On a couple other occasions I have referenced a website called Open Letters To Pundits. Essentially this Tim Ford guy points out how asinine AM talk radio pundits are. I though this post was perticularly good. Enjoy! 
Michael Savage - Agitation. (8-6-5)
Dr. Savage-
On Friday's show you talked about the liberals who listen to you "because you drive them crazy". You went on to say that you never listen to people or things that "agitate" you.
I agree that you probably have a fair number of people listening to your show because they hate what you say - and on some level, I guess they must like feeling hatred. Yelling at the radio, that sort of thing.
You'd certainly brand me a "liberal". The most bleeding of hearts, that's if you've been paying attention. Of course you're a busy man. Working to build the conditions where hatred spontaneously ignites across the country must be hard, time consuming work...so I completely understand.
But I DON'T listen to your show because I like to hate you, or even what you say.
I have to admit, when I first started listening to shows like yours (my rotation consists of you, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity...and to a lesser extent Neal Boortz & Lars Larson) I DID feel a sort of "agitation". But I was also intrigued that anyone else who was listening somehow MIGHT NOT FEEL AGITATED.
I suppose you could say I listen to AM talk radio not only for the perspective it provides, but to learn how to be confonted by radically different viewpoints without, in a sense, "getting my hackles up".
I very often disagree with the viewpoints portrayed during shows like yours...or I at least have a problem with their presentation by hosts who's closed-minded unwillingness to honestly debate topics is becoming increasingly apparent. But I don't get angry.
I listen in order to try and learn what others are saying. I consume a broad spectrum of "news" - from sources ranging from the local paper, to shows like yours, to public broadcasting, to the 24-hour news cycle, to Google News & a bunch of different RSS feeds from around the world.
Allowing yourself to exist in the presence of ideas that "agitate" you - without becoming "agitated" - is, I believe, the most important lesson any of us might ever learn. Our world is filled with instances where violence has stemmed from exactly this...the LACK of ability to disagree without lashing out.
And of course you MUST BE listening to ideas that agitate you - because that's all you talk about on your show...
I love AM talk radio because it allows me to practice this art...the zen of interpersonal interaction. To be confronted by ideas that don't jive with my personal perspective without "yelling back". Anyone who only listens to those with whom they agree - as seems the case for a majority of American "media consumers" - is only building higher walls around their own tenuously held "convictions" - most of which have been handed to them by this very same "media". Someone who only watches FOX News because they like and agree with everything it says - or only listens to NPR because they like and agree with every it says - etc - is going to suffer not only from a lack of perspective, but a lack of the ability to achieve another's perspective and put it to use in order to try and see a bigger picture.
Your listeners who only listen because they agree with what you say (which I contend are the weak-minded, because your views are so "all over map" that anyone claiming they agree with everything you say must mean they've decided to start agreeing with everything you say, because there's NO WAY they started of with YOUR unique views in the first place) are digging their own holes, and lending their apathy to the real problems among us.
The first of which is our unwillingness to truly allow ourselves to enter into the perspectives of others - facing what lies there - in order to find the common ground that actually exists between us.
Anyway...keep trying to agitate. And keep getting agitated. Just keep in mind that fostering hatred to combat hatred is a closed loop with an obvious outcome.
Thanks!
Tim Ford
Michael Savage - Agitation. (8-6-5)
Dr. Savage-
On Friday's show you talked about the liberals who listen to you "because you drive them crazy". You went on to say that you never listen to people or things that "agitate" you.
I agree that you probably have a fair number of people listening to your show because they hate what you say - and on some level, I guess they must like feeling hatred. Yelling at the radio, that sort of thing.
You'd certainly brand me a "liberal". The most bleeding of hearts, that's if you've been paying attention. Of course you're a busy man. Working to build the conditions where hatred spontaneously ignites across the country must be hard, time consuming work...so I completely understand.
But I DON'T listen to your show because I like to hate you, or even what you say.
I have to admit, when I first started listening to shows like yours (my rotation consists of you, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity...and to a lesser extent Neal Boortz & Lars Larson) I DID feel a sort of "agitation". But I was also intrigued that anyone else who was listening somehow MIGHT NOT FEEL AGITATED.
I suppose you could say I listen to AM talk radio not only for the perspective it provides, but to learn how to be confonted by radically different viewpoints without, in a sense, "getting my hackles up".
I very often disagree with the viewpoints portrayed during shows like yours...or I at least have a problem with their presentation by hosts who's closed-minded unwillingness to honestly debate topics is becoming increasingly apparent. But I don't get angry.
I listen in order to try and learn what others are saying. I consume a broad spectrum of "news" - from sources ranging from the local paper, to shows like yours, to public broadcasting, to the 24-hour news cycle, to Google News & a bunch of different RSS feeds from around the world.
Allowing yourself to exist in the presence of ideas that "agitate" you - without becoming "agitated" - is, I believe, the most important lesson any of us might ever learn. Our world is filled with instances where violence has stemmed from exactly this...the LACK of ability to disagree without lashing out.
And of course you MUST BE listening to ideas that agitate you - because that's all you talk about on your show...
I love AM talk radio because it allows me to practice this art...the zen of interpersonal interaction. To be confronted by ideas that don't jive with my personal perspective without "yelling back". Anyone who only listens to those with whom they agree - as seems the case for a majority of American "media consumers" - is only building higher walls around their own tenuously held "convictions" - most of which have been handed to them by this very same "media". Someone who only watches FOX News because they like and agree with everything it says - or only listens to NPR because they like and agree with every it says - etc - is going to suffer not only from a lack of perspective, but a lack of the ability to achieve another's perspective and put it to use in order to try and see a bigger picture.
Your listeners who only listen because they agree with what you say (which I contend are the weak-minded, because your views are so "all over map" that anyone claiming they agree with everything you say must mean they've decided to start agreeing with everything you say, because there's NO WAY they started of with YOUR unique views in the first place) are digging their own holes, and lending their apathy to the real problems among us.
The first of which is our unwillingness to truly allow ourselves to enter into the perspectives of others - facing what lies there - in order to find the common ground that actually exists between us.
Anyway...keep trying to agitate. And keep getting agitated. Just keep in mind that fostering hatred to combat hatred is a closed loop with an obvious outcome.
Thanks!
Tim Ford
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
motherteresa:
If you wanna come this Saturday, you most certainly welcome.
_biblia_:
The show looks interesting-- I saw quite a few I'll be listening to in the archives. I ask because my brother is a radio personality-- Pirate Rock 95.9. Seems like a pretty fun job.