Confessions of a Listener

[Ruffhowse]

by GARRISON KEILLOR

The reason you find an army of right-wingers ratcheting on the radio and so few liberals is simple: Republicans are in need of affirmation, they don't feel comfortable in America and they crave listening to people who think like them. Liberals actually enjoy living in a free society; tuning in to hear an echo is not our idea of a good time. I go to church on Sunday morning to be among the like-minded, and we all say the Nicene Creed together and assume nobody has his fingers crossed, but when it comes to radio, I prefer oddity and crankiness. I don't need someone to tell me that George W. Bush is a deceitful, corrupt, clever and destructive man--that's pretty clear on the face of it. What I want is to be surprised and delighted and moved.

<snip>

I don't worry about the right-wingers on AM radio. They are talking to an audience that is stuck in rush-hour traffic, in whom road rage is mounting, and the talk shows divert their rage from the road to the liberal conspiracy against America. Instead of ramming your rear bumper, they get mad at Harry Reid. Yes, the wingers do harm, but the worst damage is done to their own followers, who are cheated of the sort of genuine experience that enables people to grow up.

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20050523&s=keillor

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Fast food, dependence on foreign fuel, Kkkarl knows dependence!

[dbt]

2. I beg to differ (slightly) with my Radio Brother.

IF the right-wingers were all on AM stations, there wouldn't be that much to worry about, true enough. But they're all over the Alleged News Networks on TV. Granted, the approach is a good bit less heavy-handed, but that subtlety is insidious.

Note the worshipful and supportive mien of the well groomed airheads at the anchor desks when they report on anything relating to bu$hler or his agenda. Compare that with the raised eyebrows, the chuckles, the rolled eyes and the barely-hidden disdain when the subject matter turns to anything Democratic or remotely Liberal.

Disclaimer: my TV viewing has been in steady decline over the past four years. What turned me away from it was the combination of blind bu$h loyalty in the "news" programs (after better than a decade of the Clinton witch hunt) and what I saw as the serious lack of Liberal viewpoints in the majority of TV's entertainment shows.

Having picked these nits, I must say that Keillor has written a WONDERFUL piece about Radio and I hope he's right about the return of the Neighborhood stations!

[liberal N proud]

3. GK can tell it in such simple terms!

Great American writer