4636 It's NOT Just Entertainment

The Lady or the Tiger?

This is going to attract comments like “you’re a traitor to your profession.”  OK. Bring it on.  Today’s talk radio is not just entertainment. It’s dangerous.

The justification for the Limbaughs and Levins and Ingrahams and Hannitys? Well, the talkers are just saying stuff to amuse people.  “It’s just entertainment” is a phrase you hear from every defender of the genre.  It’s often sugarcoated with “I may not agree with what they say but it’s just entertainment.”  Or “It’s a first amendment thing, they have a right to say what they want, if you don’t like it, turn off the radio.”

Let’s look at what we find entertaining.  How about a fender bender? That’s always good for a gawk.  If you need a little more and you’re not driving, you can always pull over and watch a burning building or an overflowing sewer.

If you feel like spending money, you can probably find a trapeze artist working without a net or an alligator wrestler.  And this kind of “entertainment” is nothing new. 

What were jousting matches if not entertainment?

There’s danger in all of these examples.  And there’s danger in right wing talk radio.  Eventually, it infects people.  Limbaugh infects people. All of them do.  Whether you’re listening to the bloviating Missourian or a hippie turned far right like Michael Savage, no mask will protect you from this pandemic.

The current occupant of the White House has become the Old Faithful of lies and criminality.  The Amen Chorus in the Senate (thank you, Pat Buchannan) enables the president.  The talk hosts enable the Amen Chorus. Fox News and Newsmax make sure the right video is available to the faithful on I.V. drips of poison. 

Fender benders beget other fender benders as we crane our necks to view yet another piece of twisted metal and flashing emergency lights.  Overflowing sewers can spread disease. Falling trapeze artists often are seriously hurt or killed.  Picking the tiger door instead of the lady door can be fatal.

And the constant din of right wing talk radio spreads a killer disease worse than any plague or pandemic in recorded history.

Keep thinking of it as “entertainment,” and we’re done for.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” -- Title of a book by Neil Postman an NYU professor who didn’t live nearly long enough to know how right he was.

Questions:

--Is it just me, or is the cost of face masks rising exponentially even though there’s no longer scarcity?

--Any Wall Street Masters of the Universe ready to start a Nitrile Glove Futures Index?

--If the “president” recommends you vote twice and you do, are you a part of a law-breaking conspiracy, and is he?

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2020