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