US Fascism Has Arrived Thanks to 30 Years of Right-Wing Talk Radio Dominance

newiceberg@piefed.social to politics @lemmy.world – 750 points – US Fascism Has Arrived Thanks to 30 Years of Right-Wing Talk Radio Dominance | Common Dreams
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The GOP hold on most of American radio seems pretty unshakable, but Democrats must get into the talk-radio game before ever more damage is done.

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There should be regulation around use of the word "news". Many of these stations call themselves "News Radio" as if they only reported verifiable facts, but well over 50% is opinion.

Anything presented as news should be kept separate from opinion. If it's news, you should be able to defend it like it was said under oath.

Personally, I would love it if news channels had to distinguish opinion content from news by removing the word news from the screen and replacing it with the word opinion. That or some other clear and unmistakable signal to the audience should be there to establish whether the station is going on record and asserting facts or whether this is some talking head spewing bullshit.

It's crazy that news papers have been doing this forever. You have your news section and opinion and editorial section. TV and radio should definitely follow the format and be clear about what they are presenting.

I mean News Corp lawyers testified in court that what is presented on Fox News is purely for entertainment and should not be considered news.

How many of the Fox Faithful know about that? And would anything change if they did?

Speaking of regulation, their hateful opinions getting such a far reach is a direct result of the telocommunications act of '96

Whilst the act for which you speak definitely accelerated the bullshit, it wasn't peaches and cream back in the day. Just look at the film Citizen Kane a fictitious (and lawsuit resistant) depiction of William Randolph Hearst. In it an exceptionally wealthy business man uses the media to promote his political aims. And to skew narratives outside of strict politics. A man who craves love and adoration but can't reciprocate. Remind you of anyone? I would say Musk's purchase of Twitter fills at least one of those molds, Trump the rest.

The milk and meat industry lost their shit when soy milk companies started calling their product "milk." The same outrage should be spent on these "news" organizations.

They tried with air America and it was ok but not really all that compelling. Truth and facts just don't sell like toxic divisive fantasies.

It needed better talent. Thom Hartmann was the sole survivor because he's actually listenable. Randi Rhodes and Ron Reagan were just shit. But progressive talk can be done well. Stephanie Miller is hilarious when she has the right crew, but she has a penchant for self-owning. She gave us John Fugelsang, who is just brilliant.

Love Thom Hartmann; listen to his podcast these days. I remember trying to listen to Randi Rhodes way back when, and...I just remember it being kind of headache-inducing. I also listen to Fugelsang's podcast now too....

Ronald Reagan started the fight to get rid of the Fairness Doctrine.

Back in the Cronkite Era, if a station ran an editorial it had to provide equal time for opposing views.

Rush Limbaugh and his gross career owes its entire existence to that. He is someone who believes that drug dealers and smugglers need to be shot without trial... and he himself was a drug dealer when he was hard for cash.

Tells you a good deal of what kind of person we're dealing with here.

He is someone who believes...

I just want to point out that this dude is dead in case you hadn't heard that piece of good news.

Oh I know he's dead. Best part is he is so old school that he dies at the age of 70. Which was the life expectancy of that time period.

that probably ranks near the bottom of the worst things he's said and done list.

And Clinton put the final nail in the coffin with the telecom Reform Act.

Reagan/Bush era lasted 1988 to 1992.

But yeah, let's blame Clinton and ignore the GOP controlled Congress.

US fascism had been here for decades. Too many people don't recognize fascism because they think fascism will arrive selling oppression and tyranny. If you're part of the privileged group fascism is selling you safety, normalcy, and tradition. (status quo)

The key point is they are selling BULLSHIT. Even if you are of the right color / party, you are one misstep away from being burned at the stake.

That's what most of these MAGA morons don't realize, they aren't going to be the rulers, they'll be cannon fodder for the 1%, and even part of the 1% IE Muskrat will have to watch their backs.

Fascism benefits no-one in reality... Even the leaders of the movement are constantly watching their backs because their allies are scumbags like themselves.

Going down that dark rabbit hole, I can see how some people might see some benefits.

Entire classes of jobs get reserved for you. All white collar jobs and the better blue collar jobs go to those with the right skin color and genitals.

You get a government provided sex maid to serve you at home. She is less likely to leave you because she less legal and economic options to do so. If she acts up against you, you are allowed to "correct" her.

There is a hierarchy of deference that you are high up on. You may not rank in the 1%, but your word means more than someone of a different gender or ethnicity.

People may be willing to risk their freedom for that elevated position.

Those are all fantasies. Every incarnation of a fascist government has always lead to war, famine and suffering from the regular people.

The fantasy you describe STILL requires cooperation, honestly and trust, which are impossible in a fascist dictatorship.

At best the 1% get a few years of living the high life like Saddam, but sooner or later it all falls in on itself.

The big shift from Truman to Trump has been the number of domestic residents benefiting from our fascist policies. That number is shrinking year after year.

Half a century ago, you could talk to a rising tide carrying all our ships. Did that tide come from blood spilled in Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim? Sure. But that wasn't our problem.

Now we're seeing the kind of brutal police tactics reserved for Vietnam and Iraq show up in Florida and on the Columbia University campus. We've got paramilitary goons targeting Haitians in Ohio, rather than in Haiti. We're increasingly reliant on prison labor to do the work of historical migrant labor. Our agitation against China isn't generating jobs in the MIC nearly as fast as it's killing jobs in the civilian sector.

If you’re part of the privileged group fascism is selling you safety, normalcy, and tradition.

A big goal of the AI Revolution is to shrink the number of people the Executive tier have to pay in order to keep their positions. And even executive positions are consolidating as businesses merge and buy one another out.

It's terrifying everyone, and Trump is just the guy who figured out how to sell traditional Republican voters a way out. Traditional Republican leaders only know how to preach austerity and justify poverty.

There were literally American Nazi rallies in the 40s and plenty of pro fascism movements after that.

Even in Canada. Most talk radio stations are right wing hate BS.

That’s why we need to defend cbc

And also strict regulation regarding broadcasted information. There ought to be fines for misinformation. Spreading lies and hate shouldn't count as "free speech".

Go to the top podcast lists and you’ll see that one is also dominated by right-wing personalities too.

Those that talk the most are usually the ones you should listen to the least.

US fascism arrived before radio was invented.

You’re free to leave. Because blanket statements and false accusations might work in your favor elsewhere.

The US? It's not free to leave temporarily or permanently, no idea who lied to you. More importantly it's conservatives like you that tend to give up instead of trying to make the world better.

I’m a conservative now? Boy, you really do like making your assumptions, don’t you? I’m going to guess that you’re no stranger to accusing people of supporting genocide, right?

Hilarious! Thanks for the laugh! Maybe check people’s comment history before making ignorant accusations and assumptions of others.

And are you seriously suggesting that I am incapable of leaving America if I chose? Man… I should cancel my vacation plans to Ireland I guess.

You're advocating and defending a conservative party, if you're not conservative that's just silly.

As far as your second sentence, 2/10.

You clearly have a reading comprehension problem.

That, or you’re a typical lemmy leftist that has no fucking clue what nuance is. My guess is that it’s a little of both with the latter being a result of the former.

It’s not a conservative stance to say America isn’t fascist. It is an ignorant stance to make blanket statements about an entire country of people, its history- and its entire culture of political belief.

I started off by suggesting that if they think America is fascist, they’re welcome to leave. YOU decided to blather on. Nonsense and poorly constructed attacks on who I am and what I believe in some sad semblance of a defense.

Learn how nuance affects everything that exists. The world isn’t black or white, yes or no, with us or against us. Nuance touches everything.

And learn it quick.

And neat how you managed to get the same amount of upvotes on your response mere minutes after making it- which was two hours after I commented and had zero downvotes. That seems to happen a lot with your comments I noticed. Your sock puppets won’t unwrite your ignorance.

You’re here in bad-faith. We’re done here.

In American politics the "love it or leave it" trope you are using is undeniably right-wing rhetoric. It was first popularized in that form by McCarthy and Nixon as a response to civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protests. It has since been used by Reagan, both Bushes, and Trump primary in response to either protests or immigrants that they believe have not sufficiently assimilated into American culture. It's also probably the most unAmerican trope currently used in American political discourse. Protest and criticism of government is fundamental to America's history and identity and is covered by 3 of the freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment.

I don’t care about tropes. The point is, if someone thinks it’s fascist here, they can leave. Go see if it’s better elsewhere. I’m simply pointing out that they have options.

Also, Everyone wins if they do. America loses an idiot that makes blanket falsehoods, and they find a place that isn’t fascist. But then again, if they think America is a fascist country- there will be nowhere they can go where someone like that will see anything different.

I’m not going to apologize for having little tolerance for ignorance. If that makes me a “conservative” in your eyes, then I’ll call you blind and move on and forget you existed moments later, but I’m not going to pretend to live in a word where nuanced topics don’t exist.

Don’t like being told to get the fuck out if you're not happy? Don’t make dumbass ignorant and childish statements.

When you go against the hivemind by making a comment which requires a nuanced interpretation, instead you get labeled a conservative because it’s easier and requires less thought.

Yeah. That’s exactly how shit goes down here if you stand in the way of all the manufactured outrage. These people actually want to be angry.

And the moment you try and illustrate how things like blanket generalizations and hive-minded black-and-white thinking are actually contrary to the concept of free thinking, you end up ironically becoming the villain of their little stories.

I appreciate tour willingness to join me in this firing line. It’s good to see someone else with a rational head on their shoulders.

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"Has arrived," as though it hasn't been churning just beneath the surface since the beginning, and succeeding in lifting its filthy maw above the water line many, many times.

No one who wants to hear what the left-of-right has to say listens to talk radio, but everyone who needs to hear it listens to talk radio.

Is an NPR program like 1A talk radio? I listen to that and many people who are traveling often do. It's not leftist, but it's decidedly anti-fascist simply by reporting the truth and bringing on experts to explain things. Two co-workers of mine have told me that they used to listen to NPR before "it got all political"- meaning they heard things they didn't want to be true. That's a bit of a tangent but these two people wouldn't listen to Rush Limbaugh or whoever took his toilet throne.

I assume since podcasts aren't on the radio they don't count as talk radio right? But discussion podcasts have blown talk radio away and there are so many flavors to choose from.

The GOP excels at informing the uninformed and giving false hope to downtrodden.

Making losers feel special is basically the whole point of MAGA

You can literally see the generational technical divide which is not clean.

I'd bet most households /car owners could have their age and political alignments rated solely on a few metrics.

  • Do you watch cable? Do you stream shows? Do you pirate.

  • Do you own a car? Use the radio or Bluetooth? Have a Spotify or YouTube account?

You'd easily see people's politics fit in with where they get their content.

Car use wouldn't be a good metric in the US (maybe more so in other countries). It's too necessary in most places. But otherwise I agree.

Talk radio is a bastion of old white men. Trying to sway it is a lost cause. The only hope is out lasting their deaths.

If Harris wins I think we have good shot of things moving back towards sanity, especially if she lasts two terms.

I live in the rural suburbs. Enormous pickup: Red, Hybrid sedan: Blue.

Needless to say, I drive a small car in a sea of V8s.

Guess my age:

I put on cable tv sometimes for background noise. I've got a free hookup.

I stream shows.

I've been pirating media since I was 13 years old.

I own a car, but I'm American and outside of the cities that have decent public transport.

I use the radio to listen to public radio. I could stream NPR just as easily but I travel a lot and check out local public radio.

I use Bluetooth to listen to podcasts and music.

I don't like Spotify much, and I suppose I have a YouTube account but I've never posted anything.

Profile me!

I don’t think there’s been one since Air America. Al Franken hung out there. Rachel Maddow.

Honestly radio is dying much like television.

Podcasting is the better space to get going.

Also tictoc.

We need to get the young folks of the incel pipeline .

Podcasting is the better space to get going.

Joe Rogan and other right-wing cranks.

Also tictoc.

A significant part of the rise of fascism in Europe among young people.

Anyway I do like podcasts, and it's full of good content (and so is tiktok presumably) but neither are lacking right-wing content.

It's better in my opinion to meet people where they're at. Radio isn't where they're at. That was my point.

The Majority Report on YouTube is fantastic.

The Daily Beans.

Beau of the Fifth Column.

I've Had it Podcast.

Vaush.

Pod Save America.

Bad Hasbara.

There are many more, but it's a matter of putting ears and eyes on where they need to be.

Getting young folks off the incel pipeline is going to be really tough in today's environment.

Incel is the new fat. Most of society immediately treats them like scum that did it to themselves. In a lot of cases both fat people and incels are at fault, but trashing them isn't going to fix the issues.

Your need to understand them and how they got there to try and change them or at least reduce new ones from being created. Not just hate them.

Most of the podcasts I listed represent counter arguments that may help. There's no simple way to change thought, but exposure to counter messaging, might bring about change.

Can we start labeling opinion articles? It can be misleading

The time to stop this fascist talk before it became a problem was 69 years ago

Talk radio is essentially a person telling you what to think and feel. It can't even be classified as learning because it's being done to you when you listen. It's a confirmation bias circle jerk. Democrats tend to be educated and educated people usually are repelled by the format.

I think NPR does a good job providing talk radio type material that isn't repellant to people with critical thinking skills.

Do you consider their offerings substantially different than talk radio?

I was forced to endure Rush Limbaugh (I think) while riding with my Dad. That show was just Rush ranting to himself, constructing straw men, then tearing them down over and over again. No real facts, sources, or guests. Just Rush yelling into the mic the entire time spewing garbage.

So ya, it can be a lot different.

Same, and I'm sorry. It was Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage for me. I remember realizing my father was an idiot at an earlier age than I might have otherwise because the arguments those two morons made were obviously so, so bad yet he just ate it all up.

Didn't we try this once with "Air America"?

We've tried this for a long time, to varying degrees of success, with public radio. I don't mean NPR although that will usually be a decent portion of local public radio.

I travel all the time. All over the US, although lately it's been limited to the middle/north east coast and Midwest. It's pretty fun to tune into the local public radio if you're close enough to get a signal. They can be really insightful like WAMU in DC about local stories.

They can be terrible like my local station that can only afford to run 1A (which is a good show) and a few localish music shows. The rest of the time is literally filled with fucking classical music. It's painful to listen to. Sorry to all the Bacchists and Mozartists out there but this shit sucks.

Anyway, check out the low end of the FM dial when you're traveling, you might collect some stations you like that you can stream later.

I've listened to public radio quite a bit. Right wing talk radio is fundamentally different. Hannity, Limbaugh, Alex Jones and their ilk are actively radicalizing listeners and intentional ideologues. Public radio is news, informational/educational content, and political debate. They're different in almost every other respect except that you use your ears for both.

The writer of the article, Thom Hartmann, was deeply involved in that. Sounds like he can't let go of a bad idea.

I live in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Everything is really spread out here and it's one of the places in the US where you just need a car. Lots of people here commute and a lot of them get their news from radio while driving. People who have the radio on at work will often have it on a talk station.

We had an NPR affiliate, but that went away in 2019. The only people on terrestrial radio in this area talking about current events now are right wing grievance screaming. I've watched this region become more conservative during that time.

Yeah let's definitely require AM radio in all new vehicles

How a little bit of Russian money can shape the retards in the south