re: #247 iceweasel

I hate to tell you this, but I did just dig up the context of Limbaugh’s comments and the transcript— and that’s not what was going on. (It didn’t have anything to do with committing massacres in Iraq.)

Someone called in, and asked Rush “Why is it that you always just accuse the Democrats of being against the war and suggest that there are absolutely no Republicans that could possibly be against the war? “

In the ensuing melee, the caller said he was a Republican who had served in the military, and Rush refused to believe him.

Then he took another call, from someone else, who said he was in the military—and with that caller Rush had the exchange about ‘phony soldiers’.

If one just reads the transcript of his remarks to caller 2, they don’t sound that bad….but the full context looks bad.

I can link to the full transcript and audio, but it is on media matters, I warn you. :)

The problem that talk radio shows have is “Seminar callers”. Whether or not they’ve been to a seminar on how to push talking points through the media outlets of the opposition, the caller will:
1a) Agree with something or commend the host for something the host has said;
or
1b) State that he (the caller) was just flipping through channels and has never heard the show;
2) Self-identify as somebody who *should* be in basic agreement with the host based on the usual listener base for the show (or the *perceived* usual listener base, which can get quite funny);
3) Say “BUT…”;
4) Take exception with something the host has done or said.

Steps 1-3 are the “tells”. Most people will not establish their bonafides before disagreeing; most people feel no need to.

This is a phenomenon almost exclusive to talk radio, for a number of reasons (immediacy, broadcast reach, impermanence of the medium, anonymity of the caller, typically contentious topics, and the one-on-one relationship between host and caller). The same way we can sniff out trolls, mobys, stalkers, sock puppets, incipient flounces, and impending meltdowns, a talk show host (and the call screeners) develop a feel for seminar callers.

And once in a while, they get it wrong. So do we. But we should by no means stop screening each other, calling BS when we see it, administering the FCYA process, and so forth.

The problem of context is this: when you describe the problem to people who do *not* spend time listening to talk radio, especially the much-beseiged conservative talk radio, it just sounds apallingly rude. Imagine if an LGF troll takedown or a moby outing were reported by one of the CNN anchors.