Bill's Notes

[Industrialblog, December 13, 2004]
'Hate Balboa? Hell no ... I pity the fool'
Dean notices a tendency.


Why is it that almost all of my non-lefty friends listen to NPR, while nearly all my lefty friends listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Michael Savage?


My guess:

1. Lefties like to get pissed off when someone on the right says something outrageous. It reinforces their worldview. And especially with Savage, who says stupid things, they can point out errors and say to themselves, "See, they're nuts."

2. Rights listen to NPR because it's relaxing in the morning and, like the New York Times, it's not all propaganda. Also, they like to get pissed off, and they like to point out errors and say, "See, they're nuts."

I've noticed it in the blogosphere. The Leftists go make fun of the freepers, and the moderate/right go make fun of the Democratic Underground. It's a form of reductio ad absurdum, where you seek out places where the other side's argument has already been reduced to absurdity for you, like a boxing champion carefully selecting his opponents.
Chris (mail) (www):
Actually, NPR has some theoretically good stuff, but as one of the commenters over at Dean's world said, their style is nearly unbearable.

Most of them aren't so bad — a little soap can get rid of the pretension covering your car after listening to NPR for 20-25 minutes. But if you happen to hear Teri Gross say, "this is freeshshsh AIR, there's little that you can do besides burn your car.

On the other hand, it makes for a really great joke in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (never played myself, but watched someone for a while). When the main character steals a car, he can turn on the radio. One of the stations is Vice City Public Radio. It's prettymuch one 15 minute long begging break, where they plead for money so that they can protect us from the barbarians. It was hilariously on-target.

Which is a pity, because if they had people who weren't so full of their sense of their own importance, NPR would be great.
12.13.2004 9:15pm
Harry (mail) (www):
Chris, you hate Terry Gross for her enunciation?

Terry Gross showed Bill O'Reilly for the pussy that he is. For that she has earned a spot in Valhalla.
12.14.2004 7:06am
Bill (mail) (www):
Valhalla? Um, if O'Reilly is a pussy, as you say, then, no, she doesn't get into Valhalla. You have to fight a courageous opponent, though I suppose slaying lots and lots of cowards might get you an end seat.

Chris: LOL.
12.14.2004 8:32am
Harry (mail) (www):
A lot of people would tell you Bill O'Reilley is the toughest of the tough, particularly Bill O'Reilly. He's a bully and a thug and a prime example of the death of civil discourse and what is wrong with "talk" shows. And he ran away with his cocktail weiner between his legs halfway through his Terry Gross interview. Then he demanded an apology for his ill-treatment. It was beautiful.

So, yes, for taking on the great and powerful OZ and showing that he was just a little man behind a curtain, yes, I salute her courage.

I'd like to see how fast tough-talking Zell Miller would run away. Didn't you say that Chris Matthews was a pussy for not taking him up on his challenge of a duel?
12.14.2004 11:28am
Bill (mail) (www):
I can't stand Bill O'Reilly. He gets people on his show, and then he yells at them. Reminds me of Morton Downey, Jr.

Nonetheless, not Valhalla material. Sorry.

Miller run away from whom?
12.14.2004 11:32am
Harry (mail) (www):
We were just discussing in work how Morton Downey Jr. would be totally out of his league in the brave new world he pioneered. Compared to what we have these days, he was downright jocular.

I'm wondering if Zell Miller would run away from Terry Gross. It doesn't seem likely, but neither did O'Reilly running away.
12.14.2004 12:04pm
Chris (mail) (www):
Harry,

I don't know about O'Reilly, but from I've heard he's a control freak who loves to kill the mike of people who disagree with him.

That in some venue where he can't kill the other guy's mike he himself ran away doesn't impress me.

Besides, if Teri Gross wasn't intimidated by O'Reilly it's probably because she's so certain of her own grandeur that her ego couldn't fit out the single-space doorway in the recording studio, so she couldn't run away and so didn't bother. Bill O'Reilly might be infuriating, but Teri Gross is nauseating.
12.14.2004 7:43pm
Harry (mail) (www):
Oh, great. Crazy ol' Zell is gonna be working for FOX. This should elevate the quality of the national dialogue.

On the plus side, we might just get to see his head explode with rage on national TV.
12.15.2004 8:49pm