Thursday, May 24, 2007

Of Dependence, Entitlement and Victimhood

One of the favorite tirades of wing-nuts is about the supposedly terrible cycle of dependence and entitlement by those various imagined elements of society who exist only to soak up Our Money. Whether it’s food stamps or health care or even (in the case of immigrants) education, according to the wing-nuts, there is no end to poor people living large at the public trough. Give a desperate person cooking oil and tortillas and, tomorrow, they will want...beans to put in the tortillas! Those who consider themselves adversely affected by societal injustice are said to be playing the "victim card".

But, take something from the right-wing that they consider their birthright, and there is no contest as to who is best able to loudly wail and gnash teeth. It is the wing-nut, by a country mile.

Right-wingers portray themselves as self-reliant, self-made, entrepreneurial, tough, worldly-wise and straight-shootin’. But, take away just one of their precious AM radio spots, and they will squeal like stuffed pigs headed to the bacon factory. They are exposed as guilty of the sin of dependence. They feel deprived of their entitlement to the non-Brewer evenings on TMJ. What will be done to make up for the loss of McBride? Who will make us whole for this violation of our precious local wing-nut slot?

Since McBride was bounced from the TMJ family like a ground-rule double, the wing-nut radio hogs and blogs have been in full bleat in defense of their beloved Jessica. They bemoan the increased scrutiny of what is said on the public airwaves, as if they can’t possibly be held responsible for what they say. Mark Belling was bellyaching this week about lefties trying to monitor all the wing-nuts on the radio, looking for the same sort of "gotcha" moment that "got" McBride. The premise seems to be that they are "entitled" to this free air-time for the GOP agenda – why can’t they just be left alone to poison the electorate in peace? Anyone daring to listen to what they actually say is playing a trick on them and on you.

It is interesting how hurt the wing-nuts big and small seem to be about this otherwise minor loss. The blowhard bullies have had sand kicked in their eyes and they are running home to tell their mommies. They rightly identify the problem (for them) of having one less local wing-nut on the radio. That means local elections and issues will just be a little less twisted and a little more (gasp!) fair. There will be fewer repetitions of lies about Doyle, Dems in the legislature, local alderman, school funding referendums, etc. There will be one less radio show playing scurrilous anti-Doyle Club for Growth and WMC ads for free five times, and then talking about how wonderful they are. Belling and Sykes will have to pump it up just to keep the negative hit numbers up.

No doubt about it, the GOP message machine is dependent on their radio stalwarts to anchor their daily campaigns of talking-point misinformation. Just this little hit of losing the McBride block of time has them feeling and acting fragile, like maybe their stranglehold on the AM airwaves won’t last forever. Maybe washed-up dips like Dennis Miller are the future – you know, a little nicer, relatively harmless (I said "relatively"), in-one-ear-and-out-the-other stuff, rather than the believe-or-die screechings of Hannity or Savage. Besides, I bet the Miller show is a lot cheaper than keeping the studio in McBride’s house so she doesn’t have to trouble herself with trips to the East Side (a neat little tidbit from Joel McNally’s column). And, if there is one thing radio executives appreciate, it’s cheap programing. What else could possibly explain Jay Weber?

The radio is going to have to find something to do after the Democratic Landslide of 2008, when Rove finally retires and they pull the plug on talking-point support. What will Belling and Sykes do without their marching orders? I can’t imagine them having to dream up all this wing-spin on their own. You can’t get it all from the Drudge Report. Can you imagine those two actually saying something different from each other every day? Talk about the End of the World.

And, McBride – poor Jess – is bitter, you bet. Her new/old blog is filled with the omen of dark conspiracies and mournful pleading. You can hear the pain of her denied dependence; the loss of her Sacred Entitlement, the unrequited pleadings of her lost listeners. Who dares to take her down for the sake of community sanity, better ratings and cheaper programming? You are not the Victims, dear reader, She is. Who will Right the Wrong and give her back what is rightfully hers?

Alas, no one. Maybe she’ll get back on the air as a fill-in on WISN (although they already import another wing-nut woman from Madison for that purpose, and she actually might have to step foot in the studio). She will have to settle, for now, for her unfortunate J-School students (but, wait! It’s summer!). There will be no Oprah moment, no welcome back to the public eye, and no redress for her imagined victimhood.

10 comments:

will andrew said...

Charlie is already branching out. A scroll down his page will show a couple originals, a bunch of reprints with occasional commentary, and a sign of things to come:

Pictures of urinals.

I'll forego the commentary on that symbology.

Mike Plaisted said...

My personal favorites on Sykes' vanity page is the e-mails from Scott Walker and David Clarke. Just can't get enough of direct drivel from those guys.

EddyPo said...

And now McBride is considering a defamation lawsuit against the Journal Sentinel. Funny, I thought that we were an overly litigious society. Ironic that the righties hate lawyers but on occasion find use for them.

Anonymous said...

She teaches summers.

So much info so easy to find -- so always amazing that so many don't look or even think to look. Did no blogger ever take summer courses? Interesting self-selection, if so!

Mike Plaisted said...

Aw, come on! I lived for summer courses and took many. You ended up with a, er, lesser "lecturer", but the credits still counted. I don't envy the poor kids in that class -- not until she calms down, anyway. Not even then, really.

Class assignment for the summer: What is the role of radio talkshow hosts when they address important national issues? Do they have any obligation to tell the truth? If you think the answer is "yes", what is wrong with you? Discuss.

Suing the J-S? Defamation cases are the last refuge of the rightfully scorned. As entertaining as it is to read her bloggy meltdown, I do hope she gets a grip soon.

Anonymous said...

Mc Bride actually and honestly believes that the station should have defended her...regardless of what she said. It's Bush loyalty.
A radio station is not the Bush Loyaist Chrony Machine, and she found that out the hard way.
She 'served at the pleasure of the President"...the President of Journal Communications.
She was ignorant to think she had some free speech right, that she alone was important.
She wasn't.

Mike Plaisted said...

She "was" ignorant?

Other Side said...

Her lamentations are now missing from her blog. She's not only a liar, but a coward, too.

Anonymous said...

Typical liberal, "we know better than you". I guess we, the common folk, cannot decide what the radio talk show hosts tells us is full of crap or the truth, we need the liberals to rescue us. Give me a break. If people did not like Belling or Sykes they would NOT listen to them. Give the listeners credit. I do listen to liberal radio too, and they come up with some lies and half truths also. I never read a blog from you calling you out. Air America is just a microphone for the left and the left leaning democrats. But you never point that out.

I love the way you try to compare the right wanting to limit entitlement programs and the so called complaing being done because of the firing of Mrs. McBride. If you want to have an opposing voice to Mark Belling, start your own radio show and get on NPR. Do podcasts from your website.

Again, if people wanted to listen to the left, their would be more left leaning stations. Let the people decide what they want to listen to, not the Government.

You keep writting, that the democrats are going to have a landslide victory in 2008, I would not be so cocky if I were you. It is way to early to be declaring victory. Many of the democrats that won in 2006, were conservative democrats, not lefties. I still do not believe that people want big government, but hay we will see.

Other Side said...

Horses eat hay.