The phantom of lost liberty
Whether we’re looking into where to get the best deal on personal loans and debt consolidation or we simply want to hear fair and balanced reporting on both sides of the news (are there really only two sides… please), we can find it. Right?
Not if you listen to talk radio, says Brian Jennings, author of “Censorship: The Threat to Silence Talk Radio.” Check out what he has to say about the state of free speech at CensorshipBook.com. Click here for further commentary. He has a lot to say about Rep. Henry Waxman’s “investigation” of conservative talk radio, which just happens to be one of the last bastions of edutainment media where the conservative voice remains dominant (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, et al).
Cleaning the airwaves?
This crackdown that Jennings foresees would appear to run contrary to President Obama’s state desire to expand “diversity” in media ownership. The FCC, according to Jennings, has stated a similar goal. However, if what is happening now is the first step, “diversity” is being thrown out the window.
Current FCC chair Michael Copps has set May 7th as the date for the Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age. Fingers have been pointed at large radio ownership groups like Clear Channel, which has drawn FCC criticism for its narrow (read: conservative) viewpoint. If they’re able to break up the ownership of such broadcasting mammoths in favor of more diverse flavors as Obama has mandated, it seems likely that the conservative stranglehold on talk radio will be broken. Forced diversity will push conservative voices aside in the media. Aside from Fox News, there is no other mainstream, non-World Wide Web medium where conservatism flourishes.
Sounds like anti-diversity
Brian Jennings, a long-time talk radio programmer as well as the father of CensorshipBook.com, has this to say about the upcoming shift:
I can tell you this attack is not only real, it is the biggest danger we face in America. We can talk about how the “porkulus bill” creates debt for generations to come. We can point out the waste in the omnibus bill. We can assert that Obama is endangering our nation to more terrorism. But these leftists have a more important goal. If they control speech and thought, they control all our rights as Americans. All other rights hinge on our free speech rights. No other rights matter if free speech rights are compromised.
By its very nature, the FCC has tremendous power over traditional radio broadcasting. They can enforce regulations without the approval of Congress. Once Julius Genachowski is seated as the new head of the FCC, the board will sport a Democratic majority. Jennings predicts that the FCC will endeavor to force diversity on the airways, and they can do this via heavy fines, taxes and other regulations that can steer broadcast holders to give up their licenses – effectively “throwing in the towel,” he says. That will free up the frequencies for more “diverse” ownership and programming.
Even liberals should read CensorshipBook.com
In most matters, I do not consider myself to be a conservative. I find conservative talk radio to be laughable, but I listen because I like to know on occasion what that segment of America that eats up Rush, Hannity and Beck are thinking. Perhaps it’s a little bit of “know thine enemy,” but in all honesty, I like to know what people are saying, rather than assuming I know all the answers.
What bothers me about forced diversity is that it is an assault against the Constitutional right to free speech. Big brother (be he Democrat or Republican) is a danger to free thinkers worldwide. President Obama supports a redistribution of wealth, but if that means that other voices are indirectly silenced while others are allowed to drone on, America does not benefit. That is censorship in America.
To Obama, redistribution of media is apparently part of the grand scheme. To Brian Jennings and other concerned citizens who will read CensorshipBook.com, that is unacceptable. Forced diversity means forced socialism, which also means forcing free speech into the garbage disposal. So the next time you want to speak out against politicians who would take away your right to choose personal loans and debt consolidation, remember that we must always stand up against those who would censor the minority viewpoint and claim they’re in service of “diversity.”
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As I listen to the out-rage over radio censorship (1st amendment)or 2nd amendment rights violations, or privacy violations (fisa)that is being perpetrated by our government, why is it that the so call defenders of our constitutional rights play into this conservative vs liberal trap. They (Gov)created for us these opposing, polarizing groups. The name of the game is order out of chaos. You create group to war against each other to generate fear and distrust. I was listening to Jennings on TV. I agree hold heartedly with him BUT – Why doesn’t someone voice publicly on TV how the Gov is duping us. Namely – Thesis, Anti-thesis, Synthesis. They (Gov) created this mess, through long term strategic planning. For instance in 1913 Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve into existence; Franklin D. Roosevelt took our money off the Gold and Silver standard around 1931; Obama drives up the Fed debt by giving the American people’s money to the filthy rich money barons, ect. They messed us up and now they are sitting back waiting for the American public to ask for the solution that they have waiting in the wings for us- Socialism/Communism? In other words, total enslavement. I’m a black person but I must say that Obama is nothing but an abomination and a traitor.
As much as I relish the idea of censoring the more annoying of conservative talk radio commentators, the freedom of speech is the amongst the most important of our freedoms, if not THE most important. The second the freedom of speech is subordinated to any one particular group, or anyone’s delicate sensibilities, the door to tyranny is opened. Tyranny of the majority or of the minority is tyranny all the same. As much as I find myself in disagreement with a lot of these broadcasters, and as annoying and boorish as I find people like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage (even though he IS banned from Britain), their right to spew their diatribes is an essential to democracy, and must be preserved.