Showing posts with label WISN 1130. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WISN 1130. Show all posts
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Self-Righteous Wanna Be Journalist Mark Belling Loses All Credibility
By Ted Kraig
In that broadcast, Belling read and commented at length on an article originally published on June 21, but reposted on Alex Jones's prominent fake-news site Infowars the day of Belling's rant. Belling claimed he found the article in “a prominent online magazine” called Medusa that he asserted is “widely read in the radical feminist world.” The article, which Belling claimed would be “interesting to the people at Berkeley and in Hollywood,” reads like an overwrought conservative caricature of a race conscious, politically correct feminist. Something one might find in a right-wing version of The Onion. Typical headlines such as "Are Canker Sores Sexist? " "Make Masturbation Illegal for Men," Childhood Toys Are RACIST," and "Why Free-Bleeding Is an Essential part of Feminism" lead us to believe that Belling is referencing an outrageous fake-news clickbait blog for right-wing media to use to lure in less than savvy readers. (It turns out that's exactly what it is.) And it worked! Belling bit, pouncing on the fake news story without checking its legitimacy and falling for an online example of Poe's Law to buttress his flimsy attack on liberals' sanity.
The “crazy” article includes statements like “white families stand in the way of equality and justice,” “the white family must be destroyed,” and ended with the proposed solution that “white women should be encouraged to abort their white children.” Throughout his dramatic reading of the article, Belling interspersed commentary like “see the seething hatred of white people” and “people like these get jobs at American universities.”
Belling’s point? People on the left are “crazy” and ideas like the ones expressed in the online article will ultimately become mainstream liberal positions, promulgated by his named enemies of purportedly rational conservative thought: “universities," "Hollywood,” and "the liberal media.” According to Belling, this is how tolerance for gay marriage, transgender people, and Islam started, as crazy extreme positions ultimately adopted by the liberal elite. In stark contrast, conservatives are positioned by propagandists like Belling to have “common sense” and use “logic” in determining their values and beliefs.
The problem with Belling’s rant? A simple web search revealed that Medusa is anything but a “prominent online magazine,” apparently having gone bust in 2013, and the article was most likely written by a conservative satirist posing as a “radical feminist.”
It’s especially ironic that we caught Belling being so comically loose with his sources, given that he frequently claims to operate with higher journalistic standards than the rest of the media. The very next day, June 27, Belling ranted against Fox 6 and the entire local television news media as “hack organizations not interested in the truth,” operating with a “political agenda,” and “not reporting, but propagandizing.”
Why does it matter that conservative squawkers like Belling go this low? This is just one glaring example of the kind of propaganda coming from Belling and his fellow right wingers on the radio for fifteen hours a day every day. The stories they tell are often misleading if not completely baseless. And they’re often mean and hateful, characterizing political opponents as crazy, ruthless, and bigoted.
We would not be so concerned about such blather (and would not have created Radio-Active) if we weren’t convinced that the lies and mean propaganda have real and dire consequences for our communities.
According to the Washington Post, a recent poll found that among Republicans 84% believe Trump is doing a great job as President. We think they feel this way despite all evidence because they are tuned into Fox News and the many dozens of local conservative radio hosts like Belling who routinely tell them things like: concerns about Congress’ repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act are exaggerated liberal hysteria, and suspicions of Russian interference into our Presidential elections with possible Trump campaign collusion have been found to be entirely baseless and were drummed up by ruthless left-wing Trump haters.
A very large segment of our community listens to hosts like Belling and believes they are credible. It is high time that we convince them to reconsider the credibility of their sources.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
The Head Of Mohammed?
By Julius Lozenge
During his May 31,2017 podcast toxic talker Jay Weber scolded D-list comedian Kathy Griffin for the now-notorious photograph of her holding Donald Trump’s severed head:
They should make an example of her and make it known to her that this type of thing is completely unacceptable. There has to be some line drawn in the sand by the Secret Service. Say, "Look, enough!" We look past an awful lot of nonsense when it comes to threats against the president or art or expression that is deemed political expression but there is a line here. This goes way beyond most hate or threats I have seen in my lifetime. The left got away with some really vile crap against George W. Bush.
Needless to say, we were surprised at the sudden wave of humanity and compassion from the
normally heartless and crass Weber. Griffin’s stunt was disgusting, inappropriate, irresponsible, and characteristically unfunny.
Of course, Weber very quickly let the pretense slip when a caller demanded, “Hold up a head of Obama! Hold up a head of Mohammed!”
Weber — who mere minutes before had pleaded, “Look, enough!” — laughed like a giddy child. “Wouldn’t that be something?” he giggled. “That would really be something. Hold up the head of Mohammed.” Then his own hypocrisy dawned on him. He quickly changed the subject.
Enough, Jay Weber. Enough.
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