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It’s getting insane out there on the airwaves. Or maybe it’s always been this way and I’m just noticing it? I’m not sure. But I am amazed at who gets air-time—and maybe more importantly—who doesn’t.
It seems that if you are a no-talent blowhard who speaks in inane, offensive, tasteless sound bites, you get the most time. It’s just the way it seems to work on the majority of the mainstream television and radio programs.
Case in point, the always-unpleasant Ann Coulter.
The long blonde haired lawyer/author/commentator is a popular talking head on programs with both a liberal and a conservative bent and she never fails to drive her (usually pointless) point home by saying the most ridiculous things.
Last weekend, on ABC’s This Week, she said it was unfair to call the GLBT fight for equality a civil rights issue because that belongs to the blacks. Really. She said it. She also said that, “…we don't owe feminists. We don't owe women who are desirous of having abortions, or gays who want to get married to one another."
She outwardly hates everyone who isn’t a straight white Christian man like herself and she makes no bones about it.
But she keeps getting invited on every major news and talk head type show across all the networks, including HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
Is it because the hosts and their executive producers are seeing ratings bumps from having people like her on their programs? I can’t imagine people tune in to see her specifically. And inevitably, what she ends up doing is cheapening what could have been an other wise thoughtful debate on serious issues, when she spews hate and makes ridiculous comments that you don’t even believe that she believes herself. Because most of her comments are THAT stupid.
And it’s strange: If she really hated the gays outright, would she have repeatedly signed on to speak at conservative gay groups’ functions and agree to serve as the honorary chairwoman of gay Republican group GOProud’s Advisory Council?
(Um, yeah. Don’t get me started about GOProud or the Log Cabin Republicans. That’s a whole blog post of its own. I truly don’t understand those people, even though I have many friends who are very active within their misguided ranks. Look up ‘oxymoron’ in the dictionary and you’ll find references to GOProud and the Log Cabins right up at the top. Sigh.)
Anyway, I don’t get Ann. Or why we care what comes out of her nasty little mouth. She should go live at Rush Limbaugh’s house and they can just spew hate at each other all day.
Now, before I continue, I must explain that I have my own weekly internet radio show and I’m sure a lot of people don’t agree with the crazy shit I say. But then again, I do a comedy show and most everything I say, I say for affect. To make people laugh. Is that what Ann is doing, too, and I’m missing the joke?
(Wait! I am Ann Coulter. We both want attention from being totally ridiculous. Okay, now I get it. I need to change my thesis.)
Another one is the completely lame duck that is called Sarah Palin. For the life of me, I don’t understand why anyone with any sense in his or her head cares what this failed politician has to say. The former governor of Alaska quit her job before her term was up for no plausible reason; helped the GOP lose a national election in part because of a massive stream on inane, uneducated comments; and, is proud of the fact that she and her husband eat at Chik-fil-A and shoot defenseless wild animals from the safety of a helicopter.
And even though she is an expert on nothing and has no real track record to stand behind, she gets air-time almost every week. Granted, it’s usually on FOX News, but still, she’s called upon to comment on serious issues. Like the populous is supposed to give a shit what she thinks.
But FOX pays Palin $1,000,000 a year for those inane comments, so they are likely to keep coming. Unless you believe a recent New York magazine piece that says she’s no longer bringing in the ratings for the network.
Why am I wasting so many inches on Ann and Sarah? Because when they are talking, other voices are not being heard. Fill that time with the educated, experienced thinkers of our time and we’ll all be better off. Sure, we all like to be entertained and to make fun of the larger-than-life crazy people in our world, but when it comes to the serious issues of our time, we need to be informed about what is really going on.
And that’s why I am especially upset that voices like Gary Johnson’s is not being heard at all on the mainstream media. The former governor of New Mexico is the Libertarian candidate for president and he most certainly should have more invitations to the news shows and absolutely should be a part of the upcoming presidential debates. He likes the gays. He has thoughtful, serious ideas about how to reduce spending. And you should at least have a chance to hear what he has to say.
But ABC and FOX would rather you listen to pretty, bigoted attention whore.
- Scott
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