Reply #5: After a number of years living overseas... [View All]

[Kutjara]

...I recently returned to the US. One of the biggest shocks for me is that racist, xenophobic, chauvanist buffoons like Lou Dobbs can get national airplay on a channel as widely viewed as CNN. In Europe, CNN and Fox (or the Murdoch-owned Sky Network that is its international equivalent) are viewed as something of a joke. Good for the pretty pictures of smart bombs exploding; not so good for actually reporting what's going on. But they offer a level of commentary that, while right-biased, is still recognisable as news.

Dobbs is on an entirely different level. If I was in the same room as him, I'd be frightened. He seems unhinged to me. Recently, in the UK, there has been a lot of debate against the government's plans to make certain types of hate-speech illegal (anti-religious speech in particular). Typically, civil libertarians are worried about free-speech issues, while the left are concerned about creating a safe environment in which diversity can flourish. The right, predictably, just froth at the mouth and look angry and dangerous.

But there's nothing like Dobbs. He'd be considered a neo-Nazi in Britain.

What the hell has happened to my country?