Stop giving money to PBS, and stop thinking those people running it are “liberals” or “on the left”. The surrender of PBS can be dated to 30 years ago when newly-powerful Newt Gingrich went after their funding, and basically told them that, if they wanted to continue to exist, they had better stop pissing off his friends and his supporters. And they did. Daniel Schorr was cut loose, as was every other man and woman ever associated with the Great Days of PBS, given their walking papers and escorted out the door over the next several years.
Our local PBS radio affiliate last year canceled one of the best political shows in the Atlanta area basically because they thought the host was too liberal. Bill Nigut is amazing moderator and he ran a great show. He invited Democrats and Republicans alike to appear, but after the January 6 riot, he publicly proclaimed that he would not have anyone on the show who was an election denier. so it took about a year and a half and the Georgia Senate cut funding and they targeted that show, so fuck PBS and fuck the GA senate and fuck Newt Gingrich for starting it all.
I did not watch the snow job on Buckley. As soon as I saw the blurb for it I felt sick. The article just confirms the public media, PBS and NPR are always being threatened by right wing political forces. One reason we need for people of all ages to KNOW more, READ more, UNDERSTAND how media is structured and where leaders in media come from. Buckley was the point person for a Fascist agenda, hidden under a "high class accent" and a lot of cigarette smoke. I wish PBS would have showed James Baldwin having his debate with Buckley. Now THAT is what everyone should watch.
Well, you would have made me suicidal if I had not noticed that they currently resemble NOT AT ALL the PBS that I loved and watched for years. It was an example of what TV could be, positively, not bought, slanted bull Schitt. I knew it was repubs who yanked funding about the time that Rupert got geared up with Fox. Now they advertise more than the other channels during the evening news. It’s one of the main reasons I hate repubs. Wish it weren’t so. I still watch some things but BritBox and Acorn fill the void. Did I need another reason to hate what repubs have done to the country. No, but this has been on a long list for many years. I still have hope that Dems can fund them and the USPS if they ever get enough clout. It’s now or never, I fear…
Thanks TC, I never could stand listening to Buckley. I never read the National Review but I did watch 1 maybe 2 Firing Line. It was well-named. Ignorant people shouting at the top of their lungs and talking over each other so you could never grasp the subject. I will admit Buckley was erudite, but so ate a lot of people and they aren't spewing nonsense about what idiots we, of liberal progressive thinking, people who care for the "wrong" persons, those in need, instead of those whose cunning already have it.
Buckley was an ass. There is a much better documentary. "Buckley/Vidal - Best of Enemies." I always thought he was in the closet. Deep in the closet. After he called Vidal a faggot on TV, Paul Newman came up to him and told him if he ever called Vidal that again, he'd punch his lights out.
I'd date it to slightly earlier than 30 years, to the first
Gulf War and the beauty of our weapons that converted WBUR in Boston to all news all the time, terminating a once interesting programming.
WGBH, also in Boston, is struggling through hard times another casualty of the dullness of all news all the time, (such as it is reported) having dropped its Classical, American Songbook and Jazz programming.
I remember watching a couple of “Firing Lines” on PBS back when I was in high school in the 70s. All I remember was some tight-assed prick holding a clipboard and pen while looking down his nose and talking through clenched teeth.
This is phenominal, Tom. I grew up in a displaced Tennesee Baptist charismatic, child molesting small town of SAnta Cruz, CA. The Scotts Valley Baptist Church was the melting pot of the 1900 to 1920s white supremacist charismatics and the newly minted JBS wealthier lunatic medical, health food, (processed food was a commie plot, as were automatic transmissions) Drs and dentists and such. It was tiresom, to be charitable, to constantly be asked why my mother was a communist. WFB's smugly upturned nose and raised upper lip was now on TV and oozed condesention and superiority.
I could go on and on, but just in today's LA Times is an article about a conservative opinion host on PBS getting fired for having a piece published in a print magazine, critisizing PBS for being a closed liberal opperation that shut out conservative thought. What is going on?
I haven't given PBS or NPR any money in a very long time, so I can't dump them for beatifying W. F. Buckley Jr. I can recommend a book I'm reading that gives Buckley his due as a close friend and admirer of fascists: Jacob Heilbrunn's AMERICA LAST: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators (Liveright, 2024). It introduced me to New York businessman Merwin K. Hart, who never met a dictator he didn't like but was especially fond of Franco. I was already well acquainted with Lawrence Dennis, thanks to Rachel Maddow's PREQUEL (highly recommended, btw), and coincidentally I recently copyedited a breezy book about the run-up to WW2 in which Charles Lindbergh did not come off well.
Short version: Anyone who believes Trump came out of nowhere, or that the caving of the GOP in 2016–17 was an aberration, hasn't been paying attention. Fortunately there are plenty of antidotes available, including Rick Perlstein and, of course, "That's Another Fine Mess." ;-)
Thanks, TC for all the background about Buckley. I always thought he was a somewhat effete, very pretentious old fart, (that ridiculous drawling accent!) but I never knew much about the background and history of conservatism. Geez.
Our local PBS radio affiliate last year canceled one of the best political shows in the Atlanta area basically because they thought the host was too liberal. Bill Nigut is amazing moderator and he ran a great show. He invited Democrats and Republicans alike to appear, but after the January 6 riot, he publicly proclaimed that he would not have anyone on the show who was an election denier. so it took about a year and a half and the Georgia Senate cut funding and they targeted that show, so fuck PBS and fuck the GA senate and fuck Newt Gingrich for starting it all.
I always thought William F. Buckley was a scholar only in his own mind. What's scholarly about defending greed and selfishness?
I did not watch the snow job on Buckley. As soon as I saw the blurb for it I felt sick. The article just confirms the public media, PBS and NPR are always being threatened by right wing political forces. One reason we need for people of all ages to KNOW more, READ more, UNDERSTAND how media is structured and where leaders in media come from. Buckley was the point person for a Fascist agenda, hidden under a "high class accent" and a lot of cigarette smoke. I wish PBS would have showed James Baldwin having his debate with Buckley. Now THAT is what everyone should watch.
Well, you would have made me suicidal if I had not noticed that they currently resemble NOT AT ALL the PBS that I loved and watched for years. It was an example of what TV could be, positively, not bought, slanted bull Schitt. I knew it was repubs who yanked funding about the time that Rupert got geared up with Fox. Now they advertise more than the other channels during the evening news. It’s one of the main reasons I hate repubs. Wish it weren’t so. I still watch some things but BritBox and Acorn fill the void. Did I need another reason to hate what repubs have done to the country. No, but this has been on a long list for many years. I still have hope that Dems can fund them and the USPS if they ever get enough clout. It’s now or never, I fear…
I don't subscribe to PBS. The
only time I use them is for the
their text transcript of The
Atlantic's weekly Editors
Broadcast. They're broadcast
only out of Conway here,
which, incidentally is where
the HMMRS - not sure if
that's the right acronym - are
made. They're currently
laying off folks there, due to
the downturn in hardware
aid for Ukraine. MAGA cutting
nose to spite face.
Thanks TC, I never could stand listening to Buckley. I never read the National Review but I did watch 1 maybe 2 Firing Line. It was well-named. Ignorant people shouting at the top of their lungs and talking over each other so you could never grasp the subject. I will admit Buckley was erudite, but so ate a lot of people and they aren't spewing nonsense about what idiots we, of liberal progressive thinking, people who care for the "wrong" persons, those in need, instead of those whose cunning already have it.
Buckley was an ass. There is a much better documentary. "Buckley/Vidal - Best of Enemies." I always thought he was in the closet. Deep in the closet. After he called Vidal a faggot on TV, Paul Newman came up to him and told him if he ever called Vidal that again, he'd punch his lights out.
It’s good for me to be reminded how much CO2 the conservative minority spews into our air. Good one, TC.
I'd date it to slightly earlier than 30 years, to the first
Gulf War and the beauty of our weapons that converted WBUR in Boston to all news all the time, terminating a once interesting programming.
WGBH, also in Boston, is struggling through hard times another casualty of the dullness of all news all the time, (such as it is reported) having dropped its Classical, American Songbook and Jazz programming.
I remember watching a couple of “Firing Lines” on PBS back when I was in high school in the 70s. All I remember was some tight-assed prick holding a clipboard and pen while looking down his nose and talking through clenched teeth.
This is phenominal, Tom. I grew up in a displaced Tennesee Baptist charismatic, child molesting small town of SAnta Cruz, CA. The Scotts Valley Baptist Church was the melting pot of the 1900 to 1920s white supremacist charismatics and the newly minted JBS wealthier lunatic medical, health food, (processed food was a commie plot, as were automatic transmissions) Drs and dentists and such. It was tiresom, to be charitable, to constantly be asked why my mother was a communist. WFB's smugly upturned nose and raised upper lip was now on TV and oozed condesention and superiority.
I could go on and on, but just in today's LA Times is an article about a conservative opinion host on PBS getting fired for having a piece published in a print magazine, critisizing PBS for being a closed liberal opperation that shut out conservative thought. What is going on?
Thank you TC, for continuing my education. Although this lesson, not unusually for yours, did have a nasty lingering aftertaste,
I haven't given PBS or NPR any money in a very long time, so I can't dump them for beatifying W. F. Buckley Jr. I can recommend a book I'm reading that gives Buckley his due as a close friend and admirer of fascists: Jacob Heilbrunn's AMERICA LAST: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators (Liveright, 2024). It introduced me to New York businessman Merwin K. Hart, who never met a dictator he didn't like but was especially fond of Franco. I was already well acquainted with Lawrence Dennis, thanks to Rachel Maddow's PREQUEL (highly recommended, btw), and coincidentally I recently copyedited a breezy book about the run-up to WW2 in which Charles Lindbergh did not come off well.
Short version: Anyone who believes Trump came out of nowhere, or that the caving of the GOP in 2016–17 was an aberration, hasn't been paying attention. Fortunately there are plenty of antidotes available, including Rick Perlstein and, of course, "That's Another Fine Mess." ;-)
Thanks, TC for all the background about Buckley. I always thought he was a somewhat effete, very pretentious old fart, (that ridiculous drawling accent!) but I never knew much about the background and history of conservatism. Geez.
Wow. Thank you for the heads up
No PBS for us. Disgusting collusion.