On 3/21/08 3:12 PM, "Kent Rasmussen" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I'm
> astonished to learn that some Forum members regard him as a courageous
> defender of free speech and that those of us who wanted him to go away were
> being "bullies." 

That is a wonderful comment Kent.  Thank you for making it.  I am also
struck by someone's covert suggestions about how Kevin has been harrassed by
certain unnamed posters.  I know this kind of juvenile nonsense has plagues
other LISTS I have participated in.

Kent's astonishment should go way beyond the Forum, of course.  The O'Reilly
Factor and its ostensible "no spin zone" is symptomatic of something deep
and perverse in our current public sphere.  George Orwell would have loved
that subtitle: the no spin zone.  That is newspeak for the "All spin zone."

It's as if O'Reilly has no personal take on any of the topics that come
up--despite the fact that he selects them and shapes the discussion to
showcase his own opinion.  And yet, very oddly, many fans do in fact
consider O'Reilly a champion of the free exchange of ideas, non-partisan
debate, and they consider O'Reilly to be, as you put it, "a courageous
defender of free speech."  Now even the most dyed in the wool conservative
would have to admit that is pretty astonishing.

Ps -- (I am not picking on O'Reilly because he is conservative, by the way,
but because he is uncivil and mean spirited.  Lots of liberals are as well.
I am picking O'Reilly because his is the most watched and most successful
show in cable TV history--at least it was a few years ago, when I heard that
delectable detail.)

My point is that we are in real danger of permanently losing a sense of
public civility in our media and discourse.  I mean it.  I really admire
Deborah Tannen's fine book ARGUMENT CULTURE on this topic, and in fact
would love to hear other LIST members recommendations of critical works on
the degrading and the deleterious elements in our current public sphere in
America.  Os Guinness recently published one called "The Case for Civility,"
though I have not read it yet (he's an excellent critic and I am certain
it's a good read).




Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Dept. of English, Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO  63108
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
<www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/ENG/faculty/hbush.html>

Quote of the moment:

"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above
morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."
     
        --Henry David Thoreau