A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Why do conservatives want to defund NPR and the CPB?
Liberals and RINOs have spent years setting up a very extensive, elaborate and sophisticated national propaganda machine. It has been highly effective in spreading the "progressive" message subliminally, especially to independent and mostly disinterested voters.
Yet as soon as we conservatives gain some political power we want to cut NPR loose from government control. But I'm here to ask, in the face of unanimous conservative opinion, if this is the right approach to take.
If an army captures an opposing army's cannon, do they blow it up?
If a navy boards another navy's ship, do they scuttle it?
Is conservative opinion so dominant in the nation through the conduits of Fox News and talk radio that we can afford to dispose of an opportunity like NPR? Really?
What I'm asking is why not commandeer the network? Why not use the weapon?
Don't tell me it will be hard - that's no reason to a true conservative. And don't tell me our people will be co-opted - that's just as good a reason to be totally apolitical.
Tell me why what works for armies and navies won't work for conservative forces which are able to seize "ordnance" in the culture war.
Bill Bennett says that if you're not on offense, you're on defense.
And Napoleon said, "If you have a cannon - Shoot it!"
It's not good enough to stop paying for the baseball bat that Democrats hit us with. It's better to pick up that bat and do some hitting ourselves - don't you agree?
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
So, the people of the former Soviet Union should have simply changed Pravda's message, but not it's purpose?
And we should do the same with public broadcasting?
Feb '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Armies don't scuttle weapons because they are not constitutionally ( both big and little c ) opposed to their use. If we spend years arguing that the government has no business being involved in a particular endeavor, and then continue that endeavor for our own purposes, our credibility is officially kaput.
Oct '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
The two wrongs argument, as Peter pointed out above.
Jul '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
The only value that CPB/PBS/NPR has had for generations is to identify to us who will support partisan nationalized endeavors. I.e., the useful idiots. An army, coming on a cache of mustard gas, should put it to use in turn against their enemy or neutralize it? Either choice can be defended under the right circumstances.
The Dems have erected a huge supporting infrastructure in activist groups, unions, through unions public education, and these three partisan skags are the call to worship for the whole magilla. The myth of PBS/NPR excellence notwithstanding, they have been a ridiculously transparent tool of the Left from the git go and serves the country no purpose beyond providing an authoritative voice for statism.
The thought of using state broadcasting to transmit calls for fiscal prudence and limited government carries an unfortunate, defeating irony. The medium is not the message, in this case.
May '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
PBS and NPR will tell you that they produce programming that is free of the pressure of ratings. That, of course, is a lie. They just don't use A.C. Nielsen. They use the Dead Presidents Ratings. They measure what programming pleases the money makers, the underwriting foundations, the politicians and lastly the public membership.
Those things that please the public are self-sustainable. A Prairie Home Companion has made Garrison Keillor a millionaire. The Muppet empire was built on a place called Sesame Street.
If tax money goes away the programming will remain liberal because the underwriters and the majority of the membership will still be liberal. The only way to truly kill it is to make the donations taxable.
Jan '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Peter Gothgen
Your point is a restatement of the hypocrisy argument that Democrats love to use against Republicans and conservatives.
You equip yourself with a glass jaw and then step into the ring.
Stop worrying about your credibility, especially to Democrats. They don't believe in anything. After all, how many Democrats would admit to being in favor of a state-run propaganda machine? But they all support NPR, don't they?
Of course, you can always bring the knife of your credibility to the gunfight.
Jan '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Jerry Broaddus
To answer your first question - yes, absolutely.
I would not have objected to a Pravda governed editorially by the thoughts of Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley. I think it would have been an unqualified good.
Have we become so diffident that we are afraid to say that we know what's best? Are we reduced to hoping for a truce, not victory?
Dec '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
If an army captures an opposing army's cannon, do they blow it up?
In the case of the British Army, they melted the Russian cannons captured during the Crimean War and used the metal to make the Victoria Cross.
If a navy boards another navy's ship, do they scuttle it?
In the case of U-505, the U.S. Navy boarded the submarine and it eventualy ended up in the Chicago Museum.
No, I'm not trying to be clever or play military trivial pursuit. I understand what you are saying. However, one thing that's bothered me as a conservative- especially after listening to the last podcast is this. Why should Classical Music be the domain of the left? I love to listen to the music and some (very little) of the programing but the rest is idle chatter -- especially Prarie Home Companion. I think they should force GITMO detainees to listen to it. At one time we had a smaller public station here -WCAL , but the college of St. Olaf sold it off and now we're stuck with MPR canned crapola. Sure take it over, but like the historic examples above - change it. Reformation time!
Jan '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Johannes Allert
I could easily change the conceit from the military to the commercial:
NPR - Under New Management
Works just as well.
Feb '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
It's not a question of worrying what the dems think, its a question of who we are. We are the ones who say that there are certain legitimate uses of government, but running a media network is not one of them. We don't do this because we don't do this. It's all a moot point anyway. The only people we might be able to reach if we did try to exert control would be hearing nothing but stories about our 'power grab' and about us 'corrupting the people's network for political purposes.' What's the point in selling your soul if you don't even get the donut?
Oct '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
"What I'm asking is why not commandeer the network? Why not use the weapon?"
It's neither practical nor would it be beneficial. NPR programming cannot be turned on a dime; several years and at least one election will occur during the attempt. Depending upon the election results, NPR could very well reverse course back to its previous programming.
The best outcome conservatives could hope for is a marginally impacted liberal outlet with no savings of public funds.
Publically funded propaganda machines have no place in a republic. It is better to crush NPR, drive a stake through its heart, burn the remains and scatter them over the mountains and oceans of world.
Jan '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
It's hard, eh? Our opponents might complain and say we're mean.
Of course, It's all in the way you manage these things, like everything else. I don't presume to have a blueprint for such a campaign, but I acknowledge that it could be 'evolutionary" and gradual. Dressed up in "fairness" and "balance" - a culling out of the present staffs at CPB and an "aggressive outreach to excluded minorities."
Kind of Gramscian, if you will.
And speaking of doughnuts - Peter, don't you think it would be just so sweet to try? To turn the tables on the preening, two-faced Schillers and the Weisses?
My goodness, even according to your vision if nothing else public broadcasting is destroyed, and then Terry Gross and Garrison Keillor would have to sell Time-Life records to make ends meet.
That's a Boston Creme to me.
Aug '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
It's a tempting proposal. In the same vein, why not fire all the civil service bureaucrats and hire conservatives? It's a pleasure to entertain the thought.
But it wouldn't work. Four or eight years later we'd be undone,
We need structural solutions, and the Founders had them pretty well nailed. Let's return as many of the State's original powers as we can, and defund as many Federal functions as we can. Bring back zero-based budgeting, or something like it.
But, Freesmith, thanks! You are a breath of fresh air.
Jul '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Peter's on a roll.
Freesmith, always, always ask Yerself,"Is it Constitutional?" In this case, the answer is a resounding "no."
Conservatives should be interested in only dismantling the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.
Jan '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Matthew Osborn
You veer between fatalism and utopianism. I suggest a middle way.
PBS has been around for decades. Even if the GOP succeeds in defunding it this year, or after 2012, it can come back sometime in the future with Democrat help. We are making a financial argument against it. When finances change.....
So I say yes, politicize it. Use it to our own ends. Make everyone understand what it is. Then, once its function is understood, it can either be a spoil of war or mutually abolished.
But think of the fun we could have in the interim. Conservative books reviewed on "Fresh Air." Conservative issues given 20-minute segments on "All Things Considered, with your host Matthew Osborn." "The James O'Keefe Show."
Think outside the box, Ricochet! Suggest your own series concepts. Be creative. Think of the joy you can have tweaking liberals.
Why should Ann Coulter and Andrew Klavan have all the fun?
Jan '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Jimmy Carter
I always try to think Constitutionally, but I found out a long time ago that my opinion of what the Constitution says is different from what another citizen's opinion is. And his opinion counts just as much as mine.
That's why law libraries are filled with various interpretations. There ain't one version.
So I try to keep my appeals to the Constitution to a minimum.
When it comes to politics my main concern is getting rid of the Democrat Party, so we can return to a true, two-party system.
Republicans and Libertarians.
Oct '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Exactly. (Except I'm not sure what the 'only' is doing in there).
It's not a matter of: Can we get away with it; would we look like hypocrites; who cares if we look like hypocrites; they did it so we should do it; turn about is fair play.
Government shouldn't be in the news business.
Jan '11
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
"A breath of fresh air."
James F. Strother, was that supposed to be a bit of NPR-inspired wordplay?
Thanks. Actually, if "Fresh Air's" Terry Gross did get let go in a conservative management shake-up -
"Terry, we've decided to go with a different orientation for the show."
- I assume she'd move right over to be the regular substitute host for Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Seems transgressively obvious to me.
Oct '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
Freesmith: Matthew Osborn
PBS has been around for decades. Even if the GOP succeeds in defunding it this year, or after 2012, it can come back sometime in the future with Democrat help. We are making a financial argument against it. When finances change..... · Mar 13 at 4:07pm
NPR gained its initial foothold when there was no track record to hold against it. It would be much more difficult to found NPR today given our experience. You make my point when you say that "...it can come back sometime in the future with Democrat help.". That is all the more reason to wipe NPR off the face of the Earth.
If the liberals had half a brain, they would be strongly promoting your idea for the exact reasons you mention.
Dec '10
Re: A Contrary Opinion on NPR
I guess I'm a little too big a fan of Johah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. In my mind, the NPR/CPB/PBS monolith is a shining example of the Left's propaganda, their Fascist tactics. I find the whole concept of a government controlled media outlet to be just that - a Fascist or Communist tool. Because of that - in my mind - it is completely antithetical to what I believe in.