Elitists Gone Wild

[Will Robinson]

John Kerry wants the media to take a more active role in shaping the public discourse...by filtering out viewpoints that they find contrary to what they believe.
I can't think of a more perfect example of hypocrisy than John Kerry calling for peoples voice to be silenced based on how genuine and truthful they are. The man has built a life on being a fake and a liar.

This is also a great example of the disconnect between the elite in Washington and the rest of the population. They have such contempt for the citizen. Slick whines about the rich being some future oppressive class lording over the working class making us serfs...lol! It is already going on only you have to be more than rich to join the club, you have to be a member of the U.S. Congress. There really is little difference between Kerry and Putin right now other than nationality.

[CUDA]

isn't it against the law to incite a riot in this country?


"this new Liberal group, they never listen to your point of View. they make a decision to what your gonna think"

John Wayne

[Dakatsu]

Okay, I'll bite and I'll play devil's advocate.

Why should the media give every viewpoint equal time? Surely you don't believe that fascists, segregationists, or Islamists should be given time and taken seriously as viewpoints in the media. While I don't mean to lump in the Tea Party with fascists, they are a fringe group with crazy ideals, so why should they be given time?

(Personally, I feel the media has a responsibility to portray every viewpoint out there, relative to how many people have that viewpoint. So while neo-Nazis wouldn't get 50% of television time, they'd get a proportional share.)

[Will Robinson]

Okay, I'll bite and I'll play devil's advocate.

Why should the media give every viewpoint equal time? Surely you don't believe that fascists, segregationists, or Islamists should be given time and taken seriously as viewpoints in the media. While I don't mean to lump in the Tea Party with fascists, they are a fringe group with crazy ideals, so why should they be given time?

(Personally, I feel the media has a responsibility to portray every viewpoint out there, relative to how many people have that viewpoint. So while neo-Nazis wouldn't get 50% of television time, they'd get a proportional share.)

It isn't that I don't want the media to be able to filter their content. It is that this prime example of a professional liar and completely pathological fraudster is telling them what is and isn't true from the bully pulpit of the U.S. Senate. If ever there was content that needed to be filtered they just let it go on air right there!

I don't think it is wise to ask the media to dismiss the position tea party congressmen took based on whatever fringy kind of rhetoric you can find within the movement as a whole. Use that same flimsy criteria as the benchmark for justifying the discrediting of a position and you can dismiss anything anytime it suits your personal agenda. (which is exactly what he wants).

The day the media thinks it is good to silence someone because they advocate that a balanced budget has to be a part of any legislation that is designed to address the EXTREME over spending Congress is trying to perpetuate is a day that we Americans lost our free press completely.

The whole premise of giving Kerry's take on this any credence is insane! The congress, which he is very much a prime part of, is completely out of control and the tea party has been pushing for some very simple and sound principled changes to actually make the economy and our nation stronger. I could understand if he was calling for the media to point out that the tea party's goal can not be implemented overnight without crashing the system, asking them to hash out just how much of it and fast it could be put into play to make it a healthy change etc. etc. but of course he doesn't want to let the public see their position as anything but completely batshit crazy.
Balancing the budget is NOT crazy. Capping spending in the current situation is NOT crazy. Cutting spending is NOT crazy.
Having a U.S. Senator advocate for the media to marginalize the people who call for those measures IS crazy.
Having John Kerry be the Senator who calls for it on the basis of telling the truth is a disgusting embarrassment for the nation.

[CUDA]

“The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”

John Stuart Mill

The problem of freedom in America is that of maintaining a competition of ideas, and you do not achieve that by silencing one brand of idea.

Max Lerner

[dissent]

..., they are a fringe group with crazy ideals, ...

yeah, crazy ideas, like smaller, less intrusive government, individual freedom, and financial responsibility and accountability.

Crazy bastids. What will they think of next?

Wild, fringe group.

Tea Party wiki article, FWIW.

[woodchip]

I think Senator Kerry is still bitter about being swift boated.