Conservative Leaders Urge Their Followers To Become Even More Stupid

It has been proven in multiple studies that consumers of conservative media (particularly Fox News) are significantly less knowledgeable about current affairs than those who favor other media or even those who consume no news at all.

Nevertheless, it is conservatives who whine incessantly about an illusionary liberal media bias. It is astonishing how they can convince themselves that these giant, international, multi-billion dollar, conglomerates are somehow aligned to a socialist ideology that would rob them of their wealth and independence.

As if the present ignorance of the right-wing masses were not already disturbingly severe, a group of conservative organizations and authorities just issued an open letter calling on their minions to “Tune out the Liberal Media” and cease their exposure to the evil leftist press. The letter enumerates a set of perceived grievances and concludes with this desperate appeal:

“We the undersigned – representing millions of Americans from our respective organizations – are now publicly urging our members to seek out alternative sources of political news in order to make an intelligent, well-informed decision on November 6.”

Oh great. Now the least informed segment of society is being coerced to voluntarily make themselves even more stupid by constricting their media access to a narrow and partisan assemblage of right-wing propaganda and blind conservative boosterism. That’ll help.

The aforementioned list of grievances in the letter is a tired collection of debunked conspiracy theories, misrepresentations of news events, and Republican talking points. Certainly the audience to whom the letter is directed has already been sufficiently misinformed on these matters. So what goal do the letter’s co-signers have in beseeching their readers to abstain from watching a more diverse selection of media? The only plausible purpose is to insure that they remain untainted by alternative viewpoints so that they can be more easily manipulated by their conservative masters. Obviously there is some lack of confidence in the ability of conservatives to digest broad-based information and make up their own minds.

The signers of the letter are a who’s who of right-wing disinformation, starting with the head of the uber-rightist Media Research Center, Brent Bozell. Other notables include Gary Bauer, President of Campaign for American Values; Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of FreedomWorks; Laura Ingraham, National Radio Host; Amy Kremer, Chairman of Tea Party Express; Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council; and, of course, Rush Limbaugh. These are the people who are complaining about bias in the media? And their appeal was posted as a news story on the front page of the Fox News web site where there has never been a hint of bias.

Fox News Bias Alert

I think it’s a great idea to sequester the lunatic fringe to an asylum inhabited by their own kind. Then they won’t bother the rest of us with their delusions of Kenyan usurpers, climate science deniers, and fables of Jesus riding on dinosaurs. They can amuse each other with their shared distortions of reality, listen to Ron Paul books on tape, and swap stories about their gold coin collections and dehydrated survivalist dinner packets.

We’ll be here taking care of things while they’re gone, and tending to the problems of the real world. Should they ever decide to rejoin us they will find history, and diversity of opinion still in tact.

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5 thoughts on “Conservative Leaders Urge Their Followers To Become Even More Stupid

  1. This plays into the observation made in previous posts that the right-wing media display behaviour like that of a cult. If this isn’t a classic example of that then nothing is. They want their followers to cut themselves off from the outside world by only allowing exposure to them(the cult leaders i.e. right-wing press and hate radio). Do not seek news and information from anywhere else other then what we provide because that is all lies and only we can give you the truth. It really is unbelievable. Rush Limbaugh always made the argument that conservative ideas and principles would always win in the market place of ideas. I guess he doesn’t believe that anymore nor probably, did he ever believe it.

    • Indeed. The next thing we’ll hear is that they want all the Fox News viewers to move to a commune in Guyana.

  2. Correction – there are NO “Conservative” leaders in the GOP, I’m not sure what they are, but it’s NOT conservative.

    • First of all, you can’t correct me something I didn’t say. This article is about conservative leaders, but I never said specifically GOP.

      Secondly, what a ridiculous bit of disingenuous BS! You simply don’t want to have to answer for the brain dead Republican Party that has lots of conservative leaders. Don’t be so obtuse, Steve.

      As for what I actually wrote, I’m sure you agree that Brent Bozell, Gary Bauer, Laura Ingraham, Tony Perkins, Rush Limbaugh, and the others are conservative leaders. And they are all supporting Republican candidates up to, and including, Mitt Romney.

  3. Typical…when they don’t win, they want to change the rules!

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