One of threads today sited talk radio and the outright propaganda, lies and slander being spit at the listener with challenges that if you do not agree you are the worst of criminals. I have tried to listen a few times to try to grasp why anyone would get information this way with someone instigating a lie coupled with a challenge...then the callers have a free for all. It seems filled with hate and complete distortions. Has anyone on this forum ever tried to call in and challenge one of these bullies?

Yup, got cut off and then mocked for three minutes. Pretty much the same things the parrots here do.

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Well, I don't listen to talk radio. I think the best way to get info is by reading newspapers and also here on the web.

Only once have I ever called into talk radio. The host was a Portland, Oregon smear artist and outright liar named Lars Larson. I was stuck in my car waiting on someone and listening to this man spew lies concerning medicare. It was pre election and he continued to make the statement that Kerry wanted "socilized medicine" and then other completely false statements about healthcare.

I phoned the number they were advertising and he took the call right away. In a clear calm voice I explained in detail the Kerry plan for healthcare and then began to discuss the multifaceted reasons for the spiraling cost of healthcare in our country and that it was a crisis for many people. He screamed that I was a "plant" and that how did I know this. I explained that I was a practioner and had been in healthcare and had been involved in many state boards,ethics committeses and so forth and so on. He screamed something then cut me off and told the audience that I hung up. Then he went on to make some ridiculous non sensical statement that Kerry healthcare was probably massages. It was bizarre to say the least. Callers than began to call in with no credibility rattling off misinformation and quackery. I was incredulous that many american people receive their news this way. It was not a discussion and not even loosely based on any kind of facts but a bully manipulating his listeners like they were his own personal marionettes.

Talk radio can provide you with information that you don't get anywhere else. The good hosts let you know what is their opinion and what is fact. I listen to both and right left wing hosts. Then you gotta decide what you feel the right infromation. If you don't like it turn it off.

Ever think there might be a reason that info isn't available anywhere else? The presentation of news shouldn't be laced with opinion, and definitely not when it includes outrageous attacks against otherwise patriotic Americans.

I guess at the minimum, it's good that you at least listen to both sides.

As far as them letting you know what their facts are, I have yet to hear one of them, right or left that don't skew those facts to support their opinions. You've gotta have all the info pertinent to the topic, not just the bits (usually out of context) that appear to support their position.

Question everything, then research to get the answers (facts) yourself.

Just my two bits... and hopefully something to think about.

Granny used to say, "don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you read." Or was it the other way around?... well, I think you get her drift.

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S.O.S. ------ United We Stand, Divided We Fall

A morning show host on a local rock station did a good job of summing up political talk radio. He was refering to Rush Limbaugh, but I feel it applies to all of them. They start off as entertainers, and nothing more, but eventually begin to believe the shit that spews out of their mouthes.

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“In my lifetime, we've gone from Eisenhower to George W. Bush. We've gone from John F. Kennedy to Al Gore. If this is evolution, I believe that in twelve years, we'll be voting for plants.”
-Lewis Black

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
-Benjamin Franklin

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. "
-Thomas Jefferson

And al franken is a genius . Get a grip guys you have never listened to limbaugh because you hated him before you turned on your radio . I started listening to him on AFR and he cracked me up AND he does provide news the leftwing media refuses to print . More that once I would hear somethiong for the first time on Limbaugh's show , and the read about it a week later in the sorry assed newspaper , on the back page .

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"If that's what it takes to keep the peace , then thank God for the bomb" Ozzy Osbourne Sat Cong !

Talk radio is not meant to cover news. The people mentioned in thread are opinionists. Their shows, will then, spread opinions. I listen to both ends of the spectrum on the radio.

Newspapers aren't much better. The tilt of most of them is immediately apparent.

I've never even attempted to call one and i dont follow them because i've heard that they consist primarily of 'right'-wing nut's who's transparent attempt's to transform our democracy into a big govt. theocracy would'nt really interest me.I personally believe that right-wing radio is just a way to dumb ourselves down and stop thinking rationally and for ourselves,kind of like a herd or lynch mob mentality=lazy brain syndrome!I also dont follow Fox 'news' because i once tuned in only to discover it was nothing more than 'right'-wing propaganda.They claim they are "Fair & Balanced",but apparently they even have their own definition of fair and balanced as well!