Platt distorted something I said yet again, August 22nd:
Liberals would love to shut down talk radio, a frightening wish
remindful of a dictator's first move -- silence opposition.
Comrade Bentraitor kindly replied on my behalf, August 22nd:
This is the Mightly Wurlitzer of the season here on the Limbaugh and
Hannity programs. "Liberals want to silence talk radio". Never mind
the perennial assault on the Academy brought year after year by the
same trumpets, an attempt to silence that nearly cost Pirsig his job.
I, for one, love that talk radio is on the air. It provides a
never-ending river of stupidity by which I can teach students how to
begin applying critical reasoning skills. And since Platt is simply
doling out more "fear rhetoic", let me remind here that the
"dictator's first move" has historically been to vilify the Academy
and marginalize the media. Hitler's effectiveness in attaining power
stemmed directly from his two-front vilification of these social
branches. All professors are evil "lefties", and the "media" is
nothing but lies and propaganda. By effectively drumbeating the
message that the only "fair and balanced" viewpoint was that
sanctioned by the Reich, forces that would normally function to
counter this power were made impotent. Let's also remember that the
"dictator's first move" also always includes the condemnation of
criticism to the regime as "unpatriotic" and "treasonous". Those who
would condemn the dictator would be branded as "aiding and abetting
the enemy", vilified as traitors and enemies of freedom. So, yes,
let's consider these "frightening wishes remindful of a dictator's first
move".
Ant McWatt comments:
Comrade Bentraitor,
This is one of the things that especially concerns me with Platt, his nearly
complete uncritical acceptance of the status quos dominating viewpoint. If
he lived in a similar social position in Nazi Germany, Communist Russia or
Taliban Afghanistan, he would no doubt be taking the party lines found there
without question and especially the anti-academic line found in all these
socially dominated societies. Its a vicious circle: repress the people
most likely to question the status quo leading to a general reduction of
critical thinking hence leading to a more repressive, pliant society. As
such, keeping in mind Platts recommendation that you should visit the
Holocaust Memorial, I suggest that it would be more constructive if,
instead, he (as a neo-con supporter) visited the similar memorials in Chile
or Vietnam.
I suppose at least, as Ive mentioned previously, Platts posts enable me to
keep track of the latest fear inducing propaganda to appear on talk-radio or
Fox News without having the trouble of tuning into these stations myself.
Its a much appreciated if often disturbing service though God knows what
the creators of South Park would think if they realised that one of their
most extreme caricatures (the hippy hating Cartman) was actually alive and
well. Truth is indeed sometimes stranger than fiction.
Best wishes,
Dr McCommielover
P.S. Though I had never heard Rush Limbaugh before, when he appeared briefly
on BBC Radio 4 last year, it took me less than 30 seconds to recognise who
exactly the moronic Red Neck voice belonged to.
.
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