Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Larry Koler ·
April 10, 2012 at 1:28pm
I want to put this as plainly and clearly as possible:
- NPR and PBS are politically far to the left of the country that funds them.
- They take money that comes from the government.
- They should morally and ethically strive with unswerving diligence to provide political content that is consistent with the country as a whole.
- Morally and ethically they should not side against any major political faction. They should recuse themselves if there is any doubt on this.
- NPR and PBS are morally and ethically in breach of trust with this country. They have allied themselves with only the most left-wing part of the Democratic Party. They have done this throughout their entire history.
- They have allied themselves with our enemies -- both within the country and outside. They have done this throughout their entire history.
- Rob Long gives them the patina of respectability by lending his conservative bona-fides to them. This gives a false impression that they capitalize on when defending themselves against bias. Even if he never talked about political topics, Rob should have nothing to do with these people because they have proven to have failed in their mission as laid out at their birth.
I'm sure you all agree but, if not, then please do opine.
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Comments:
Oct '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
EJHill: I'm a video migrant worker. In the past if PBS was paying I was working. Simple logic: If they ain't spending that budgeted money onyou then they're spending it on someone or something else.
What Rob does is neither illegal or immoral. How NPR gets the money may be immoral but that's not the question, is it? · 2 minutes ago
At last reading NPRs Federal funding ran about 5 to 7%, in the overall, not much. PBS funding was a little higher and the argument is by this time the funding is not needed. An old horse to beat there.
Seems to be some overly Purist thinking in the message delivery system. Honestly, this topic seems to rise quicky on the heels of the Derb situation in an odd way. Just a little strange.
Jul '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
I don't care if it's "some money," it's My money!
Jul '11
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Money is money and a job is a job, we all gotta eat, let it be.
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
James Gawron: Larry,
I agree with what you say and Rob would probably be better off using his talents elsewhere. However, we need a strategy to deal with them.
It is imperative that they lose the imprimature of government. Remove the funding and remove the trademark and logo. Make them rename on their own. Their private contributors that believe in them can go on buying what they want. The rest of us won't be dragged into it.
I don't think they would last two seasons.
Regards,
Jim
Jim, I agree that we need a strategy but it's important to say what I am saying out loud and have it discussed. The left usually attacks the right on moral grounds. They pose as morally superior all the time. Yet they are so very blind to their own grievous failings. This is a matter of high principle and we need to see not only that the frog is being boiled but that we have people on our side (see Paul Erickson and Blue Yeti above) insisting that the frog isn't even getting hot, that no one even intends to boil it and that it won't happen anyway.
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
wilber forge
... Honestly, this topic seems to rise quicky on the heels of the Derb situation in an odd way. Just a little strange. · 15 minutes ago
This resonates a little with the Derbyshire issue but the continuous thread goes back to two of my earlier posts:
Number 2 is closer to the internecine warfare that is coming from the Derbyshire affair.
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Jimmy Carter
I don't care if it's "some money," it's My money! · 31 minutes ago
Exactly -- it is the principle. And it is a high principle that is at stake. This is the slimiest part of the rot that infects modern governments.
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Close enough, don't you think? KCRW sure looks like a duck.
Mar '11
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Ha ha, well played.
Oct '11
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Yeah, are you listening ....sounds like someone's making another list better watch out. What the heck is wrong I like Rob working where he wishes to work, lets us know what the other side is up to and keeps him happy...is that all right?
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Well, yes, I did have to choose a target who is big enough to take it, won't take it personally (I hope) and who is also ... well, shall we say: "Exhibit A."
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Larry Koler
Close enough, don't you think? KCRW sure looks like a duck. · 1 hour ago
Actually, KCRW pays more to NPR than it receives. Although I'm not on NPR. I'm on KCRW, which is a local station. I'd want a raise if I somehow started appearing nationally.
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Larry Koler
The left usually attacks the right on moral grounds. They pose as morally superior all the time.
Yes, that's always bothered me about the left. The constant list-making and moral grandstanding, the lines being drawn, the moral imperatives about this or that kind of commerce being "okay" or "not okay." The left is always ready to judge how you make your money, whether your coffee is "Free Trade," whether any decent person could work someplace like a Christian college or a nuclear weapons research facility.
Glad to know that the right hasn't succumbed to that kind of moral posturing.
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
lakely LANE
Yeah, are you listening ....sounds like someone's making another list better watch out. What the heck is wrong I like Rob working where he wishes to work, lets us know what the other side is up to and keeps him happy...is that all right? · 2 minutes ago
This is public debate.
We don't have to fight these battles on ground of the left's choosing.
People like David Brooks and Peggy Noonan really damage the ability for the left to have a come to Jesus moment. They are enablers.
The left simply doesn't take any conservative seriously and in the court of public opinion they don't have to -- as long as we play by their rules and their referees.
Would you shake Al Sharpton's hand? How about Jesse Jackson's? And the big one: how about President Obama's? My answer: no, no and I wouldn't want to but it depends....
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Larry Koler:
Rob Long gives them the patina of respectability by lending his conservative bona-fides to them. This gives a false impression that they capitalize on when defending themselves against bias.
I'm sure you all agree but, if not, then please do opine. · · 4 hours ago
When has anyone at NPR ever used me or my work for KCRW as evidence that they're not biased? Never, that's when. Because -- and this is important -- I don't appear on NPR. And I never talk politics in my 3 minutes of radio storytelling, because in my experience, there's plenty of politics on the radio already. All over the dial. I just tell funny (I hope) stories about show business in this particular gig. A gig that appears only on KCRW, locally, and never (to my knowledge) on any other station anywhere on earth. I like to talk politics in precisely three places: here, in National Review and a few other publications like that, and on "Red Eye."
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Rob Long
Yes, that's always bothered me about the left. The constant list-making and moral grandstanding, the lines being drawn, the moral imperatives about this or that kind of commerce being "okay" or "not okay." The left is always ready to judge how you make your money, whether your coffee is "Free Trade," whether any decent person could work someplace like a Christian college or a nuclear weapons research facility. Glad to know that the right hasn't succumbed to that kind of moral posturing.
Yes, the truth is always right exactly in the middle of the two most extreme poles, isn't it? No reason to have principles to decide this -- just measure it with a yard stick.
WFB had a superb little story about the moral equivalence of the two superpowers. It's the one about two men who push little old ladies around.
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Rob Long
When has anyone at NPR ever used me or my work for KCRW as evidence that they're not biased? Never, that's when. Because -- and this is important -- I don't appear on NPR. And I never talk politics in my 3 minutes of radio storytelling, because in my experience, there's plenty of politics on the radio already. All over the dial. I just tell funny (I hope) stories about show business in this particular gig. A gig that appears only on KCRW, locally, and never (to my knowledge) on any other station anywhere on earth. I like to talk politics in precisely three places: here, in National Review and a few other publications like that, and on "Red Eye."
It's what they tell themselves that matters, too. Having you onboard and knowing that you are a conservative tells them all they need to know about how broad-minded they are. This is all part of their seamless bubble.
I think that we are in the phony war phase of the 2nd civil war of America. I'm in the minority here, but the frog doesn't look so good to me. It looks blanched.
Nov '11
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
I only watch PBS, because I am too cheap to pay for television. I mostly listen to NPR - we get two stations here, and I usually listen to the one that plays music all day, but also spend a fair amount of time listening to NPR news. Sure, it's biased - sometimes I have to turn the radio off because it makes me angry. Should they pretend that they're not biased? Should they take public funding? I would say no and no - but honestly, the majority of stuff on NPR has very little to do with politics. The stuff that is related to politics is for Leftists and by Leftists. I think Barry Rubin's anecdote here is worth reading - and indicative that in some situations, appearing on NPR and holding certain views is not a good idea.
All of this is of course irrelevant to Mr. Long, per his response above.
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Hey Larry....this one's for you. Enjoy.
Jun '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
Thanks, Yeti.
Oct '10
Re: Is Rob Long Morally Wrong to Work for NPR?
When you're given an all too rare opportunity to address a conservative argument to a huge, largely liberal, pool of attentive listeners, you are "morally and ethically" obliged to decline -- even though your own tax dollars are helping to defray the cost? Conservatism is not a suicide pact.
NPR looked darn good when this information junkie did an internet free stint in the rural outback, with nothing else on the radio dial but sports, country music and the gospel. Contra some conservatives' narrative, it's more than just a 24/7 bias machine, but then perhaps they feel obliged not to tune in either. They may not get their money's worth, but I certainly do.
That's not what bothers me most about your post, however. I think you are playing fast and loose with moral probity here, especially in the context of something as vaguely posited as "political content that is consistent with the country as a whole." Questioning Rob Long's judgment is one thing, but I think you have to do a whole lot better than a string of arguable assertions when you are launching a politically poisonous attack on his moral and ethical character.