{"id":334,"date":"2007-01-16T12:01:13","date_gmt":"2007-01-16T18:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php\/2007\/01\/16\/free-speechs-abu-ghraib\/"},"modified":"2012-01-06T14:09:10","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T20:09:10","slug":"free-speechs-abu-ghraib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=334","title":{"rendered":"Free Speech’s Abu Ghraib"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remeber during the first four years of the Bush Administration?\u00a0 When every <\/em>Democrat, including the ones who’d spent the Clinton era chuckling at the crazies in the Libertarian Party, thought concern for civil liberties (other those to abortion, making poop sculptures and exposing oneself in public) was the mark of tinfoil-hatted crazies?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Remember how the minute John Ashcroft was sworn in, they became strict constructionists…no, that’s not accurate.\u00a0 They became not-very-discerning absolutists?\u00a0<\/p>\n

And when word got out that a group of soldiers mistreated a group of Iraqi detainees, Liberty was the word of the day?<\/p>\n

They must have woken up.\u00a0 The fantasy is over; the leopard’s spots are visible again.\u00a0 The Democrats want to put free speech on a leash and make it bark like a dog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, the National Conference for Media Reform was held in Memphis, TN, with a number of notable speakers on hand for the event. Rep. Dennis Kucinich <\/strong>(D-OH) made an surprise\u00a0appearance at the convention to announce that he would be heading up\u00a0a new House subcommittee which will focus on issues surrounding the Federal Communications Commission<\/strong>.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can hear it now:\u00a0 “Oh, it’s just that nutbar Kucinich”.<\/font><\/p>\n

Not at all.\u00a0 Regulating free speech (by conservatives) is close to the heart for the left for almost two decades, ever since the Fairness Doctrine was repealed, opening the way for conservative alternatives to the left’s smothering hegemony in the media.\u00a0 Hillary! Clinton and John Kerry have both floated the idea.<\/font><\/p>\n

Kucinich’s push isn’t the ravings of a crackpot; it’s\u00a0a trial balloon floated by someone who can’t do the Democrat mainstream any harm.\u00a0 Their focus groups can poke and prod and see if the issue can move in from the fringe in time for the election.<\/font><\/p>\n

In addition to media ownership, the committee is expected to focus its attention on issues such as net neutrality and major telecommunications mergers. Also in consideration is the “Fairness Doctrine,” which required broadcasters to present controversial topics in a fair and honest manner. It was enforced until it was eliminated in 1987.<\/font><\/p>\n

Kucinich said in his speech that “We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda” and added “we are now in a position to move a progressive agenda to where it is visible.”<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What Kucinich means, of course, is that he (and the new Democrat majority for whom he speaks)\u00a0want to explore the idea of using the government to reassert control of the media.\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n

Here, though, is where the real agenda is betrayed:<\/font><\/p>\n

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps<\/strong> was also on hand at the conference and took broadcasters to task for their current content, speaking of “too little news, too much baloney passed off as news. Too little quality entertainment, too many people eating bugs on reality TV. Too little local and regional music, too much brain-numbing national play-lists.” <\/font>Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein<\/strong> also spoke at the event.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Mr. Copps doesn’t note how much Americans’ news and entertainment bypasses the traditional broadcast and print media, today.\u00a0 The market has been bleeding people away from newspapers, network newscasts, even the Big Three’s entertainment programming for decades…<\/font><\/p>\n

…and have been proving Copps’ thesis to be void and without merit, lately, inasmuch as we are, right now, in the golden age of the broadcast TV drama.\u00a0 The networks have had to respond to cable and the internet; some of that response has been Fear Factor, <\/em>true, but great drama, comedy and writing (24, House, Scrubs, Lost\u00a0<\/em>and many more) are all over the place, like never before. <\/font><\/p>\n

But don’t be fooled.\u00a0 This isn’t about Fear Factor, <\/em>or about quality at all; the FCC held full sway during the “glory” years of Laverne and Shirley, Three’s Company <\/em>and The Love Boat.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/font><\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 This is about silencing talk radio, neutering conservative blogs, and re-homogenizing all American news content.<\/font><\/p>\n

If you are a conservative – or a liberal with any integrity – you need to call your congresspeople and set them straight about this.<\/font><\/p>\n

And if you call yourself a “liberal” but you support this, then you need a new, more honest label.<\/font><\/p>\n

How about “authoritarian thug”?<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To make this a teaching moment – because I’m all about the teaching – we’re going try this:\u00a0 any comment from any lefty that is not rigorously balanced will be censored.\u00a0 Such was life for a conservative in the media before 1987; so it will be in the future.\u00a0 Since you liberals don’t know what it’s like to have your opinions censored, it’ll be good larnin’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remeber during the first four years of the Bush Administration?\u00a0 When every Democrat, including the ones who’d spent the Clinton era chuckling at the crazies in the Libertarian Party, thought concern for civil liberties (other those to abortion, making poop sculptures and exposing oneself in public) was the mark of tinfoil-hatted crazies? \u00a0Remember how the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,25,4],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservatism","category-history-and-its-making","category-media","tag-fairness-doctrine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25412,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions\/25412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}