Sep 15, 2009

Free Speech Rules

I've stumbled across a brand new Facebook group. It's called End the Hate! and was started by Emily Chatman Duffy from East Bay, California. The description of the group is as follows:
Friends,
It's long past time to put a stop to the cult of hating in our media. This style of so-called "reporting" which more honestly recalls it's roots from the Jerry Springer Show, than from the work of Walter Cronkite, began with FAUX (Fox) News owned by right wing Australian Rupert Murdoch. Hate is not a commodity to sell. It's a volatile emotional state that should be respected. It's not packaging for right wing dogma. THIS MUST END!
In a discussion board post titled "Clean Up the Media" Emily writes:
If we don't clean up the media then America's big issues will continue to be shown as screaming matches rather than actual debates. Facts will not be aired and wicked threats against the President and Congress will continue to be. The fact is, this shit SELLS! The best way to stop it is to make it UNPROFITABLE for the sponsors of hate media. I know many of you have some great resources to share on how we can do that. Let's get to work! I'm posting two of my favorite sites in the links section of this group. Please post any you have and also please share this group around even of you don't want to join yourself.
Let's get this done!
-Emily
This is followed by a wall post from her that reads:
Two great organizations that research and report on the media:

http://thinkprogress.org/

http://mediamatters.org/

Finally, under the page's Recent News heading, appears the following:
Already one of the biggest mouths in right wing TV, Glenn Beck, has lost 54% of his advertising for his inflaming of hatred against President Obama. Let's work together to get these haters off the public airwaves. [emphasis added]
Well, Emily, now would be a good time to recall those wise words from Noam Chomsky: "If we don't believe in free speech for those we despise, we don't believe in it at all."

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