Folks, I live in a deeply red state. I work with very intelligent people -- those who write advanced software, or effectively manage entire departments. But when we vanpool home together, I witness first-hand the stranglehood conservative talk radio has on election politics down here in the South.
I now realize that the main ingredient in the appeal of loudmouths like Hannity is the ploy of playing victim at every possible turn.
Over the years, we've seen countless examples of conservatives trying to convince captive listeners that their political and social philosophy is under attack.
The ultimate crying of course, comes with regard to the supposed "liberal media".
But we've heard many others:
The "attack on" Christmas;
the "attack on the family" by gay people;
the "attack on" religion by the courts;
the "attack on" traditional values by Hollywood;
...on and on...
Ironically, conservatives persistently tell the rest of us that "playing victim" shirks personal responsibility, creating an unhealthy sense of "entitlement". Yet nonetheless, that very mindset is at the heart of the Hannity / Limbaugh following...
Here's the new one brewing, relating to the teacher in Colorado being called out for talking about Hitler and Bush together.
Hannity was on the radio yesterday calling on kids to secretly record their teachers, when they embrace the "radical bush hating agenda"...Now we all know that 99.9999% of teachers don't talk in the Bush / Hitler context -- yet this will be framed as the next "Attack on" something. Again, conservatives LOVE playing the victim...
There are at least three piles of major bullshit in what Hannity is doing:
1. You're telling me there are NO teachers in red states who worship Bush in their classrooms? I guess THAT's ok.
2. He was going on about how we're supposed to be teaching science to our kids, and this (of course, he won't admit that whatever it is, it's just an aberration) distracts teachers from it.
Is he serious?
What is distracting science teachers and dumbing down the classroom is the push to insert Intelligent Design into the curriculum. For one, teachers are literally afraid to push the full extent of science, lest they offend the creationists -- yet another GOP victim group -- who dominate many counties in the U.S.
3. Worse maybe, is that such thinking dumbs down science itself. I doubt students in India are catching up on computer technology because they're embracing theories that allow for untestable catch-alls when lab results aren't forthcoming...
[And I'm not even going to get into the church/state ramifications of ID]
Give me a break already...
But here's the thing: those captive audiences in their cars buy into it, hook, line, and sinker. Therefore, I'm thinking more and more that the way to win in red states is to defeat talk radio directly -- there's no working around the edges here...
Update: After reading some of the comments, I should add that in fairness, Sean said something like, "now don't go getting yourself in trouble, but let's do this."... Still, how many kids or even parents are going to understand the law in this area? The implicit message is to launch a sting operation against teachers.