The Protocols of the Elders of NPR
March 8, 2011 - 10:54 am - by Roger L Simon Share | As well they should, Nation Public Radio is backing and shuffling fast to cover the public humiliation of the promulgation of a video showing NPR execs playing funding footsie with two putative donors masquerading as representatives of a Muslim Brotherhood front group.
NPR is quick to point out that one of the executives, Ron Schiller, left the company a week ago for reasons unrelated to the release of the video. They fail, however, to explain why the other executive present, institutional giving director Betsy Liley, is still with the company. It is Lilely who registers her unequivocal approval at NPR being called “National Palestinian Radio.”
Rep. Eric Cantor, upon viewing the video (which is now viewable in an unedited version), has called for a defunding of NPR, given our economic straits. That is the least of it. What this video demonstrates most of all is the cultural and ideological ignorance of modern liberalism, more dangerous even than the millions donated to NPR.
What this video reveals is a festival of projection. NPR’s own blog contains some of the evidence:
•“The Tea Party is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn’t even call it Christian. It’s this weird evangelical kind of move.”
•“Tea Party people” aren’t “just Islamaphobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it’s scary. They’re seriously racist, racist people.”
As someone who supports many Tea Party views and is a former civil rights worker and also the next thing to an atheist, I had to laugh at that one. But that’s nothing compared to this:
•“I think what we all believe is if we don’t have Muslim voices in our schools, on the air … it’s the same thing we faced as a nation when we didn’t have female voices.”
Holy Moly! It’s hard to imagine Betsy Lily sat there without comment, considering Sharia law — supported on their website by the people in front of her — has some of the most Draconian provisions against women in recorded history. Is the explanation for this, as some have suggested, that they were just trying to raise funds at any cost?
That journalistic trope goes pretty thin. I will suggest another explanation: They are stupid. Lost in a delusional world of political correctness, the elders of NPR have forfeited the ability to think critically. They simply can’t see the facts anymore — or don’t care to. It’s too threatening to their limited weltanschauung. Hence, you get idiotic projections such as Schiller’s statement of how dumb Republicans are and how what America needs is more educated elites.
That they all sat there through the worst kind of anti-Semitic bilge that would make even George Soros and Pat Buchanan blush is as predictable as it is sickening.
What is needed now is not just the defunding of NPR, but also its marginalization. And one of the best ways to marginalize is through well-deserved ridicule. The authors of this video at Project Veritas are thus greatly to be praised. Yes, what they have done is a form of entrapment, but the fools who were trapped deserve it as much as any knave in a Moliere play. NPR and its clones are the true reactionaries of our time. They are no more liberal than Boss Tweed. Taking off their masks is a public service.
pajamasmedia.com
Lots of good comments to that:
....
ern
They’re ignorant of their ignorance. They have substituted a silly caricature of their political opponents in place of reality. They don’t even know that they don’t know what their political opponents stand for. Absolutely crazy. We see this all the time, from Jon Stewart on down. They’ve swallowed their own self-serving narratives of their enemies. We shouldn’t pretend to take them seriously anymore. They’re hacks, so isolated in their political bubbles that they are incapable of seeing through even the craziest of ruses. It would be funny if it weren’t so damned destructive.
March 8, 2011 - 11:10 am Link to this Comment | Reply TomD
“They don’t even know that they don’t know what their political opponents stand for.”
This sentence utterly nails it, and it’s one of the most important memes that needs to take root among libertarians and conservatives. I think most people are already aware of this reality, but it doesn’t get articulated nearly enough.
It’s perhaps the biggest frustration about the current state of our political conversation: The left is constantly arguing against a strawman. That’s what makes the whole thing so wearisome. It’s impossible even to arrive at honest disagreements with the modern left, to settle on the fundamental areas of dispute, because the left can’t or won’t acknowledge the real arguments of its opponents.
The strawman emerges in so many different forms, from the “bitter racists” caricaturing to the post-Giffords “rhetoric” insanity. And so our REAL arguments — the ones about liberty and individualism and the proper role of government — rarely get engaged. As the poster “ern” says, they don’t know what their opponents stand for — and moreover, they don’t even KNOW they don’t know that — and so the whole thing winds up a maddening waste of time.
March 8, 2011 - 5:17 pm Link to this Comment | Reply regularguy
Yup, what you both said. Meanwhile, we’re all circling the bowl because we’re too busy being astounded by the left’s insanity to stop the train wreck they and the islamist horde have planned for us.
....
. Rob Crawford
“That they all sat there through the worst kind of anti-Semitic bilge that would make even George Soros and Pat Buchanan blush is as predictable as it is sickening.”
Sat through?! THEY CONTRIBUTED. Check who remarked about the newspapers being “Zionist owned” — it was Schilling.
....
Rob Crawford
His official biography names the man he lives with as a “partner”.
It’s not that he’s gay — it’s that he’s so hateful towards people who disapprove of his being gay while being so accommodating towards those who would kill him for being gay.
.....
newton
This video confirms that those people have ZERO regards for those they consider their “inferiors”. That is the typical attitude of a Ruling Class that has lost all connection whatsoever to reality and to regular Joes and Janes.
.....
mark reardon
They can’t afford to mention it. Remember, they trolled fake muslims through Nasacar events convinced that they would generate the same vitriol we see in this film. Indeed that they hold in their cold little hearts.
March 8, 2011 - 12:30 pm Link to this Comment | Reply 27. elaine
Yes, there’s the condecenscion that’s troubling. And the whorish desire to go along with whatever is being said, all for the sake of a few dollars.
But what really galled me was the complete doublespeak going on here. On one hand, NPR and the CPB say they absolutely NEED federal funds. Then you have this guy saying that not only do they not need them, but without federal funds they could say whatever they want to.
You have NPR officially saying that they aren’t biased, that their audience is made up of people from all walks and political beliefs; yet they employ people who are more than happy to discuss how ignorant they think all those nasty conservatives are. (Do the execs at NPR really think they have even a marginal number of conservatives listening to them on a regular basis, when they and their potential audience know the kind of spin NPR will put on most every story?)
They say how there’s no place in journalism for opinion; yet they fail to address all the opinion which prances about as news reporting by their own “journalists” and stations. And even when they’re desperately trying to play it fair, they still can’t get past a little dig here and there, just to reinforce with their intended liberal audience that they’re all part of the in crowd, lined up against the evil Tea Party…
How about a little less self-congratulatory preening over how fair you are and a little more honesty about your obvious biases? There’s nothing wrong with having biases as long as you make it clear they exist; the problem comes when you’re biased but pretend you aren’t. We all know — despite your protestations to the contrary — that you’re a biased organization. You know and we know it. Just admit it and be done with it.
You know, they keep saying there’s absolutely no connection between Schiller leaving and this tape. But they assiduously never mention that the tape was made on Feb 22, which is before Schiller announced his departure. I’m sure it’s all just a great big coincidence that his departure comes right after he lunches with some fake Muslims who want to give NPR a big pile o’ money… I’m sure he had no idea beforehand that if this lunch became public knowledge, it would end his career at NPR, and make it hard for NPR to continue to receive federal funding…
Here’s my suggestion: let’s cut an easy $90 million out of the budget today by pulling NPR and the CPB off the federal teat.
.....
35. ott
I don’t think that he disgusting, elitist, and anti-Jewish drivel spilled by the NPR executives is the most important part of this video; it’s the fact that the NPR execs saw nothing wrong in an Islamist group offering them millions of dollars that speaks volumes. Clearly, they see it as normal and obviously, they are aware that the Islamists generously spread money around. Now we know who the media, academia, and even government institutions take their orders from.
March 8, 2011 - 12:50 pm Link to this Comment | Reply 36. crosspatch
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I hear rhetoric such that that expressed by Mr. Schiller every day. It isn’t something that is odd or unusual for current “progressives”, the sort of things he was saying is *typical* of the common rhetoric among them.
Schiller is apparently seeking a new job because he was caught on tape saying these things. I hear people saying similar things *every single day* and these are people who are devoted NPR listeners.
This should “shock” nobody at NPR and their trite masquerade that somehow they are surprised one of their own would hold these views is entertaining to watch.
Schiller accurately expressed the views of the majority of NPR listeners in my area. That NPR should be in any way “shocked” or “surprised” is false and everybody knows it.
March 8, 2011 - 12:52 pm Link to this Comment | Reply Dana
I went over to the NPR website and read the comments section. What you say is absolutely true. Their defense is- no defense! They think Schiller is right on the money. It’d be pathetic if it wasn’t so dangerous.
Ken James
Liberals are always quick to tell us how much more intelligent they are. How intelligent is it to talk this freely with people you have never met before? Not very, but it does tell us they speak this way easily, and feel quite comfortable doing so.
March 8, 2011 - 1:28 pm Link to this Comment | Reply 45. Steve
Of the two of them, I thought Liley the more reprehensible. I also caught her gleeful chuckle at being told that NPR is known as National Palestine Radio. She was essentially informed that even these Muslims recognize that NPR is biased and she thought it was a hoot.
......
fdcol63
The question is not “Why do Islamic terrorists hate America so much?”
Rather, it is “Why do so many liberal Americans hate their own country so much?”
March 8, 2011 - 1:52 pm Link to this Comment | Reply 49. submandave
ACORN: “We are an important group doing good work”
Hidden Vid: “But you guys are willing to aid criminal sexual abuse of minors and human trafficking.”
ACORN: “We are shocked at what that person did!”
Planned Parenthood: “We are an important group doing good work”
Hidden Vid: “But you guys are willing to aid criminal sexual abuse of minors and human trafficking.”
Planned Parenthood: “We are shocked at what that person did!”
NPR: “We are an important group doing good work”
Hidden Vid: “But you guys are willing to pander to anti-semetics and support their hate-based rhetoric.”
NPR: “We are shocked at what that person did!”
[ Its beyond the above. When they're unmasked they claim simultaneously we've fired the people who were caught and oh, yes, the tapes are edited to make our innocent people look bad. Then why did you fire them? Talk about doublespeak. ]
Hmmmmmm, why do I get a sense that you don’t need complex pattern recognition software to see where this is going.
March 8, 2011 - 2:00 pm Link to this Comment | Reply 50. crosspatch
And there you have hit upon the crux of “progressive” thought. It is all based on self-loathing. That includes their positions on national defense (we are an evil country who engages in unjust wars), environmentalism (we are an evil country who engages in destruction of the environment) and practically everything else. The entire movement seems to be based on self-loathing.
March 8, 2011 - 2:02 pm Link to this Comment | Reply eon
It’s not “self”-loathing. Listen to Schiller- “We are the intellectual elite, and the problem is that there aren’t enough of us.”
One of the hypocrisies of modern “progressives” is that they claim to “love mankind”, but they hate, fear, loathe, and utterly despise anyone who is not exactly like themselves. This video isn’t a revelation, it just shows typical progressives saying what they really think when they don’t know anyone not of the “faithful” is around to hear it.(Remember, The One’s remark about “bitter clingers” was made in front of a collection of liberal fundraisers when he was unaware he was being captured for posterity on a phone camera.)
As for being so enamored of people (the Muslim Brotherhood) who in the real world will happily kill Mr. Schiller and enslave Ms. Liley at the drop of a talwar, you must remember that the “enlightened elite’” believe that the Islamists are just one more group of “useful idiots” they can use to help destroy the civilization they despise- ours.
And that after the Triumph, those Islamist idiots will suddenly realize that they are too stupid to run the Brave New World- and will instantly fall on their knees and beg- beg!- the “enlightened ones” to rule it, with the Islamists as their adoring sycophants.
Never mind that it is the trappings of progressive thought and behavior that the Islamist find most offensive about our culture. Or that the Islamists view progressives as their own “useful idiots”- who they will be sure to bend over the headsman’s block first after they proclaim the New Caliphate. (One of the basic doctrines of Islam is that someone who has betrayed their own people to you will betray you in turn- so once they are no longer needed, you dispose of them so they don’t get the chance to do you over.)
Facts like these simply are not part of the progressive mental universe, and never will be until it’s far too late.
This is why “progressives” are impossible to reason with. You cannot argue logically with someone that detached from reality.
clear ether
eon
....
Jim
I heard NPR just hired John Galliano as their new fundraising chairman.
March 8, 2011 - 3:10 pm Link to this Comment | Reply 62. Tracer
Having once worked for a local PBS/NPR outlet I can attest to the fact that fundraisers are paid a commission on the funds they raise. This isn’t so much about elitist’s ignorance as they are selling their souls for almighty coin.
[ Is that true? ]
Calling them whores is appropos
.....
AzA
I’m going with the “ignorant of their ignorance” theory (at least for most Liberals).
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. Typical Liberals are among the most intellectualy provincial people you could ever meet. I’ve taught high school for many years, and I’ve seen this first-hand.
Look at it this way. Once you truly believe that all truth is just opinion, and reality is just a perspective, it basically absolves you of the need to actually wrestle with ideas. Modern “multiculturalism” is the end-stage manifestation of this. After all,if cultures have no substantive differences, why bother actually learning about them? It’s a form of rationalized laziness.
I know Lefties who have lived and travelled all over the world, and yet they still think this way. The go, they admire the quaint villages and sip the local brew, take home a piece of folk art to hang on the wall, and then call themselves cultured.
I’ve talked to people who have lived and taught school in the Middle East, and yet still haven’t even heard of the Muslim Brotherhood.
....
89. Larsky
For the record 40% of NPR is funded by viewer donations, that’s “Viewer members like you and I”. Once upon a time I religiously donated to NPR personally and through my company. I haven’t done so in years.
Mostly because I rarely, very rarely, listen to their biased elitist leftist opinions and I really really dislike being talked down to, which is their stock in trade. Their hosts are self serving, whiny, arrogant elitist and frankly that goes double for most of the people who call in. The hosts don’t even make a token effort to hear an opposing few and if they do they mock and put the caller down, Diane Reems [sp] is very good at this, not that I’ve listened to her in the past 5 years.
Hell they can’t even do a nature program without whining.
With the possbile exception of ‘Click and Clack The Tappit Brothers’ I can’t think of any programs on NPR that do not have a leftist slant (albeit I would bet being from Boston that they are merely hiding in the closet leftists, make that hiding in the trunk leftists). Even my old favorite ‘The Newshour’ has lost most of its’ luster.
Shiller and Liley [sp] represent the Left in all its’ elements of elitist hate and condescenion in its’ most raw and rude form. But these are exactly the people who are running NPR, the MSM, the large Dailies and unfortunately our country and running it into the ground no less.
I don’t know how in the hell we got here from where we were 40 years ago.
But IF you are a viewer/listener and are funding these arrogant whiny A$$holes. Stop it and stop it now.
........ |
