Yesterday, I had a conversation about politics that had a glimmer of hope of being productive. It was with somebody who's not my supervisor, but who's in a position of some power, but we were still able to share our ideas freely. He seemed like a good, well-reasoned guy - which is why I was so surprised to hear that he was pissed he was missing a tea party because of work, and hear him rattle off FoxRNCNews talking points when I asked him why.
So we got to talking, and I told him just how much Fox and their ilk scare me. He seemed intrigued but unconvinced. He wanted proof.
So he asked me to bring him clips of the most scary shit that the right's bloviators have spewed. I'm asking for your help in digging it up.
More on the flip.
The actual crux of the converastion came when he asked me if I felt that academia was indoctrinating students into leftist views. I gave what I felt was a reasoned response - even leaning left myself, I've seen a few cases where I saw politics injected into the classroom, but it was rare, and largely benign. Really, it's not any kind of "indoctrination," or whatever Fox tells him.
So I told him that what really scares me is this hate talk from the right's talking heads, from the O'Reillys and Becks and Limbaughs and all their henchmen. I said that these guys were just barely stopping short of calling for insurrection - and in some cases, not stopping short at all.
I really got the impression that this wasn't something he had even really considered. He initially dismissed the idea out of hand as basically "sound bites taken out of context," but I assured him it was more than that.
So, I'm asking you all: do you have links to some of the scariest shit that you've heard on Fox, AM radio, etc?
I've scoured my own links, but I can barely stomach the Fox diatribes when they're lampooned on the Daily Show, let alone saving 6 full minutes of O'Reilly's vitrol. I've gotten some good examples from Media Matters, newshounds, and outFoxed. There's Beck pouring "gasoline" on his guest, the shooter in Knoxville reading right-wing books and spouting Fox talking points, and pretty much everything O'Reilly and Limbaugh say.
But I know there's countless specific examples of the dangerous hate speech that these folks spew on a regular basis. If you could help me dig up this seedy underbelly of shit, I'd be very grateful. I might even be able to get my colleague to open his mind a little, and at least trust these self-righteous blowhards a little less.
Thank you.