Shut Up and Talk Radio

Laura Ingraham’s book Shut Up and Sing: How Elites in Hollywood, Politics and the UN Are Subverting America makes the case that liberals in the cultural elite (singers, actors, authors, filmmakers) are in cahoots with the political elite (appointed judges, ambassadors, legislators) in  subverting traditional, conservative American values and beliefs. I can’t argue with her premise; conservatism has been under particularly vicious attack at least since scurrilous lies were aimed at Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.*

I do take exception with one of the beautiful Ms. Ingraham’s central points, however: that those cultural elites should have less of a voice in our political discourse. What makes the opinions of a talk radio host any more legitimate than those of a singer or actor?

Laura, #4 in the talk radio ratings, is one of the best of the right wing radio hosts—smart, funny, informed, and principled. I’d say the same things about Bill O’Reilly. (I’ve already opined aplenty on the #1-rated Godfather of talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, both the good and the bad.) But there are others whose on-air behavior truly deserves the admonition to “Shut Up.”

Michael Savage, #3 in the talk radio ratings behind Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, is an unrepentent bigot, for example. His hatred for homosexuals and Muslims is palpable, as is his disdain for liberalism, which he calls “a mental disorder” (audio). Ironically, this attack on the mental health of liberals parallels the same attack made against Barry Goldwater in ‘64.

I’d be surprised if his homophobia and xenophobia haven’t encouraged, if not caused, violence somewhere along the way. Dr. Savage (he has a PhD in nutrition from, of all places, Cal Berkeley!) should just Shut Up.

Then there’s Hannity, who’s #2 in the talk ratings. His most recent book, Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism, literally lumps liberals in with terrorists and despots. That’s Hannity’s schtick on TV and the radio as well: self righteous hyperbole without one iota of nuance or decency. No reasonable observer of the American political scene should countenance such sanctimony.

When Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks told a concert audience that she was “ashamed” that like her, President Bush is from Texas, Hannity launched a months-long attack on the group. He advocated boycotts against them by consumers and radio stations alike. Without a doubt, Hannity did everything in his power to damage the Chicks’ career.

But four years later, rocker Ted Nugent held up two assault rifles at a concert and told Barack Obama to “suck on” one and Hillary Clinton to “ride” the other—two very violent and sexually repugnant innuendos. Nugent also called Obama a “piece of shit” and Clinton a “worthless bitch.” Now I honor Nugent’s right to express himself, but his actions went way, way beyond Ms. Maines’s simple statement of shame.

Pressed to condemn Nugent on air, Hannity bluntly refused…this despite the fact that he’s repeatedly said that various liberals are guilty of “hate speech.” That kind of brazenly partisan hypocrisy doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously.

Bill Moyers once labelled Hannity as “vile,” prompting Hannity to challenge the septuagenarian ordained minister to “say it to my face.” Sean Hannity is a bully who should really just Shut Up.

And then there’s the lesser known, but more rabid, Neal Boortz. Boortz so angered Bill O’Reilly that the usually even-tempered Bill used his O’Reilly Factor to call Boortz a “vicious SOB.”

But that’s Boortz’s modus operandi: to anger people with outrageous statements that pollute discourse but increase ratings. When a US airstrike tragically targeted an Iraqi wedding, killing 40 innocents including women and children, Boortz joked about “40 funerals and a wedding.” When an American fighter pilot accidentally clipped the cable to an Italian ski lift, killing 20 skiers in a horrific plunge to the ground, Boortz joked about the pilot’s skill at making “lasagna.”

And when 13-year-old aspiring professional surfer Bethany Hamilton lost her left arm in a shark attack in Hawaii, Boortz attacked her mercilessly. He called the girl “stupid” and “inarticulate,” joked about her arm being “shark food,” and laughed at the fact that she’d never be a typist. What an ass—kicking a little girl while she’s down.

Neal, you should really, really, Shut the Hell Up.

Our democracy thrives when media proliferate and citizens express their views. But the hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric of Savage, Hannity and Boortz doesn’t serve the nation so much as it serves their bank accounts.

Newsprism

*Further reading: Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean; The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater