Talking and Listening For Fun and Profit
Deborah Venable
05/10/08
Rush
Limbaugh has a theory that if we would cut ourselves off from popular news
media for a period of time – say thirty days – even the most pessimistic,
negative thinkers among us would cease to feel bad and upset about our
country. He may be right. I can’t personally test the theory because I
am not a pessimistic negative thinker.
I do know that being totally immersed in media reports for days on end
can be upsetting and it can leave one feeling desperate and more than a little
frustrated at times. When that happens,
I will remove the media reports from my environment for a short period of
time. It usually only takes a few hours
or a day or two.
It
is a fact that there are those who are actively involved in promulgating
misery, unrest, and total dissatisfaction with everything. Those are the people that offer absolutely
no solutions to the problems that they report (or invent in some cases) except
some sort of legislation to change things.
Otherwise known as “the mainstream media” they have a special contempt
for the “new media” talkers and bloggers.
I wonder why.
I
listen to a lot of talk radio – mostly conservative talk radio – but I’ve
deliberately listened to “liberal speak” also, just as I will read what liberal
writers have to say, so I cannot be accused of willful bias, and I believe that
is important. The conservative
“talkers” all have one thing in common; they consider liberal feedback ahead of
conservative feedback every time. That
is, when they are taking calls from their listening audience, they move those
who disagree with their stance on the issues ahead of those who agree. I don’t observe too many liberals doing
this. But conservatives get a bad rap
anyway.
Ask
a liberal to name something positive about a conservative talker and most will
tell you that he or she is a “good entertainer”. But they will follow that up by telling you how stupid, out of
touch, or hateful Rush, Sean, Glenn, Laura, Neal, or any of the many others
is. They will also throw in the
“hateful” characteristic of “capitalist” to top it all off. In other words, none of these guys or gals
care about anything but making a buck.
It’s funny that some of the accusers also fit the mold of “buck makers”
too, but the difference is that they do not openly attribute their financial
success to free enterprise or the pursuit of capitalism like conservatives
do.
I
think everybody who knows anything about the talk radio that has emerged over
the last two decades would agree that Rush Limbaugh sits at the top of that
heap in popularity and success. He
literally led the way for the many others who have followed in his successful
footsteps. Sean Hannity has earned the
number two spot. Neither of these guys
had their success handed to them on a silver platter – they worked hard and
earned it. They didn’t spout hate or
exploit negative circumstances to achieve what they have. In fact, quite the opposite – both have
encouraged millions of Americans to achieve success for themselves.
If
you really listen to their personal stories, they have had their share of hard
times. Rush was fired from so many jobs
in the beginning, I think even he has lost count, and Sean was a Jack of all
trades, earning a living however he could as a young man – usually from the
sweat of his brow. While Rush has been
plagued with physical and emotional pain for most of his adult life, it has
certainly not made him a bitter person.
He jokes about it much of the time.
Lord knows he couldn’t hide his personal difficulties from his vast
audience, so he personally addressed them for any who wanted to listen. Sean invites the most hateful criticism on
his radio show every day via the “Hate Hannity” line and plays it back for all
to hear. He recently stated that it
would be impossible for him to pretend to be anybody but who he truly is. No one could get away with it day after day
with the kind of scrutiny that these hosts are under.
As
for charitable contributions to society, there can be no doubt that these guys
are responsible for raising millions of dollars for worthy charities – and
neither of them have to do it to maintain their success. That is just who they are.
They
are passionate in their monologs and straightforward in their beliefs. They are the epitome of responsible free
speech, and fierce defenders of even those who disagree with their
philosophies. And they ARE
entertaining. I don’t agree with
everything that comes out of their mouths, nor with any other radio “talker”
one hundred percent of the time – but I admire their ability to put themselves
out there for the inevitable criticism, and for the honesty of who they
are. We need more, not less of that
defender of American moral character that these guys display.
They have been rewarded by our capitalist economic system – the very system that is constantly being attacked and demoralized by the liberal left. If we don’t salvage that system and honestly evaluate the roots of our liberties and the direction of our future, we may as well give up talking and listening to anything else.