I listen to a lot of AM radio because my truck’s AM/FM only brings in the AM well. It’s Rush Limbaugh, Rusty Humphries, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, etc. And, man, there’s a lot of etc. out there.
Most times, it amuses me. I understand the language, the viscera, the emotion. I grew up with a severely Catholic father who drank too much and saw too much conspiracy wherever he looked. He was under siege, and he let people know about it, especially his family.
The communists were lurking around all the corners then. It’s liberals now. Same language just a little word switch. Liberals threaten the America way of life, they are everywhere eroding good, American values, waiting for the moment to undo the Great American Experiment. Government is their tool. Freedom is their prey.
Blah, blah, blah. How many times have I heard it? How many more times do I have to? I can recite what these guys are going to say before they say it. It’s so predictable.
I would be saddened excdept that millions of people believe this talking-head garbage. They give their time and energy to these commentators who deal in half-lies, hype, sensationalism, and outright untruths. Their listening ears turn into big, fat money for all sorts of people who love to see the ignorance grow.
The contradictions are thick. The anti-progressive reactionaries tap the emotions of people disturbed at social and economic changes. Yet, those same people watch their culture changed by the forces of capitalism that allow the fatmouths to manipulate them even more.
In other words, the very systems that produce complexity, change, and degradation of “values” are the same systems that produce these talkingandtalkingandtalking heads. These same systems and beliefs produce rolls of cash for the talking heads, their networks, their owners and shareholders. They are the same systems that the listeners support. And many of those listeners don’t have a pot to piss in and never will.
Government is the least of anyone’s worry. Mass demagoguery will destroy us quicker.
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