Of course, as a talk show host I’m very biased on this issue, but I think it helps the national conversation to hear everyone out. That’s even if what they’re saying is outrageous or not even remotely true. Let there be a battlefield of ideas and I think the truth will win out in the long run (though it loses many battles in the short run).
Now that you know how strongly I feel about that — I think Glenn Beck should be fired. He has told a lie so grotesque that it goes beyond the pale of even dirty politics. Just when I thought he couldn’t shock my conscience anymore, he has done it. Let me explain.
Cenk Uygur has an interesting piece on the Huffington Post, but I hope he spends a bit more time thinking about the real underlying issue. He’s on to something, but I don’t think he has fully got the real issue at work here, and it says much about how and why people like him are failing the American people. Yes, I said it- failing, the readers and listeners!
Cenk says in one sentence, anything is acceptable out there, “even if it isn’t remotely true,” and then goes on to say that now something has been said (which isn’t remotely true) but which “goes beyond the pale.” Â I don’t think you can have it both ways. Either anything is fair game or not.
Where I think Cenk needs to get a real grip, is to let go of this idea of the “truth winning out in the long run,” which justifies for him, putting lies out there to start discussion. I’d propose that only the truth belongs, and any commentator, talk show host, blogger or other loud mouth, ought to be saying whatever they say, only if it is true. No lies. Nothing that can’t be fact checked. Now, I do believe that anyone has a right to their own opinion, and opinions can be as slanted as they want. Two people can take the same fact, and from it have two very different takes on what it means, and why they think that. for me, this is the “wide berth” that Cenk believes that should exist. But these ideas must be expressed as opinion, not as fact.
I think our Democracy is either dying, or already morally wounded, and close to death because this exact issue. I’m all for free expression, and yet, free expression and the ability to bear false witness and lie are not exactly the same. The American people need real news, and real ideas to consider. But lies, that’s questionable. Cenk wants to see this “wide berth” because it is his own livelihood, but, but I ask you- is it worth it, really? You can’t be a talk show host and stick to the truth, and let your opinions flow from that?