(no subject)

[bobcatmoran]

Went out today with The Conservative from the Resource Management team. This meant listening to Rush Limbaugh on the two-hour drive to the site we were working at and during lunch. I don't get how he's so popular. It's not the fact that I disagree with most of what he says, it's that he's just plain annoying. He's smarmy and repetitive--I think he only actually had three different things to say during the entire time I was listening, and one of them was, "I am twenty times smarter than all those idiot liberals out there!" I shudder to think that some people actually depend on this guy for news, the same way I shudder to think that some people only read the "Opinion" page of the newspaper to find out what's going on in the world.

On the way back to the office, it was Even More Conservative Radio. Most of it was tolerable, and there even were one or two good points made, but I had to restrain myself from yelling back at the radio when, during a rant about mainstream media and how they all are Teh Ebil Liberalz, the host asked something along the lines of, "Shouldn't there be some sort of organization monitoring these journalists and making sure they're only writing morally responsible things?" WTF? Sorry, lady, that sounds a bit Big Brother-ish to me, and I'm not talking about the reality show. Not to mention that THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES has an amendment to make sure that exactly that does not happen. I've been abroad and seen what the press is like if you do have some sort of body monitoring the press and censoring what they don't feel should be published. What it leads to is an uninformed public, only seeing one side of an issue. And if you never know both sides, if you never know the arguements all around, then you can't really form a true opinion, nor can you truly be taking sides on an issue.

Okay, I'm done. No more political rants from me for a good long while, I promise.

Comments

[atreyu452.livejournal.com]

As an avid listener to Conservative radio, I'd have to agree, Rush Limbaugh comes off as a pompous ass. I never could stand him for long periods of time. The two I listen to the most are Michael Medved, who doubles as a historian and a movie reviewer and is usually), and Tony Snow.

Tony Snow is, no doubt, the nicest Conservative radio host on air. His goal is to state his opinion, discuss it with those who don't agree, and to make sure everyone realizes that both parties are made up of human beings. He spent twenty minutes in an interview with the former Chairman of the Democratic Party asking about his family, his retirement plans, and his plans for the future. It amazes me how many people from think "Democrats/Republicans=evil!11" and the way some talk show hosts talk, it's like they think this too. Both Michael Medved and Tony Snow aren't like that.

On the other hand, if I know someone who doesn't agree with my opinion is in the car, I listen to music. Why make someone who is your guest, even if it is just a car ride, uncomfortable?

[bobcatmoran.livejournal.com]

I actually brought along several tapes today from a variety of genres (the truck has a tape deck), as a large hint that, "No, I do not want to listen to talk radio any more." I managed to get The Conservative to listen to "Riverdance" for awhile (his choice out of the stuff I had brought, which really surprised me), although I didn't manage to get him to understand why I didn't want to listen to Rush Limbaugh any more, since "This is really educational for you, you know?"

Music, I agree, is a much more neutral solution, even taking into account different people's tastes. At the very least, people don't seem to get as incensed about music as they do about politics.