When you are trying to figure out who is right on an issue, one way to decide is when one side tries to silence the words of the other. This, is course, is routine on university campuses, especially when it comes to the Israel-Palestine issue. The latest case comes to us courtesy of the National Organization of Women and Media Matters, both far-left groups now trying to get Rush Limbaugh off the air. Daily Caller has the story.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/04/media-matters-now-unite-to-force-limbaugh-off-the-air/
Of course, this all says much more about NOW and Media Matters than it does about Rush Limbaugh. Media Matters especially should know better because they are part of the media itself and should respect the rights of another media member to express his views. To try and force an opposing voice off the air is not only un-American, it is fascistic.
On this site, I routinely criticize MSNBC and the mainstream media in general. I have specifically criticized Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, and others. Never, however, have I called for them to be fired. Never have I called for their sponsors to be boycotted or pressured into lifting their ads. The way I figure it, they have a right to say their piece, and I have a right to critique it. That's where it starts, and that's where it ends.
This is the same tactic we see on university campuses, but in a slightly different form. Most of the University of California campuses have dealt with student-driven calls for the universities to divest from companies that do business with Israel. Pro-Israeli speakers who come to campuses to speak are routinely disrupted. The classic case was the disruption of the Israel ambassador to the US a couple of years back at UC Irvine. (I was a witness.) It is all because one side (which is heard on campus constantly without disruption) does not want the other side to even be heard. Such is what is going on now with NOW and Media Matters.
If you don't like Rush Limbaugh and what he has to say, simply turn the dial. It is that easy. However, there are some 20 million Americans who do want to hear what he has to say. They have just as much right to hear him as he has to speak.
Again, if you are trying to decide who is right on an issue, it is a good idea to look at the tactics of each side. That is why I always draw attention to the differences between the Tea Party groups and the Occupy groups. It is always easier to shout down or shut down the voice of your opponent than it is to debate with him. The left has given up on trying to debate Rush Limbaugh because they know they cannot win. Instead, they demonize him and try to still his voice. As long as this is America, that is just plain wrong.
Funny how about 99.9% of the time, Limbaugh is a big fat idiot, a humorist, a commentator, or otherwise not a serious or important voice. However, let him step on it now and again and he immediately, at least for a short time, becomes the head of the Republican party.
ReplyDeleteGee, elwood, have you forgotten that the chair of the Republican National Committee had to remark in public that Limbaugh isn't the leader of the party, the chair of the RNC is, AND that political pressure forced Steele to apologize to Limbaugh for saying that?
ReplyDeleteAll this was within the Republican Party, not the work of liberal Democratic feminazi pseudo-Marxists.