John B. Wells

[Sleepwalker]

Not to mention illogical and born out of a deluded sense of self-importance.  JBW is just one of a small cadre of lackluster hosts killing time on a fading late-night radio program which long ago lost any political relevance it may have once had.  It all gets increasingly incoherent with each passing year.

It would appear the Noory/Wells definition of a "hater" is anyone who isn't delusional or paranoid.

[ItsOver]

           I'm convinced that more sooner than later, C2C will be liquidated without warning. Premiere will issue a terse statement on a friday afternoon and boom- the show will be in the wind.Good riddance to bad garbage.
       

That's what I've been expecting for awhile.  "Ground Zero" suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I expect PremRat will pull the plug on the C2C crazy train without any prior notice.  "C2C??? What C2C???  Never heard of it."  The Nooron will be completely relegated to late night infomercials for the latest cleaning product scam.  Unfortunately, they'll probably replace C2C with something worse.  I can see it a now, a paranormal sports show. 

[Yorkshire pud]

That's what I've been expecting for awhile.  "Ground Zero" suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I expect PremRat will pull the plug on the C2C crazy train without any prior notice.  "C2C??? What C2C???  Never heard of it."  The Nooron will be completely relegated to late night infomercials for the latest cleaning product scam.  Unfortunately, they'll probably replace C2C with something worse.  I can see it a now, a paranormal sports show. 

Marketing meeting: "Okay guys, C2C is dead and buried, I'm getting a different vibe..what about Pole to pole?"


"Yeah, we can run with that..the new show is to be Pole to pole"

[ItsOver]

Marketing meeting: "Okay guys, C2C is dead and buried, I'm getting a different vibe..what about Pole to pole?"


"Yeah, we can run with that..the new show is to be Pole to pole"

Sounds par for the course for the same PremRat flunkies that brought us such "gems" as Jorch Nooree and FrankenBong.

[morphiaflow]

I'm a big Saturday Night Live fan, and there are a couple of books about it--Saturday Night by Hill & Weingrad, and Live From New York by Shales and Miller--that I've read, and continue to re-read, so often they are literally falling apart.

One of the most compelling recurring aspects of the SNL story is just how close it came to cancellation, numerous times, especially in the 80s.

And on that topic, one of the NBC executives who is interviewed says everytime they came close to cancelling it, or actually DID cancel it but didn't make it public, they would stop themselves and say--"Well, OK, we're cancelling this institution, but what do we replace it with? What's our game plan?"

And that would force them to look at it in a whole new light--perhaps the light of Gilbert Gottfried's genius statement about SNL: It's gone far beyond being good or bad, it's just a restaurant in a good location.

So regarding COAST...you can debate the degrees to which it compares to SNL as an institution or even a restaurant in a good location. But I absolutely think the overall comparison is relevant, because even if that topic of cancellation HAS come up in the halls of Clear Channel or Premiere, it's been strongly met with "well ok, we cancel Coast, what do we replace it with?"

The fact is, Coast to Coast AM is a brand. An established brand with a solid track record which probably has minimal overhead and maximum profitability. And in terms of the political and social sensibility that has overtaken it in recent years under Noory and now Wells, it's really of a piece with much of the rest of the programming that Premiere, Clear Channel, and most of their affiliate stations already air. Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Beck, et al ad nauseam, who can all be heard on the same stations that Coast is heard on, offer far-right paranoia, nicely packaged with all the appropriate buzzwords. Coast has simply become the beacon for the fringiest element of that demographic, and it's a frighteningly large one--but it's simply brand loyalty, friends.

We remember what Coast has been and we despise what it's become, but any talk of its cancellation is sheer wish-fulfillment on our part (and for those of us who love and miss Art Bell and are loyal to Coast as HE created it, the notion provides a vicarious sense of vengeance on his behalf, as well). But the reality is that it's not going to happen anytime soon if ever, despite the occasional affiliate dropping the show (and even when that happens, another affiliate in that market invariably scoops it back up).

Coast, as of 2013, is a brand and a product, and as such, it continues to provide exactly what its corporate parents want it to provide--an acceptable level of mediocrity that can be served up and repeated ad infinitum. As long as it continues to perform well in that capacity, it's in no danger of cancellation; and even when its hosts have clearly crossed over the line into incitement, as Wells has more than I can count (particularly his vile comments post-Aurora and post-Sandy Hook), they have not been replaced, I think because the only "outcry" is HERE, on this board, and a few other isolated blips on the internet. When Wells, in particular, says those things, he's simply voicing and reinforcing what his listeners already believe. He's not selling anything they don't want to buy, or indeed anything they don't already own. This is what Coast is now, and it's not going to change.

The Art Bell listeners don't complain because they don't listen anymore. That audience has been subsumed and replaced by a dumber, more gullible and far less critical listenership happy to believe the earth is 6500 years old, peak oil is a commie myth, all brown people should be shot at the border, and our Muslim president was born in Kenya. Coast feeds their own pabulum back at them and they're happy to eat it up, pumping their fists in the air and saying "Thank God SOMEONE in the media has the guts to tell the REAL truth!"

And let's face it....if Coast *WERE* to be cancelled, they wouldn't go with something MORE paranormal, and they wouldn't go MORE mainstream. Instead, they'd probably just go MORE fringe/wingnut, and replace it with Alex Jones, since that's the direction it's already going. There would be a huge gap in the late night programming schedule, and here's an already existing program with a huge following and a host with national name recognition largely BECAUSE of his frequent appearances on COAST. If you think they'd go in any other direction you're crazier than Jones and Wells combined.

Maybe Coast would be vulnerable to the right attack; maybe when Art implies he COULD take Coast down if he wished, he knows something we don't know. But for now, from the outside, it's just wishful thinking. I like to think that Coast could be subverted from within by someone like Simone, who I really think is pretty good despite his Noory tutelage, or Knapp, who is at all times excellent--but I don't see it happening. Simone doesn't really seem to have the personality, and Knapp's made it clear he's not interested in doing more than he does. (I also think he's stuck between a rock and a hard place: he knows what Coast has become, but as a friend and former collaborator of Art's, he probably feels some sense of responsibility to keep at least a shred of Art's integrity associated with the show. That, and he's probably also under contract.) If anything, Wells is on track to take over for Noory, that's what he's being groomed for, he knows it, and his arrogance proceeds as much from that knowledge as his own base personality.

I don't mean to sound hopeless: that's not my nature. Indeed, I hope I'm wrong about all of this. And I truly hope Art comes back at some point with a new show; but even if he does, I don't expect he will take down the COAST juggernaut. I believe he's still got plenty of life left in him, but his age and family commitments would almost certainly keep him from tearing into it the way he could have 15 or 20 years ago. And there's no way I see it being 7 or even 5 nights a week, 4 to 5 hours a night. The most I'd hope for from him would simply be a quality new show, once or twice a week, that he hosted on his terms, with complete freedom and creative control, in whatever format/venue/platform he deems fit. I think that's a reasonable hope, and even if we ever get that much, we should be grateful. Anything more would be a bonus.

But for the time being and the foreseeable future, COAST ain't going anywhere. Whatever brand loyalty *I* may have ever had to it, however, is long gone. So as much fun as it is to bash Wells because he's just awful (I don't even bother bashing Noory because there's really no point) and generally lament the sad, sorry state of what this beloved instution has become...I'm pretty much done with it. I'll listen to Knapp, Ian or Simone when they do host, and I have tons of Art-hosted episodes on my iPod (and I even get to occasionally interact with the man on Facebook); and I do enjoy reading and occasionally posting to this board. But otherwise, I just put it out of my mind. Just like people do with SNL past their personal cutoff point.

Because in the end, good or bad, it IS just a restaurant in a good location. I simply don't care for the new menu.

[RedMichael]

I think most don't like JBW because he is clearly incompetent, not qualified, and he peddles his wares/side projects shamelessly almost every show. Im not talking about mentioning his website, I am talking about dedicating programs around subjects that would influence listeners to buy stuff...conveniently located on his website.


I have NEVER thought JBW sounded intelligent and to his credit he doesn't try to (unlike Snoory). He does sound like a cool cat I guess. Ya I could say that irks me when he is shamelessly trying to move sales.

[dennis1966]

I never thought Snoory was particularly political, just a simpleton who somehow failed upward. JBW has a loony agenda and brings his Right Wingnut theories into every discussion, paranormal or otherwise. He Like Alex Jones, thinks he is starting some kind of fringe movement of REAL Americans against them/they/NWO/Bildergergers/Aliens/Enslavement. His screeners also seem to let through only callers who share his scary views, so open lines devolves into a feeding frenzy of fear, anger and lunacy.

I fear my days of listening to C2C are over. It is actually rare now when a topic/guest comes on that I am interested on and the host (Noory or Wells) doesn't step all over his dick during the interview.

Does anyone else notice when Ian or George Knapp host the show, callers are much more intelligent and not allowed to ramble and babble endlessly about their personal lives. It feels as if the producers actually only put through the ignorant and uninformed when Snorge and JBDumbass are on.

[Yorkshire pud]

<snip>
Because in the end, good or bad, it IS just a restaurant in a good location. I simply don't care for the new menu.

I thought your post nailed it, and could apply elsewhere too unfortunately. The 'hell yeah' is frighteningly true. Preach to the converted; and there are non so evangelical than the newly converted.

[ShayP]

ATTN: morphiaflow.......nice, eye-opening post.  Cheers. 

[ItsOver]

...Does anyone else notice when Ian or George Knapp host the show, callers are much more intelligent and not allowed to ramble and babble endlessly about their personal lives. It feels as if the producers actually only put through the ignorant and uninformed when Snorge and JBDumbass are on.

I think the quality of the callers rises to the level of the host.  With Jorch and FrankenBong, you're down to the shrimp refuse level.


Fortunately, Knapp is on tonight.  I'm sure Leir will be as crazy as ever but Bigelow may be interesting.  At least Noory won't be around to detract from the show.  Noory is not only no value-added, he's a big value-subtracted to any broadcast.

[VtaGeezer]

...JBW has a loony agenda and brings his Right Wingnut theories into every discussion, paranormal or otherwise. He Like Alex Jones, thinks he is starting some kind of fringe movement of REAL Americans against them/they/NWO/Bildergergers/Aliens/Enslavement. His screeners also seem to let through only callers who share his scary views, so open lines devolves into a feeding frenzy of fear, anger and lunacy.

All part of Prem Radio's business plan for C2C.  I don't think it's a coincidence that PR; the biggest outlet for rightwing radio nationally; hired the likes of Wells.  There's gold in them rightwingers. They want a Beckish messiah-type, but one who'll work with the late night audience, which is nothing like the daytime.  Wells' presence on C2C will gradually expand...the issue is whether he is too hip for the weeknight audience; Noory's army of losers. 


And, btw, what's up with the forum software's problem with inserting tiny fonts on pasted text?

[PB the Deplorable]

.. all brown people should be shot at the border...

Get most of your information from the sages on the Comedy Channel?

[Yorkshire pud]

Get most of your information from the sages on the Comedy Channel?

Or you could put that in context:

The Art Bell listeners don't complain because they don't listen anymore. That audience has been subsumed and replaced by a dumber, more gullible and far less critical listenership happy to believe the earth is 6500 years old, peak oil is a commie myth, all brown people should be shot at the border, and our Muslim president was born in Kenya. Coast feeds their own pabulum back at them and they're happy to eat it up, pumping their fists in the air and saying "Thank God SOMEONE in the media has the guts to tell the REAL truth!"

[West of the Rockies]

Or you could put that in context:

Context is pretty important, Yorkshire...

I appreciate the content and obvious effort you put into your post, Morphia... I, too, think we're all sort of a bunch of kids in a field blowing on dandelions, hoping our wishes come true, that Art Bell will return and bring with him engaging, thought-provoking radio that actually values critical thinking and a bit of skepticism.  I'd be very surprised if he does return now.  I think he probably could -- it would not be like some athlete who has been out of the game for a few years deciding to try to play again.  The voice, the mind, they're both still there for Art, I am sure.  The drive and energy?  I don't know....

We hear the term "echo chamber" quite often.  I think that is what C2C and AM radio in general have become.  A handful of preachers (some of them actually true believers, most of them hucksters and grifters) who are stirring the pot of misinformation, building their little empires, stoking their egos while the fevered listeners sway and shout, "Amen... tell it, brother!" 

Of course, it appears that more and more of our culture has become fixated on appealing to the lowest common denominator (what, 15-year-old boys?).  Someone makes a comment and says, "'nuff said," with the right tone and attitude, and the conversation is over.  A well-delivered "Whatever!" now wins over cogent reasoning.  Reality TV, argutainment, 5-second "news" soundbytes rule the day for a lot of our fellow Americans.  We live in interesting times....

[PB the Deplorable]

You guys are defending that comment?  How exactly did his 'context' make it ok to accue anyone of thinking 'all brown people should be shot at the border'?   Is that really what we should be pouring into the body politic?  I hear people ask what gave the word Liberal a bad name.  Here you go.


Maybe I should have added 'The Comedy Channel feeds their own pablum back to them and they're happy to eat it up, pumping their fists in the air and saying 'Thank God SOMEONE in the media has the guts to tell the Real truth'

[RedMichael]

We are all forgetting something.


If Art did a new show, guests would come out of the wood work wanting to be on his show, he would have tons of connections and more respect than Noory. He would have the pick of the litter with guests. The guest's excitement would rub off on him. He doesn't have to limit himself like some C2C hosts have to or should.


He wouldn't have to worry about what guests were on C2C because he could interview the same people as Noory but the interviews would sound completely different.


On top of that, it would make waves in the news. As much as an overnight radio show can. There would be a buzz.


He could make his own schedule. He could work a few nights a week doing a podcast type deal and that would be more than enough for me.


So in short, it is a lot easier for Art to return to radio then for him to stay out of radio really. It is in the blood.

[morphiaflow]

You guys are defending that comment?  How exactly did his 'context' make it ok to accue anyone of thinking 'all brown people should be shot at the border'?   Is that really what we should be pouring into the body politic?  I hear people ask what gave the word Liberal a bad name.  Here you go.

I hope that this is the only response I need to make to Paperboy's comments, which I planned to simply ignore. I do not need to explain or justify myself to you, Paperboy, or to anyone, though I appreciate Yorkshire, West of the Rockies and others for complimenting and defending me (some privately). But because it so rankles me to be accused of being so weak-minded that I form my worldview from any single source of information, be it Comedy Central or any other, I will deign to answer your foolish assumptions about me on this occasion.

I do not define or describe myself as a liberal or as anything for else that matter. My own views and beliefs are a mixture of things left, right, center, up and down that do not fall into anyone's category, box or label. As for my sources of information, I do not align myself with CNN, MSNBC, Comedy Central, Fox News, the Onion or anyone else. I take what I hear and read, aggregate it, assimilate, think about it, and decide for myself. Which may include accepting or rejecting information from any or all of those sources as well as my own life experiences and one-on-one encounters with people who often think differently than I do.

And on THAT count, living in Phoenix, AZ--the heart of Arpaio country--I have known plenty--PLENTY of people who believe *exactly* what I have described and even worse. I have encountered these people in the course of my work, social and sadly even my family lives (such that when political or social issues come up at family gatherings I tend to leave the room rather than get drawn in).

I'm not "accusing" anyone of anything; not a single thing I posted was made up or drawn from Comedy Central,  up to and including the vile "shoot brown people at the border" comment--yes, there are many, MANY people who believe that, or who at least, claim to believe that. And while I'm pretty sure you'll distrust any media source I DO give you, do a search of www.phoenixnewtimes.com for Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio, militias, minutemen, Arizona nazi/skinheads, or Jason Todd Ready and you will see that this is, indeed, a hotbed of racial tension, most of it directed against brown persons from white persons, though sadly it goes in all directions and is happily incited by troublemakers of ALL skin tones, which is the saddest part of all.

(And yes, as a white person myself, I've been on the receiving end of resentment from NON white people--but also FROM white people of "higher" stations than myself. But I prefer to fight fire with water on most occasions. The game only ends when people rise above it and refuse to play.)

So you can take your own reactionary rhetoric, and your accusations that I don't know what I'm talking about, or your assertion that my Comedy Central is the source of my worldview, and shove them anywhere that you like, including any appropriately brown orifice of your own. But I'll thank you to keep them away from me.

[West of the Rockies]

You guys are defending that comment?  How exactly did his 'context' make it ok to accue anyone of thinking 'all brown people should be shot at the border'?   Is that really what we should be pouring into the body politic?  I hear people ask what gave the word Liberal a bad name.  Here you go.


Maybe I should have added 'The Comedy Channel feeds their own pablum back to them and they're happy to eat it up, pumping their fists in the air and saying 'Thank God SOMEONE in the media has the guts to tell the Real truth'

Hi, Paperboy ~ Yes, you make a very good point and I apologize.  I fell victim to the sort of reductionist, demonizing thinking I rail against so often.  I think there ARE some people who think such things, just as their ARE some uber liberal types who probably think that socializing everything is the best way forward.  I do not think that all conservatives (or even a plurality of them) believe such things. It was wrong.  Mea culpa.  It is a good lesson for me to truly think about my words more carefully.

My parents were very conservative.  My father insisted he was an indie because he voted for JFK in 1960 (but otherwise was all Repub all the time).  He and my mother were kind, generous, honorable people.  They held jobs, paid taxes, raised four children without abusing us in anyway.  They weren't perfect, but they were good human beings.  On the other hand, yesterday at Easter dinner, my wife's aunt said that Mexican and black people all abuse their animals, that they are just different from white people in that way.  (Most of the time, I think this woman is actually polite, thoughtful and generous.  Sometimes, however, it appears we are all capable of saying and doing things we regret, yes?

Again, I apologize for my reductionist wording and piling on.

[mombird3]

On the "shoot at the border " thing : Sometimes we say things we regret. When I read it I had to read it twice. See how out of context a remark cab change the way a person feels about an issue or a person? Think before you write something.

[Scully]

... That audience has been subsumed and replaced by a dumber, more gullible and far less critical listenership happy to believe the earth is 6500 years old, peak oil is a commie myth, all brown people should be shot at the border, and our Muslim president was born in Kenya. Coast feeds their own pabulum back at them and they're happy to eat it up, pumping their fists in the air and saying "Thank God SOMEONE in the media has the guts to tell the REAL truth!" ...

I come from Texas. (You know, down Mexico way.)  I still have relatives there, some intelligent and very well-educated, others just street smart.  All very religious Christian people.  Morphia has described them well (except for the "dumb" part.) 

[morphiaflow]

On the "shoot at the border " thing : Sometimes we say things we regret. When I read it I had to read it twice. See how out of context a remark cab change the way a person feels about an issue or a person? Think before you write something.

Mama: My remark was well-considered and written IN context. I can't help if others took it OUT of context.

Scully, yes, I will correct myself. While there are plenty of parroting "bubbas", the fact is many of the people we're talking about are NOT dumb. At all. Hell, I've read some VERY well-thought out and intelligently written things defending beliefs I absolutely abhor. If anything, the twisting of the intellect is another tragedy in all this.

[Scully]

... Scully, yes, I will correct myself. While there are plenty of parroting "bubbas", the fact is many of the people we're talking about are NOT dumb. At all. Hell, I've read some VERY well-thought out and intelligently written things defending beliefs I absolutely abhor. If anything, the twisting of the intellect is another tragedy in all this.

I'm wit ya all the way, Pal.  It IS a tragedy that so many intellects have been twisted so badly.  Constantly amazes me that intelligence has little to do with it.  The reasons are many, I think. 

[PB the Deplorable]

I'm wit ya all the way, Pal.  It IS a tragedy that so many intellects have been twisted so badly.  Constantly amazes me that intelligence has little to do with it.  The reasons are many, I think. 

Well, when we have a border wide open, an estimated 20-30 million or more mostly poor illegal aliens in our country, tax dollars we don't have being spent on medical, schooling, housing, food stamps, welfare, jail space, all the social programs for them.  Emergency rooms closing down because they have to take everyone that shows up, then not getting paid or reimbursed, and ending up operating at a loss.  An enormous amount of crime, cartels and gangs moving in, ranches and parkland along the border getting trashed, border agents being shot. 

We have the Obama Administration suing border states that are trying to address the problem, winning the cases, then sitting back and allowing it to go on unaddressed.  We have the Obama Administration handing out guns to the the cartels - remember the Fast and Furious program? - then not tracking them, then refusing to answer qustions Congressional oversight committees have when people end up being killed by these same weapons on both sides of the border (Obama abused Executive Privilege in telling Congress to shove their investigation).   We have Phoenix as the number two kidnapping city in the world, after Mexico City. 

We don't need what has happened to Mexico with the Narco-terrorists  - a formerly beautiful, friendly, fairly safe, law abiding country - making more inroads here than it already has.

Yeah, people are going to get upset.  Very upset.  Yet I don't see anyone shooting 'all brown people at the border'.   Do you?   No.   Because it's BS. 

I don't have anythng against the people from Mexico or anywhere else in Latin America.  The people from there I know or interact with are pretty friendly.  Nearly all just want a better life.  But this is our country, and we need to take in people only as fast as we can absorb them - especially now with poor economic conditions and jobs that are scarce, we need to screen applicants for cartel and gang members. We need to know who is coming in.  The idea that anyone opposing a completely open border must be a person that just wants to shoot brown people is so fucked up that I can't even believe I have to read it and see it supported - by seemingly intelligent people.  No wonder we get people like Barrack Obama in office.


What I have seen, though, since at least the Reagan Administration, is the Democrats and Liberals calling anyone that opposes any of their policies or appointees, or challenging them on anything, Nazis, making Hitler references, calling them racists.  Routinely.  They also do the same thing when anyone else proposes policies they don't like.  It's so ingrained in the popular culture by now that people just seem to throw it into any conversation as if it's just something everyone knows and accepts as true.  I see these comments as more of the same, unless someone can site specific comments specific peole make that are truly racist, and not just policy differences.

And guess what. After 40 years of it, some people are finally starting to push back.  Want to know why the two political sides are so at each other in our society - start with this stuff.  I followed your link, Morfiaflow, and I didn't see ANY references to anyone wanting to 'shoot all brown people at the border'.  I will admit after entering those folks in the search section of the link and not finding anything like that right away, I didn't spend a huge amount of time on it.

[Scully]

[size=78%]... What I have seen, though, since at least the Reagan Administration, is the Democrats and Liberals calling anyone that opposes any of their policies or appointees, or challenging them on anything, Nazis, making Hitler references, calling them racists.  Routinely.  They also do the same thing when anyone else proposes policies they don't like.  It's so ingrained in the popular culture by now that people just seem to throw it into any conversation as if it's just something everyone knows and accepts as true.  I see these comments as more of the same, unless someone can site specific comments specific peole make that are truly racist, and not just policy differences.[/size]

And guess what. After 40 years of it, some people are finally starting to push back. ...

This is amazingly similar to how I see things too, Paper*Boy, only I see it as the Liberals being the ones who are finally starting to push back against the Limbaughs and the Becks and the Hannitys and the Alex Joneses and so on and on and on. Funny how two people can see the same thing in reverse image.


As for the "shooting brown people at the border" being BS, that's what I think every time I hear someone yelling bloody murder that Obama is "taking our guns away."  I want to ask them how many guns has he taken so far?  How many brown people have been shot at the border so far?  Both sides will argue that the key word is "yet."


Also, when people get political, hyperbole will slip out from time to time. It happens.


John B. Wells sucks.

[Yorkshire pud]

You guys are defending that comment?  How exactly did his 'context' make it ok to accue anyone of thinking 'all brown people should be shot at the border'?   Is that really what we should be pouring into the body politic?  I hear people ask what gave the word Liberal a bad name.  Here you go.


Maybe I should have added 'The Comedy Channel feeds their own pablum back to them and they're happy to eat it up, pumping their fists in the air and saying 'Thank God SOMEONE in the media has the guts to tell the Real truth'

Stage one: wind your neck in.


Stage two: The context is everything. No sensible person would advocate shooting brown people at the border; BUT those that do advocate doing so, exist. They exist in the UK, the USA, a lot of Eurpean countries; to say they don't is rubbish.. Morphia wasn't defending the thought processes that go into it, just pointing it out AND (the important part) these groups of minorities tend to attach themselves to the like minded, and if they can find a web site or radio show that reflects back and forth their own thought processes, in their mind, they're correct in their thinking*..As I said, context.


*There are other such sites on the net; Whereby a few spout off at each other and confirming what they've thought is correct..Youtube is also a prime example of mutual appreciation; no matter how outlandish/unreasonable/crazy/stupid/idiotic/moronic...

[RedMichael]

Stage one: wind your neck in.


Stage two: The context is everything. No sensible person would advocate shooting brown people at the border; BUT those that do advocate doing so, exist. They exist in the UK, the USA, a lot of Eurpean countries; to say they don't is rubbish.. Morphia wasn't defending the thought processes that go into it, just pointing it out AND (the important part) these groups of minorities tend to attach themselves to the like minded, and if they can find a web site or radio show that reflects back and forth their own thought processes, in their mind, they're correct in their thinking*..As I said, context.


*There are other such sites on the net; Whereby a few spout off at each other and confirming what they've thought is correct..Youtube is also a prime example of mutual appreciation; no matter how outlandish/unreasonable/crazy/stupid/idiotic/moronic...

This is true in my opinion. The majority of the very far right are satisfied easily by anecdotal evidence. As long as it goes with their talking points. They need the validation. The beauty is the validation can come from literally ANYONE who agrees with them. Disagreeing with someone requires so much more thought than saying "yep". If there are disagreements it is over minor nuances and nothing major. They conform to their party's platform instead of making the party conform to them. They have no platform independent of what they hear about, they can't think past black and white absolutes.  A large portion of these people get their "information" from chain e-mails in the states. I have been forwarded these...they are hilarious then depressing when you realize this is ate up and taken as fact.

Questioning a view point, using sarcasm to make a point in jest, etc is impossible. Another website I visited posted an interesting poll. "Can you be friends with someone from the opposite party?" yes/no. Well it was almost split evenly but from the comments I would venture to say it was 75/25 rep/dem who voted no. As you pointed out Yorkshire, they attach themselves to the like minded.

Again this is the very far right. That definition of very far right is the logical definition. I say that because everyone in the far right thinks they are moderate. (fun fact, conservatives in a lot of other democracies are more left than what a neocon would call a liberal)

/rant off


anyways, I am disgusted I typed so much about anything in a John B. Wells thread.

[Yorkshire pud]

(fun fact, conservatives in a lot of other democracies are more left than what a neocon would call a liberal)

I've pointed this out ad infinitum when pointing out that Obama isn't left by any stretch; But it doesn't 'fit' the desire to dislike anything that has democrat in it's name, so it's ignored.

[West of the Rockies]

This is amazingly similar to how I see things too, Paper*Boy, only I see it as the Liberals being the ones who are finally starting to push back against the Limbaughs and the Becks and the Hannitys and the Alex Joneses and so on and on and on. Funny how two people can see the same thing in reverse image.


As for the "shooting brown people at the border" being BS, that's what I think every time I hear someone yelling bloody murder that Obama is "taking our guns away."  I want to ask them how many guns has he taken so far?  How many brown people have been shot at the border so far?  Both sides will argue that the key word is "yet."


Also, when people get political, hyperbole will slip out from time to time. It happens.


John B. Wells sucks.

Wells certainly does suck!  More to the point though (regarding the bulk of your above comment), yes, it is funny how both sides respond to things through their own filters, prejudices, biases, etc.  I meant it when I said in an above comment that I regretted my wording.  Nonetheless, like you, I usually feel like liberals are blamed for all ills.  And when a conservative makes an asinine comment and is called on it, all too often that person or his/her defenders will cry out, "Hey, you libtards, you're supposed to be tolerant!  Why can't you tolerate my incredibly racist/homophobic/misogynistic behavior?"  I guess libs are supposed to just say, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"  Thankfully, there are some well-intentioned people on the right who won't participate in such behavior.  And, yes, I think there are plenty of liberals who say stupid, untrue things as well.

What I think is pretty nifty though is that people of all different backgrounds and perspectives can come together, air their thoughts, argue their points, and be heard.

[morphiaflow]

I guess libs are supposed to just say, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"

Duh. That's EXACTLY what they're "supposed" to do. And far too often that's all they HAVE done and DO.

Ultimately it's kind of like the famous (language alert) dick/pussy/asshole speech from Team America. Except that by and large, for me, American politics is much simpler. The right are bullies, the left are pussies; when the right has the power, they do what the fuck they want and make NO apologies to anyone; when the Left has the power, they usually whine and snivel and still act like pussies who know they're going to get caught by the bullies again someday--even while those selfsame bullies are trying to pass themselves off as the "victims" of the bully left. It's a vicious, ugly cycle and is a big part of the reason why regardless of where I might identify idealogically, I just want no part of, or as little as necessary. And mind you, this is not an admission of me being a "lib" or endorsing liberal politics or thinking. Honestly there are things about the left I detest just as much as on the right. But in the end, I don't FEAR the left the way I fear the right....

[West of the Rockies]

Duh. That's EXACTLY what they're "supposed" to do. And far too often that's all they HAVE done and DO.

Ultimately it's kind of like the famous (language alert) dick/pussy/asshole speech from Team America. Except that by and large, for me, American politics is much simpler. The right are bullies, the left are pussies; when the right has the power, they do what the fuck they want and make NO apologies to anyone; when the Left has the power, they usually whine and snivel and still act like pussies who know they're going to get caught by the bullies again someday--even while those selfsame bullies are trying to pass themselves off as the "victims" of the bully left. It's a vicious, ugly cycle and is a big part of the reason why regardless of where I might identify idealogically, I just want no part of, or as little as necessary. And mind you, this is not an admission of me being a "lib" or endorsing liberal politics or thinking. Honestly there are things about the left I detest just as much as on the right. But in the end, I don't FEAR the left the way I fear the right....

That's definitely one of the populist takes on American politics, one I've heard comedians and pundits suggest.  I think there is more than a grain of truth in the point, too.  It is all very junior high school though, isn't it?  Well, what is the average adult American reading level nowadays -- somewhere around 7th grade?  I heard on NPR a few years ago a statistic that went a bit like this:  the average American spends about 9 hours a day connected to the media -- print journalism, television, the internet, the radio, movies, music (MP3 players, CD's, etc.), books, computer games, etc.  Of that nine hours, approximately 3-4 minutes of it is spent on actual books.  That figure suggests that there are a great many people who do not read books at all!  What do we give up when we shun books?  (That's a rhetorical question....)

So is it any wonder that the body politic is rampant with faulty reasoning, misinformation, fear, anger, resentment, and so forth?  Damn... is it too early to hit the Guiness?