Many thanks to GEICO and the other good corporate citizens who dropped Beck.
Thank you.
Quote:
As you may know, right-wing talk show hosts have been bringing
race-based fear mongering into the mainstream, but FOX's Glenn Beck
just took it to another level. On Tuesday, Beck said:
"This president has exposed himself as a guy over and
over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for
white people... this guy is, I believe, a racist."
It's part of a larger argument Beck has been making: that President
Obama wants to serve the needs of Black communities at White people's
expense. This kind of talk stirs up fear, hate, and it can lead to
violence.
I've joined ColorOfChange.org's effort to stop Glenn Beck.
ColorOfChange is already putting calls into Beck's advertisers, asking
them if they want to be associated with this kind of racist hate and
fear-mongering. When the advertisers see that tens of thousands of us
are behind that question, I believe they'll move their advertising
dollars elsewhere, and his show and platform will be history.
Will you take a stand and be counted, and invite your friends and
family to do the same? It takes just a moment:
Glenn Beck is appealing to the worst in America. Of course, some
Americans refuse to accept the fact that our president is Black or the
idea that he could truly serve all Americans. But the only way these
views fade away is if they're not reinforced by mainstream society.
Instead, folks like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and Rush Limbaugh are
exploiting racism and race-based fear to bump their ratings, stirring
up racial discord in the process.
The dangers of these tactics are real. We saw the same dynamic during
the presidential race: By the end, the McCain/Palin campaign was
unable to control the violent energy whipped up by their race-baiting.
It resulted in an unprecedented number of threats on Obama's life, a
rise in the number of hate groups, and an increase in the number of
threats and crimes against immigrants and Black people.
FOX has a horrible track record on pushing racist propaganda, but
Glenn Beck appears to be taking the network to an even lower standard.
He's trying to divide and distract America when we should be coming
together and talking about issues that really matter--like health care
and the economy.
The good news is that we have the power to stop this. All major media
is funded by advertising. And advertisers care more than anything
what consumers think. If we want to change what's happening and put an
end to folks like Glenn Beck having a platform, we can do it.
It's up to us, and it can start now. Please join me:
This comes on the heels of news last week that four other advertisers -- Lawyers.com, Progressive Insurance, Procter & Gamble, and SC Johnson -- also distanced themselves from Beck. None of this would have been possible without the thousands of people -- more than 75,000, now -- who have taken action and signed our petition to Glenn
The point is, well, . . . .Olan, you're actually going to have to read the links I supplied for yourself and watch the videos. Do yourself a favor, watch an entire evening of "Fox News." Then you'll get why I suggest signing the petition. Compare the Glen Beck show to Shep Smith's news program if you still don't get the difference between Beck and an actual reality-based news broadcast.
You gotta admit - Olan did get 100% on his citizenship test though...
That would be an A+ if we were keeping track.
David Traver wrote:
The point is, well, . . . .Olan, you're actually going to have to read the links I supplied for yourself and watch the videos. Do yourself a favor, watch an entire evening of "Fox News." Then you'll get why I suggest signing the petition. Compare the Glen Beck show to Shep Smith's news program if you still don't get the difference between Beck and an actual reality-based news broadcast.
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1641 Location: Michigan
Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 01:14 pm Post subject:
Got to run but all I am saying is news is a business and gauged by circulation and ratings and if the numbers are not high you go out of business. I have watched Hardball and it is not news and with the ratings it must not be entertaining enough to get viewers. Now must go as we are off to see the grand kids - cheers.
While I do not dispute your data regarding the viewers, I suggest you are mistaken about how sensitive the stockholders of News Corp will be to a targeted loss of advertisers in the only portion of that media empire that is doing well. If you read the entire article posted below, you will note that without Fox News, the word for the News Corp. operations is "bleak." So, it is worthwhile for those wish to sign the petition to take the time to do so. News Corp may well pull the show or put the brakes on the racist rantings of its host if a key profit center is under too much negative scrutiny. Surprisingly, as few as 75,000 names on a petition are sufficient to have several major advertises act as responsible corporate citizens. We know this, because it just happened.
Quote:
News Corp. reported full year adjusted operating income of $3.6 billion, a 32.5% fiscal-year drop. For Q4, the media conglomerate posted a loss of $203 million, compared with earnings of $1.1 billion a year ago.
Review of DSM-IV-TR's definition of antisocial personality disorder DSM-IV-TR at 701-706) strongly suggests that Beck is a good fit for that diagnosis. Pay close attention to the differential diagnoses at page 705. As a sociopath, Glenn Beck is not responsive to reality-based feedback. See e.g. http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html However, we have to assume that not everybody connected to his show at News Corp. is sociopathic. Far from it. Sociopaths constitute only three percent of the adult male population. (DSM-IV-TR at 704). Even if we assume that News Corp. prefers employees with that mentality, even in a clinical setting, DSM explains only 30 percent of the population would be affected. Thus, we can assume that the vast majority of people at News Corp. are rational, and that such rational people take their social responsibilities seriously. They would be expected to pay attention to rational advertisers who express good reasons for dropping their support. Sending 75,000+ messages to such rational people pointing out the harm they are doing makes a difference. One does not need millions of objections to get their attention.
Interestingly, the top "news-media entertainers of the right are generally well-classified as sociopaths. As such, it is an utter waste time to expect them to be rational, honest, or responsive to rational discourse. That's not because they are "bad" people, it's because usual social responses are not to be expected. So, they are best left alone, and bypassed. Instead, well-targeted public action at the responsible adults associated with such sociopaths is the best option to correcting the harmful sociopathic behavior. For more information about how to deal with sociopaths, you may wish to use this as the starting point of your research: http://www.youmeworks.com/sociopaths.html _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-2096 (work)
http://ssaconnect.com http://traverlaw.com https://germaniapublishing.com http://www.jamespublishing.com/books/ssr.htm
The perception that the Right is not serious participant in a collaborative society, and that the Right is now led by Oxycontin addicts, has some consequences. From the perspective of the Democrats, because there is an awaking understanding that those who actually believe the birthers, deathers, et al. are not rational, they are being left out of future governmental planning.
For example, since there is no actual "health care debate" the Democrats who happen to control the government will proceed in September without any Republican input. The Party of No has now become the wacko party of Not There at All.
Similarly, nobody is going to have a rational discussion with Rush, Beck, and their viewers and listeners. So, they are now out of the mix, no matter how loud they scream and no matter how outrageous their claims may be.
So, yes I'm serious. The Right lost the election. Now it has lost its credibility. It is as if it no longer exists.
Judge for yourself if I'm right. At the end of September if we have universal health care reform, it will be achieved with no Republican votes and it will signal the end of the Right. Those who find the rants of obese Oxycontin addicts entertaining will continue to listen, but nobody will be listinging to them.
Actually, I kind of care. I do believe there is value in having more than one viewpoint when making important decisions.
David Traver wrote:
Note the lack of smiley faces in my posting.
So, yes I'm serious. The Right lost the election. Now it has lost its credibility. It is as if it no longer exists.
Judge for yourself if I'm right. At the end of September if we have universal health care reform, it will be achieved with no Republican votes and it will signal the end of the Right. Those who find the rants of obese Oxycontin addicts entertaining will continue to listen, but nobody will be listinging to them.
There is still time for the rational minds of the Republican Party to take back the GOP. However, there might not be enough of them left to accomplish the feat. Who cares, really?
Actually, I kind of care. I do believe there is value in having more than one viewpoint when making important decisions.
David Traver wrote:
Note the lack of smiley faces in my posting.
So, yes I'm serious. The Right lost the election. Now it has lost its credibility. It is as if it no longer exists.
Judge for yourself if I'm right. At the end of September if we have universal health care reform, it will be achieved with no Republican votes and it will signal the end of the Right. Those who find the rants of obese Oxycontin addicts entertaining will continue to listen, but nobody will be listinging to them.
There is still time for the rational minds of the Republican Party to take back the GOP. However, there might not be enough of them left to accomplish the feat. Who cares, really?
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1641 Location: Michigan
Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:28 am Post subject:
"News Corp posted declines in operating income across nearly all of its business units, except for its cable network division, which posted a 32 per cent increase in operating income, led by the Fox News Channel."
I am firm believer of freedom of speech and I do not believe in boycotts as they are unproductive and work both ways. Our country was built on the freedoms in the first 10 amendments of the Constitution and those rights should not be abridged by fiat or a action by an interest group group - this is not my cup of tea. We learned from the 60s that everyone has a right to communicate (Kent State and others) and if we do not like the communication we turn the communication off. We learn from each other and are able to fight for our ideas in the arena of public opinion.
Do yourself a favor, watch an entire evening of "Fox News."
An entire evening? That's pretty cruel. They're beyond biased - it seems I can't watch the channel for ten minutes without them disseminating blatantly misleading or untrue information. I'll just say that the 90+ percent of Americans who are not watching Faux News have made the right choice.
Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 921 Location: Federal Hill, Baltimore, MD
Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 01:19 am Post subject:
Good homilies, for sure. But blatant racism isn't news, and it has nothing to do with the freedom of speech. There are lines, albeit not always stark ones, over which responsible news organizations should not cross, regardless of whether or not crossing those lines makes them money. Somehow it strikes me that Fox would have gladly broadcast the rantings of a guy from Austria named Adolf had Fox been around in Germany in the 30s.
I am firm believer of freedom of speech and I do not believe in boycotts as they are unproductive and work both ways. Our country was built on the freedoms in the first 10 amendments of the Constitution and those rights should not be abridged by fiat or a action by an interest group group - this is not my cup of tea. We learned from the 60s that everyone has a right to communicate (Kent State and others) and if we do not like the communication we turn the communication off. We learn from each other and are able to fight for our ideas in the arena of public opinion.
The Bill of Rights is often, usually, misunderstood. The uninformed see it as applying to non-governmental as well as governmental action. There is nothing in the Bill of Rights that has anything to do with non-governmental restrictions of the speech of others. It's not the government that's trying to get Glenn Beck kicked off the air, it's me and over 75 thousand like me.
The kids at Kent State were shot by National Guardsmen who were all pumped up by the bigots and hate speech of the Right such as Governor Rhodes, Spiro Agnew, and the insipid indifference of Richard Nixon to the voices of those opposed to his ever-expanding Southeast Asian war, which Nixon knew could not be won. Similarly, Timothy McVeigh killed your federal coworkers in Oklahoma after being endlessly brainwashed by the right. Hate speech is an evil thing that we have an obligation to stand up to. It is an essential role of citizenship to be responsible. When entities such as Fox and it's programming department do not act responsibly, we can take reasonable public action to shut them down. That's exactly what we are doing.
I was in the locker room at the YMCA in Oconomowoc Wisconsin this year and one of the "guys" changing in another isle was talking loudly about how President Obama's mother should have had an abortion because Obama's dad was black. His response to my immediate and personal objection that such speech was improper, especially in a Christian organization, was just like yours. Indeed, it was identical.
First he claimed "freedom of speech." Then he said "you don't have to listen if you don't like it." Bullshit. I had no choice but to change my clothes there and more importantly, he was talking loudly so others could hear him. He thought he was clever, he thought everybody agreed. He was wrong. So it is with Glenn Beck and the other for-profit sociopaths. I won't pretend I am not here. Their loud, irresponsible and reprehensible speech leads to violence and hatred. It is exactly because we are trying to stop another Kent State that thousands like me are not sitting on our hands. If he won't conform his behavior to established societal norms, he might well find himself unemployed. See DSM-IV-TR at 703. The point of noting that some of these voices on the right are sociopathic is that they most certianly do not "learn from each other and are able to fight for our ideas in the arena of public opinion." It is exactly the point of my posting that sociopaths don't give a damn what you and our fellows learn or not. They are in it for something far outside of the normal social dialogue to which you are accustomed, they are nuts.
Olan, given the fact that you admit that you have never watched the Glenn Beck show, I suggest you do so before posting more on this topic. You will be embarrassed and amazed by what you see. You will likely want to sign the petition. http://colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1854-989064
I do want to point out I am not standing up for Glen Beck. I was addressing that I am not sure I would like to see the disappearance of an entire political party.
jayteef wrote:
Actually, I kind of care. I do believe there is value in having more than one viewpoint when making important decisions.
David Traver wrote:
Note the lack of smiley faces in my posting.
So, yes I'm serious. The Right lost the election. Now it has lost its credibility. It is as if it no longer exists.
Judge for yourself if I'm right. At the end of September if we have universal health care reform, it will be achieved with no Republican votes and it will signal the end of the Right. Those who find the rants of obese Oxycontin addicts entertaining will continue to listen, but nobody will be listinging to them.
There is still time for the rational minds of the Republican Party to take back the GOP. However, there might not be enough of them left to accomplish the feat. Who cares, really?
Yes, it is difficult to have a two-party system with only one Party. But don't forget, every election there are several political parties that get no attention. With the self-destruction of the Republican Party, there will be a hole that others will try to fill. It will take them about 20 years to do it, I suppose. _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-2096 (work)
http://ssaconnect.com http://traverlaw.com https://germaniapublishing.com http://www.jamespublishing.com/books/ssr.htm
Personally, I am in favor of boycotts - both on an indivdual basis and an organized level. I believe they are a way that "average" people have a voice, voice objections, and sometimes gain some power in situations in which they might otherwise have little power.
Personally, I do not approve of Glen Beck's rantings. I certainly never considered his show to be a "news" show.
I understand the basis of petitioning advertisers to not support Glen Beck, and of boycotting companies that choose to continue to support his show through their advertising.
The argument I have trouble understanding is the generaliztion to the entire Republican Party. Not to say the the Republican Party, itself, doesn't have some problems - It has never been my understanding that Glen Beck is a spokesperson for the Republican Party (other than a self-proclaimed one).
Personally, I am in favor of boycotts - both on an indivdual basis and an organized level. I believe they are a way that "average" people have a voice, voice objections, and sometimes gain some power in situations in which they might otherwise have little power.
Personally, I do not approve of Glen Beck's rantings. I certainly never considered his show to be a "news" show.
I understand the basis of petitioning advertisers to not support Glen Beck, and of boycotting companies that choose to continue to support his show through their advertising.
The argument I have trouble understanding is the generaliztion to the entire Republican Party. Not to say the the Republican Party, itself, doesn't have some problems - It has never been my understanding that Glen Beck is a spokesperson for the Republican Party (other than a self-proclaimed one).
I agree that baseless generalizations are not good argument. However, I think there are good bases to for a conclusion that the Republican Party's elected officials are in the mix. Here is an example of a key elected leader of the Republican Party advancing lies generated by the non-elected fear machine. This is not an obscure reference. This happened yesterday.
Quote:
One of the three Republican senators working on a bipartisan health care bill perpetuated a particularly outrageous untruth about the legislation on Wednesday.
Appearing at a town hall in his home state of Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley told a crowd of more than 300 that they were correct to fear that the government would "pull the plug on grandma."
"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life," Grassley said. "And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."
Read what the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate wrote yesterday at 8:55pm.
Quote:
Yesterday President Obama responded to my statement that Democratic health care proposals would lead to rationed care; that the sick, the elderly, and the disabled would suffer the most under such rationing; and that under such a system these “unproductive” members of society could face the prospect of government bureaucrats determining whether they deserve health care.
It may be that former Governor Palin's backtracking on her prior nonsensical comments are steps in the direction of goodness. I doubt it. The proposed health care legislation offers to pay for the creation and updating of advanced directives. Anybody out there who does not have an advanced medical directives is batshit crazy not to have them. The key purpose of advance directives is to direct what happens when we are too incapacitated to make our own medical decisions. http://www.medicinenet.com/advance_medical_directives/article.htm Anybody who wants to linger for years in pain hooked up to a respirator and a feeder tube is free to make that choice. However, to make that kind of desire officially known in advance, one uses an advance directive document (the names for this vary by State). What Palin et al. are doing perpetuates bogus questions about an offer to pay for the creation and routine updating of legal document used every day by millions of Americans. This full-spectrum fear-mongering flows from the for-profit sociopathic voices who have taken over the Republican party and will never give it back. The Republican voters and the Republican Party have become their toys.
Quote:
The Secret Service is investigating a man who authorities said held a sign reading "Death to Obama" outside a town hall meeting held by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in western Maryland. The sign also read, "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids."
On Wednesday night, Rachel Maddow tracked the disturbing death threats emanating from these events.
Republicans who are disgusted by what has happened to the GOP should also sign the petition and start working to take back their Party. However, I think it is too late. They will be shouted down and they will be vilified by the right. Perhaps they will find a home in a new party in 20 years or so, should such a party rise from the ashes.
Ah... I can see those points. :) I just got done with finals week - so maybe my mind was still in grading mode - but I just wasn't seeing where your reasoning led to your conclusion.
8) I have a hard time coming to grips with David's posts. I have said many times here before, my opinion is not shaped by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc., I make up my own mind. It disturbs me that David would say those things about one national commentator and not others, who I could name but will not for various reasons. We are entitled to our opinion, and should not be castigated about it. Olan was so gracious in his post to not point out his medical condition in regard to the health care dispute. David, calm down.
Go to the linked page and check out this nice videos Delta. Tip, when you get to the page, click on the videos to make them go. Watch the top one first, and then the second one.
Quote:
If you're like me, you woke up this morning to find the sun rising in the west against a green sky, you got out of your bed on the ceiling, took a fresh breath of carbon dioxide, thought about how repulsive puppies are and said to yourself, Glenn Beck is not at all a hypocritical lunatic. But if you don't live in Oppositeville, you woke up and saw this.
Calm down? Not bloody likely. Delta, I'm happy to hear that you are perfectly sane. However, your fellow conservatism are being pwned by the media. Somebody has to look after our country while masses of your conservative fellows are running around in la-la land with their brains disconnected and their shirts pulled over their heads.
What does pwned mean?
Quote:
A corruption of the word "Owned." This originated in an online game called Warcraft, where a map designer misspelled "owned." When the computer beat a player, it was supposed to say, so-and-so "has been owned."
Instead, it said, so-and-so "has been pwned."
It basically means "to own" or to be dominated by an opponent or situation, especially by some god-like or computer-like force.
"Man, I rock at my job, but I still got a bad evaluation. I was pwned."
No matter what the nutcase there is a right to disagree and the intent I feel should include infringement from both private and public sectors - but I am an idealist.
So, Olan, you mean that it's a good idea for us to express our severe discontent with the for-profit media that are pwning the right-wing masses? It's okay to disagree with those sociopathic grifters and to show that they are frauds? It appears we have found common ground!
What is a grifter?
Quote:
A grifter is someone who swindles you through deception or fraud.
Synonyms include fraudster, con artist, cheater, confidence man, scammer, hustler, swindler, etc.
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1641 Location: Michigan
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 04:08 am Post subject:
"So, Olan, you mean that it's a good idea for us to express our severe discontent with the for-profit media that are pawning the right-wing masses? It's okay to disagree with those sociopath grafters and to show that they are frauds? It appears we have found common ground! "
Our founders loved discontent on all sides - yep we agree regardless of all conceptions of good and evil...
We are entitled to our opinion, and should not be castigated about it.
Okay. I will admit I had to look up the meaning of castigated. On the farm, they used to do this thing to bulls to make them steers......and it sounded similar to that...
The boycott of Fox News host Glenn Beck gathered more steam Monday when retailing giant Wal-Mart and seven other companies pulled their ads from his show, organizers said.
Among those bailing on Beck: GMAC Financial Services, Best Buy, CVS and Travelocity.
The boycott of Fox News host Glenn Beck gathered more steam Monday when retailing giant Wal-Mart and seven other companies pulled their ads from his show, organizers said.
Among those bailing on Beck: GMAC Financial Services, Best Buy, CVS and Travelocity.
"Judging from Monday night's broadcast, there were plenty of companies eager to fill the ad slots, including The Wall Street Journal, DirecTV, Honda and Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Channel. "
It's no surprise that advertisers are running for the hills after Glenn Beck's idiotic remarks about President Obama. Fox should now take the appropriate step and fire him.
The new companies distancing themselves from Beck include Airware Inc. (makers of Brez anti-snoring aids), Ancestry.com, AT&T, Blaine Labs Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Clorox, Ditech, The Elations Company, Experian (creator of FreeCreditReport.com), Farmers Insurance Group, Johnson & Johnson (makers of Tylenol), Lowe's, NutriSystem, Sprint, The UPS Store and Verizon Wireless.
That brings the total to 36 companies that have pulled their support from Beck or given explicit instructions that their ads are not to run on the show. It's all because more than 160,000 ColorOfChange members connected the dots for Glenn Beck's advertisers and called on them to stop supporting his show. We want to say thank you to everyone who's participated in this campaign.
We could also use your help. We brought on additional staff for the campaign in order to drive as many advertisers away as possible. We need to keep them in order to maximize the number of advertisers that drop Beck and to make sure none come back. Anything you can provide will help us get there -- whether $10, $20, $50, or more. You can make a contribution to help move the campaign forward, here.
More on how the campaign has been going, and statements from the new companies distancing themselves from Beck, after the jump.
Great news today in our campaign against Glenn Beck. We're announcing that nineteen more of Beck's advertisers have stopped supporting his show. That number includes two British companies who just announced that they've pulled their ads from the UK broadcast of Beck's show after hearing from customers.
Two companies--Waitrose (the British supermarket chain) and Metropolitan Talent Management--pulled their ads not only from Beck's show, but from Fox News in general.
Over 280,000 of us have now called on advertisers to stop supporting Beck's show. We are keeping Beck isolated and making sure that he continues to be a financial liability for Fox. Eventually, Fox will have to explain why they are continuing to give Beck's race-baiting and fear-mongering a platform even as it hurts their bottom line.
Here's the full list of new companies ditching Beck: AmMed Direct, Citrix Online, Concord Music Group, Diageo, Eggland's Best, Equifax, Eulactol USA (producer of Flexitol), GetARoom.com, Hoffman La Roche (maker of BONIVA), Metropolitan Talent Management, ooVoo, Overture Films, Scarguard, Schiff Nutrition (maker of Tiger's Milk and Fi-Bar), Seoul Metropolitan Government, Subaru, Toyota-Lexus, Waitrose and Woodland Power Products, Inc.
BTW as an aside it is a far quieter world right now I got an inner ear infection in my only ear that I could hear in and hopefully temporarily I am nearly deaf. I have gain new insite into another disability - it sucks.
Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 921 Location: Federal Hill, Baltimore, MD
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:05 am Post subject:
These folks who are so eager to sign up are probably the ones who are dancing around rejoicing in the Roberts/Alito decision allowing them to throw as much money as they wish into our electoral system. Oh, wait, it's not "our" system any more, it's theirs.
You lost me there, old chap. It's mine? What's mine? I haven't owned much of anything in my life--a house, a few cars and nothing much else. Too busy putting two kids through college to own anything, I'm afraid. So what you are talking about here...well, I have no Idea.
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