No, YOU MoveOn...
This morning I got a MoveOn email from a woman with this petition:
http://www.signon.org/sign/wjno-take-rush-limbaugh
to "Take Rush Limbaugh off the air in West Palm Beach!"
She writes "Rush Limbaugh's reprehensible attack on Sandra Fluke, the college student who spoke to Congress about women's reproductive rights, calling her a slut and a prostitute and asking her to make a sex video, should be the end of his on-air career. Let's convince KGVO to kick him off the air in West Palm Beach."
While I'm all for people not listening to this moron, I had a "Howard Stern" moment. People didn't want Stern on the air either. He was foul, etc etc, and they didn't want him played in their town impinging on their children's delicate sensibilities. He's now got his own channel on satellite radio, so fine.
But for some reason it just sounded to much like censorship to me. "I don't like what he's saying, so he shouldn't be allowed to say it in my town." While I wouldn't cry if Rush was hit by a bus, I don't agree that censorship is the answer. If some station wants to put him on, people who want to listen will listen and people who hate his guts, won't. I tried to wrap that up in pretty words and sent it to the author of the petition. People who use MoveOn, I expect, would be more on the "Free speech" etc etc side of things. Maybe she didn't know what what she's after (and what a lot of the comments are after) is the banning of a public figure and his ideology.
I got an email back.
"Well, he wants to infringe on my rights with his mis-information the public Remember when he got his maid to supply him with illegal drugs? Why you want to listen to an unethical, lying druggie? Maybe his listeners should join the KKK, same mentality, or maybe they shouldjoin the 21st century." *(sic)
...How is giving you bad info infringing on your rights? Is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" infringing on your rights by being a fictional TV show? Note, that even though I stated in my letter to her that I disagreed with his standpoint she assumes I'm a listener. Then she proceeds to simply be nasty about them. Personally I think we should avoid lumping all the people we don't like into a cohesive group (Dittoheads are not necessarily KKK members, and vice versa), since we only make ourselves look ignorant and stupid.
So, (sigh) I fear she is simply doing exactly what Rush Limbaugh is doing: stating that her ideology is better than everyone elses, and wants to force everyone else to live in her bubble so she never has consider anyone else having an outside opinion.
For shame.
OOH OOH OOH!
As I was looking up a "ban Rush" image to steal for this post (harhar) I found THIS!
from the article "Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem Call for FCC to Ban Rush Limbaugh" and this wonderful article "Banning Rush Limbaugh from Radio Would Be a Failure for Feminism" which says (in case you don't gather it from the title) that "asking the FCC to step into the fray is nothing short of open advocacy of censorship, and it's disheartening and unconscionable to see this promoted by respected feminists."
We cannot defeat the enemy by BECOMING the enemy!
http://www.signon.org/sign/wjno-take-rush-limbaugh
to "Take Rush Limbaugh off the air in West Palm Beach!"
She writes "Rush Limbaugh's reprehensible attack on Sandra Fluke, the college student who spoke to Congress about women's reproductive rights, calling her a slut and a prostitute and asking her to make a sex video, should be the end of his on-air career. Let's convince KGVO to kick him off the air in West Palm Beach."
While I'm all for people not listening to this moron, I had a "Howard Stern" moment. People didn't want Stern on the air either. He was foul, etc etc, and they didn't want him played in their town impinging on their children's delicate sensibilities. He's now got his own channel on satellite radio, so fine.
But for some reason it just sounded to much like censorship to me. "I don't like what he's saying, so he shouldn't be allowed to say it in my town." While I wouldn't cry if Rush was hit by a bus, I don't agree that censorship is the answer. If some station wants to put him on, people who want to listen will listen and people who hate his guts, won't. I tried to wrap that up in pretty words and sent it to the author of the petition. People who use MoveOn, I expect, would be more on the "Free speech" etc etc side of things. Maybe she didn't know what what she's after (and what a lot of the comments are after) is the banning of a public figure and his ideology.
I got an email back.
"Well, he wants to infringe on my rights with his mis-information the public Remember when he got his maid to supply him with illegal drugs? Why you want to listen to an unethical, lying druggie? Maybe his listeners should join the KKK, same mentality, or maybe they shouldjoin the 21st century." *(sic)
...How is giving you bad info infringing on your rights? Is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" infringing on your rights by being a fictional TV show? Note, that even though I stated in my letter to her that I disagreed with his standpoint she assumes I'm a listener. Then she proceeds to simply be nasty about them. Personally I think we should avoid lumping all the people we don't like into a cohesive group (Dittoheads are not necessarily KKK members, and vice versa), since we only make ourselves look ignorant and stupid.
So, (sigh) I fear she is simply doing exactly what Rush Limbaugh is doing: stating that her ideology is better than everyone elses, and wants to force everyone else to live in her bubble so she never has consider anyone else having an outside opinion.
For shame.
OOH OOH OOH!
As I was looking up a "ban Rush" image to steal for this post (harhar) I found THIS!
We cannot defeat the enemy by BECOMING the enemy!
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