I like to listen to right wing talk radio when I'm in the car during the day. Well, maybe "like" is the wrong word. My doctor told me it would be beneficial for me to try to raise the temperature of my blood to boiling. Rush, Shawn, Glen and Dr. Savage do the trick just fine. I admit to talking back to the radio on occasion. I've been known to curse and roll my eyes, taking my focus from the road. The time of day determines the genius I listen to. I do draw the line with Dr. Laura. Part of it is her tone. Another part is the content.
Today I caught myself listening to Lars Larson, he of the redundant moniker and less than major market syndicated status. From what little I know about Scandinavian genealogy and family names, I freely translate Mr. Larson's name to Lars Son of Lars. Kind of like being Junior.
Anyway, Lars--like his heroes--is a ranter. He brings topics up to incite his audience--friends and foes--and throw them back atcha. He seems to have enough factual information to argue (and win) the cases, like a lawyer with ADD reviewing his upcoming case as he walks to the courthouse. He wins the rest through bluster and volume.
Today, in addition to railing about ODOT (the Oregon Department of Transportation) toying with the idea of closing a couple exits on the 217 highway during busy times, Lars ranted on about Vice-President Al Gore being completely wrong on global warming and positioning himself as becoming the first "carbon billionaire." Lars compared the ignorant, misleading and money hungry Gore with the righteous, upstanding and generally misunderstood Vice-President Dick Cheney.
I found myself looking for my cell phone. I punched in Lars' number. What was I thinking? The fact of the matter was that I wasn't. I was thinking of the truth, as I know it. I was thinking of my last blog post, about the FBI report and the Dick's hazy memory. I was thinking of the fabricated and perpetuated tale of WMD's that has cost over 4300 Americas their lives in Iraq. I was thinking of how Dick's former company of record, Halliburton has electrocuted 18 or so soldiers in their shoddy showers in Iraq.
So, I got on the air.
"Barry, from Silverton. Welcome to the Lars Larson Show. What's on your mind?"
"Well, I have to take issue with you comparison between Al Gore and Dick Cheney... "
And it went downhill from there. Clearly, I am a novice and don't have the chops to debate with someone who earns his living with his forked tongue. Lars ripped me a new one for suggesting that Dick was responsible for American casualties in Iraq. He verbally bristled at my using the word "disingenuous" in describing the fact that Dick was mum for eight years and is only know flapping his sneering lips about the president dithering and the country going to hell. Lars told me and his listening audience how Dick had reinstated the value of the second highest office in the land, how he served his commander and how he fought for truth and justice not unlike Superman. The hand holding my cell was moist with perspiration. I hit END after I had clearly been dismissed by Lars. I felt really small and stupid.
What was I thinking?
As Eric Garcetti said at a committee meeting, "the loudest voice is not always the most correct."
The fact is that I went down in flames, torched by Lars Larson's incendiary tongue.
But that doesn't make me wrong.
3 comments:
I don't listen to talk radio ever since Tom Leykis left last spring, so I didn't hear you.
First , Sun Tsu would tell you....never under estimate your enemies.....yes, you have enemies.
Second, don't dish it out if you can't take it.
Third, hopefully, you learned something.
Anyway. nice try.
I think I have to do a talk radio 12 step program, but, yeah-- I hope I learned something, too.
Oh, and welcome back.
I would suggest a 3 week withdrawal program. No more than an hour a day. Also, huffington, moveon, and msnbc at an hours sitting gradually tapering down to zero. That cures you of state run media as well as independent thought that's not allowed in prime time.
My favorite listening in the car these days are "The Animals", Jeff Beck Truth", "Jethro Tull", and "Buffalo Springfield". All downloaded from iTunes for 99 cents each then burned to CDs. You'll need this to help you off. It only takes 3 weeks. Good luck, you must not fail.
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