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On 11 Aug 2005 10:16:39 -0700, wrote:

wrote:
wrote:
wrote:

Unfortunate.

What does it profit progressives if self-defined spokespeople simply
sound like
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, MIchael Savage, Anne Coulter, (and many of
their neo-conservative disciples posting to groups like this) in
reverse?

The problem is, that if a liberal debates ANYTHING that has spewed from
BushCo et al., then the Bush lemmings automatically call that being
shrill or whiney.

Listen to neo-con propaganda on the radio sometime. Those adjectives
"shrill" and "whiney" are used incessantly by a couple of nationally
syndicated hosts. It is no surprise when people who regurgitate the
nonsense almost line-by-line use the same derisive terms to describe
moderates and liberals.

I already listened to right wing radio this morning, and I have finally
figured out, I think, just why these people (and all propagandists) are
so effective. Most people are intellectually lazy- they know they are
supposed to have values and opinions, but they aren't sure about how to
form them or what to base them on. In an era of instant this, instant
that, any of the propagandists (left or right) appeal to people looking
for ready made values. You will notice that propagandists have an
absolute answer for everything; not merely an opinion or a set of
personal beleifs but rather a divinely annointed moral truth. (A truth
so divine that it must be made the law of the land and imposed on
everybody, left or right). The only problem with adopting ready made
values (left or right) rather than developing some genuine,personal
beliefs and an individual moral code is that the artificially imposed
world view never seems to take permanent root. The neo-converts (to the
left or the right) need a new fix almost every day to keep on drinking
the Kool Aid without questioning.

Oh, yes! If you ever listen to Hannity, if it's a right winger he
interviews, he feeds them questions are easy to answer, and shows the
right in a good light. If he interviews a left wing sort, then the
questions he asks he asks in a way that can't possibly be answered in a
good light, and won't let the interviewee respond totally, cutting him
off after he hears the key words he wants.

You know its working when nearly all of the people on one side of the
political/philosophical fence or the other seem to be discussing the
same issues, on the same days, and repeating the same arguments (and
adjectives) almost word for word.

What I find amazing is that the talk show people say that it's the
liberals who are making this country so divided, yet when you listen to
one, they think (or at least portray that they think) that the left are
never correct about anything, are far removed from the issues, etc.
That's the farthest thing from the truth that there is.

You guys should spend less time listening to and memorizing (I guess) Limbaugh
and Hannity. My advice would be to listen to Air America. You won't find that
upsetting in the least, and they speak nothing but the truth (or so I hear).

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD