Sunday, August 1, 2010

American Conservative Talk Media



Once again I forward a response I made to a query in another forum.  For posterity.
 
Originally Posted by Howard_Roark 
 
I don't really know what to make of Alex Jones. On one hand he is a libertarian and a very well-spoken advocate of a lot of libertarian principles. On the other, he seems to be a deranged raving conspiracy theorist who is spreading paranoia and is totally out of touch with reality.
Nor do I much of the time. Alex Jones says many things with which I agree. He speaks some profound truths, then he gets all sounding like a good candidate for the rubber room. He is part of the MSM [edit: Main Stream Media], much as he may rail against it, so I do not trust him on that basis alone. Nobody gets into mainline slots like that without "approval". He may be personally genuine on some level - maybe even on all, but he is then being "handled". He may be on to some very significant truths - it seems this way in some cases. But his raving discredits him and I find it difficult to believe that a man with so large an audience would not be intelligent enough to realize how he compromises his credibility with these modes of expression. Less believable still is that he has nobody on his staff that recognizes this and advises him to get his feet on the ground.

One other point I believe is key here is that I believe "they" believe (and perhaps rightly) that the truths Alex Jones puts out there, as well as all his libertarian posturing, poses no threat to their hegemony. Those like Jones in fact provide great benefit to the elite in that it reinforces the mistaken perception that there is some shred of freedom remaining to us and that these beacons of truth (in the minds of some) offer proof that there is hope for our freedom. Depending on the end game in mind, this may be the perfect thing for the elite because it keeps people always in "it's coming soon" mode in their thoughts.

Ever listen to Beck? That ninny raves on and on about how "its coming". What a load of shit. It ain't coming folks - it's here. Now. Right now, this very minute. If he were to say that, to speak this truth, would it not demand immediate action on our part to save ourselves from the destruction that is upon us? Action is what they do not want, but rather material indolence. Let the proles think all they want if they must, just so long as they lift no finger. I believe these shows ensure just this because they lead people to believe that someone is doing something.

Let us not be gratuitously kind to ourselves - Americans are some of the politically laziest and most stupid people in the world. And do not let the seemingly big number of clued-in people in places such as this forum deceive you into thinking it is otherwise. I have lived all over these United States and it has been my habit to have very broad social circles. My acquaintances range from rocket scientists and true geniuses to street whores, criminals, housewives in curlers, and the homeless. I have sampled a very broad cross section of the American population. There are all kinds of very intelligent and well clued-in people here [USA]. For each one of those, I would estimate there must be close to 50 completely clueless ones. That is the sad truth of my experiences with folks over the last 30 years.

We have come to believe all manner of inexcusably unacceptable bullshit. On top of that, we have fallen into the terminally bad habit of wanting someone else to do our dirty work for us - to wit, our "representative" government and state-run schools where we have placed our balls in the hands of complete strangers, fooling ourselves into believing that they will serve our best interests while we pursue more important issues, like that next line on the mirror. We have fucked ourselves more royally than most people could possibly believe and even fewer would be able to accept. Were they to, they would simply implode - they would go catatonic and would sit in one place until starvation took them. Yes, it really is that bad and we should stop fooling ourselves.... but I digress.

While I'm on it, Beck is really so full of shit, but he is fairly subtly so and I can well see how most people would miss the problems with many of the things he says or that his statements presuppose. His rants sound like patriotic libertarian material, but if you listen and carefully analyze what he really says, he sounds to me like a screaming statist. The same with Neil Boortz, Hannity, etc. The only ones who don't seem completely full of shit are the guys on Freedom Talk Live (and they fuck up routinely in terms of reasoning) and Phil Valentine (though I have not been listening to him long enough yet to get a good feel for who he really is). There is also another guy to whom I have listened only twice... Joe somethingorother... he seemed pretty cool, but it is difficult to say on one or two hearings.

Jones and the others may be examples of the age old game of mixing truth with distortions in order to paint convincing but highly misleading pictures. That is what I most strongly believe about these figures. Part of the evidence that leads me to this suspicion lies in what they do not say. I see no convincing arguments from them about how the Fed must be dissolved, as well as the IRS (though IRS gets far more airplay than the Fed). How about dismantling the public school system? Another sacred cow they don't touch. These prime targets for our wrath and demand are ignored. Again I find it difficult to accept that nobody on their staffs are aware of these issues. I must, therefore, conclude that these issues are being purposely ignored, which means the people in question are either not what they appear or they are simply too stupid to be otherwise trusted.

One needs to be very circumspect in evaluating such public figures. Oh, and while we're at it, the intro to Beck's radio slot refers to his show as the fusion of information and ENTERTAINMENT. Now folks, call me crazy (I've been called worse), but that smacks of rubbing the truth in the noses of people too stupid to figure out that they are being taken down the garden path. Beck is just that - he is an entertainer. IMO anyone taking him seriously in a holistic sense is making a very grave mistake.

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Until next time, please accept my best wishes.