hello thread, do not think I have posted here but i do have it bookmarked. I am going to paste a post from a lib at another site. Unlike much left right bickering it is at least an attempt at an honest opinion. Curious what your reactions might be.
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If nobody is listening, then advertisers really aren't interested in buying time. I has nothing to do with shrill ranting (Glen Beck has the corner on that, BTW) or inept "salesmen" (you know women are in the work force now). But since a majority of American voters elected a Democrat for President and gave Congress a Democrat majority, why aren't the majority of talk radio programs liberal?
I have my own theory and here it is...
As you know many left-leaning people are drawn to the liberal arts in college because I believe they are creative and giving. It doesn't seem to draw as many right-leaning students who are more geared toward the here and now and what they can get to expand their wealth. That's why I think you have so many people in the media who identify as liberal -- far outnumbering conservatives. These same people work better at expressing themselves by writing or producing video.
On the other end, you have the talk radio audience. Since conservative talk radio far outnumbers liberal talk radio, one must assume that conservative talk radio is more popular and liberal talk radio is less popular. I think it's a left brain, right brain thing or something similar.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make -- and this is my conjecture only -- is that conservative minded people enjoy listening to people reinforcing their ideas on a daily basis, whereas liberal thinking people like to explore more and look for new ideas and concepts, including art and other media. They find talk radio -- with all the stupid people calling in -- is just not their cup of tea. I'm not saying everyone who participates in talk radio is stupid, just that there really are a lot of lot of stupid comments made. I always end up thinking, "That's 30 minutes of my life I'll never get back" when I try and listen. Think about it. Rush Limbaugh's program is the most listened to radio program ever. People actually listen to him for three hours every day. I coudln't listen to anyone for three hours every day, especially if they're saying the same thing day after day, week after week, month after month. But conservatives do. I personally like Jon Stewart but I watch him at them most twice a month. I catch a few short funny things on theInternet in between but I'm not glued to his show every evening. I can't even remember the last one I watched of his.
That is about as learned an response as I am capable of giving. I'm know I'm going to get ripped a new one by the hard-core conservatives on here.. but I do think conservatives (let's do it the way we've always done it) and liberals (this isn't good enough. let's try something new) have a very different mindset that transcends politics. I'm sure it goes into every decision they make.
I see conservatives as caring more about themselves than they do about thier fellow human beings. I see liberals as wanting to help their fellow man (and woman) -- especially the oppressed and downtrodden. That's what the New Deal was all about. That's what Social Security was all about. That's what Health Care Reform is all about. You call it Socialist.I call it social. If caring about your neighbors and fellow citizens is Socialist then I'm a Socialist and proud of it. It doesn't have the negative connotation for me that it did for Joseph McCarthy (a Republican, BTW).
To paraphrase George Benard Shaw: "Conservatives see things as they are and ask why? Liberals dream things that never were and ask why not?" |
