Wit or Wisdom

Ironically, my last post was partially centered around talk radio and the need to protect it as part of the First Amendment. However, this post is going to target an element of talk radio for criticism.

Every night, at nine o’clock on the FM talk radio station in my hometown, a man comes on. This man has had his own television show in the past. He has written several books. His audience is twenty million. He calls it “The Savage Nation.”

His kind give the rest of us a bad name. His favorite thing to do is call names and make ceaseless, irrelevant, and, quite frankly, inaccurate personal attacks. His arguments are sloppy. If you don’t agree with him, he yells at you, hangs up on you, and calls you a gay communist. That or a gay Nazi. He tells callers that they or those think like they do should “go to hell.” This same man frequently invokes the name of “god” to defend his arguments. Conservative Christian? I think not. He’s been known to say that god is in us all, and says those who invoke the Christian God are being unfair. He brags ceaselessly. And, unlike with the pioneer of conservative talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, he actually sounds like he believes his boasts.

Does he support good things? Sometimes, no doubt. Does he have some good points? Sure, on occasion. Yet by and large, Michael Savage is what’s wrong with America. Bernie Goldberg placed him on the list of top 100 people who are screwing up America. For good reason. He is, essentially, the conservative counterpart to Al Franken. Yet, if he is such a “pompous windbag” (as a good friend of mine would say), then why does he have so many listener in a non-primetime hour for radio?

People like it. So-called Savage Nation is not concerned with quality, by and large. They can’t handle tough arguments or questions. They merely want to be entertained and pleased. Sure, there are a few exceptions to that rule. But by and large, Savage and his “Nation” are a poison and a detractor from what conservatism and Christianity are really all about.