!" "I did the weather." "I followed the format!"

 

[gr8oldies]

A few have like Mike Pence in Indiana. Doubt others would want the pay cut. Why would anyone run for office, to have yourself and your family drug through the mud.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

What is really sad DXDXDX is that many young and older people get their news from non-news sources. The young tend to get their news from Comedy Central's Daily Show, Leno, Letterman, Conan, Bill Maher, MSNBC talk shows, etc. The older tend to get their news from talk shows like Rush, Hannity, Fox News Channel talk shows, etc. All of these sources are entertainment venues not newscasts. People like Rush are "secular" preachers preaching their view of the world. Rush is one of the more entertaining of these. The comedians also use their brand of humor to make political statements as well.

In that nagging wife thread, one poster, Goat Rodeo Cowboy, noted how Bob Hope bashed both parties, which made him more of an equal opportunity comedian than many comedians today, as Hope would bash FDR and Truman as well as Eisenhower and Nixon.

Today with the internet so available, how many people go and read both conservative and liberal news sources like Drudge or Human Events for conservative news and views; and then read liberal news sources like the Huffington Post so that they'd hear both points of view?

Generally people read or listen to the stuff that interests them and fits their view points. Same with radio and TV talk. Libs listen to NPR, MSNBC, PBS, and Bill Press, Ed Schultz, etc. Conservs listen to Rush, Hannity, Beck, Fox News, O'Reilly, etc. We have so much information available, but it seems like we understand the issues far less. The partisan rancor today is terrible. Each side paints the other as the "anti-Christ" or you're not an American if you don't agree with me, etc. Sure there's more than one way to see an issue, but just because the GOP has a different approach doesn't make them unAmerican any more than it would make the Democrats be unAmerican for seeing the issues differently than the Democrats. Both President W. Bush and President Obama believe their policies were the best thing for the good of our nation. Neither wants to destroy the US, they just approach the problems from different perspectives, Bush from the Right Wing and Obama from the Left Wing.

So bottomline, whether its washed up diskjockeys turned talk show hosts Liberal or Conservative, or comedians who use their comedy talents to push a political agenda, be it left or right all are not news sources and are simply entertainers or secular preachers, who are pushing their view of the world on the rest of us, who are simply tuning in to the radio or TV to be entertained.

 

[KeithE4]

In that nagging wife thread, one poster, Goat Rodeo Cowboy, noted how Bob Hope bashed both parties, which made him more of an equal opportunity comedian than many comedians today, as Hope would bash FDR and Truman as well as Eisenhower and Nixon.

It should be noted that Bob Hope was, in real life, a very conservative guy. But when it came to his comedy, he was an equal-opportunity offender.

Today with the internet so available, how many people go and read both conservative and liberal news sources like Drudge or Human Events for conservative news and views; and then read liberal news sources like the Huffington Post so that they'd hear both points of view?

Drudge Report and Huffington Post are not "news sources." They are over-the-edge whack-job websites that contain some legit news links. Drudge is one notch above World Nut Daily and Huffington is one notch above Daily Kos. Blowhards, all.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Drudge Report and Huffington Post are not "news sources." They are over-the-edge whack-job websites that contain some legit news links. Drudge is one notch above World Nut Daily and Huffington is one notch above Daily Kos./color]
Yes, they both are biased, but you get the flavor of what the other side is thinking and saying. Plus you do get links to other news sources so you can further check out what's going on. I used to do a one hour talk show on the weekend at WILM newsradio ( I also was a local reporter and news anchor), where I would spend 10 hours a week (on my own time) reading from both sides of the isle so that I could have some basis for what I said on that talk show.

Even now, as a former talk show host and weekend radio broadcaster I still read both sides, because frankly neither side has all the truth. Both Dems and GOP lie, both will say what they have to say to get elected. The truth, more often than not, is more in the middle, from my experience. Primaries are flawed as the extremes in each party tend to be the ones who get to decide who wins their parties nomination. Then that candidate has to lie by trying to appear to be a centrist so they can win the election. After elected then they show you what they are really about.

To find that middle ground in a issue, you need to understand the far left and far right positions. Most people will generally seek out the points of view they agree with. So libs will generally migrate to NPR/PBS/MSNBC/Huffington Post, Bill Press, etc; and conservs will migrate to Fox/Rush/Hannity/Human Events/Drudge, etc.

Yes, I believe Bob Hope was a conservative guy, probably a Republican in his later life, probably a Democrat like Reagan during the war. Your point though is well taken, in spite of Hope's conservative creds, he bashed both sides, because he was a great comedian, not a "secular" preacher like Rush or these comedians today who use their humor at a tool to sell their political point of view.