I didn't listen much to NPR before I moved to Morehead, KY at the age of 36 and the campus public radio station was one of only two radio stations in town. The reason why I couldn't listen to NPR before was that I couldn't stand Garrison Keillor and his Lake Woebegone stories. But I never noticed how much I detested NPR in general. That changed though when I had to really start paying attention to NPR.
And with good reason. What NPR does is to package neo-liberal or conservative news and commentary in ways that appeal to the cultural sensibilities of college-educated suburbanites. I'm not a neo-liberal or a conservative and I don't have anything resembling a suburban sensibility. Perhaps that's why I find NPR so repugnant. I hate the radio personalities, I hate their jazz dj voices and manner, I hate the intro music for the news segments, I hate the fact that it doesn't include anything for young people (I'm 52), I still hate that smug asshole Garrison Keillor and all his Lake Woebegone crap, and I hate NPR's pro-globalization, anti-union, anti-minority, anti-anti-war politics. Moreover, NPR's White House correspondent Don Gonyea might be the single most stupid person in the media.
NPR pretends that their stories have more depth than the television networks because they're longer. That's complete B. S. NPR is just as superficial as the television networks. The only difference is that NPR reports are long and boring as well as superficial and fluffy.
Most of my friends and all of my in-laws (lovely people by the way and much nicer than I am) are NPR addicts but I think NPR is smugness personified and believe that following NPR is their single biggest weakness. I can't help but think that NPR's appeal come from a certain smug sense of superiority to popular culture. Of course, NPR is popular culture as well, with its own celebrities, buzzwords, cliches, and long-running hits. In other words, NPR is popular culture for people who are too good for popular culture. One of the big ironies of life.
Mrs. RSI was a big NPR fan when we met but it became clear after our first couple of dates that I couldn't listen to NPR as background noise without becoming somewhat agitated. Really, I'd rather listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity instead. At least they're opponents I can respect. So Mrs. RSI did me the favor of limiting her NPR listening to her car for the most part. Foregoing NPR is one of the many sacrifices she makes to live with someone as disagreeable as me. Bless her.
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I agree entirely. Especially after listening to that effete twit Neal Conan justify giving validating voice to anti-gay bigots by saying "the numbers" of people who think gays shouldn't have equal rights therefore make their bigotry a valid argument. If Conan were living in the 1960s, or in 1930s and 40s Germany for that matter, he'd offer up his spine in a strudel dish.
I'm glad I didn't hear that story. NPR has been a neo-liberal outlet since I became aware of it and neo-libs definitely would offer up what little spine they have to the nearest authoritarian.
Of course you would rather listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity: It's a lot more interesting to have someone scream at you and tell you "how it is" than to actually pay attention to a calm rational voice that might ask you to actually consider something as opposed to blindly accepting it as Limbaugh fans do. You want to talk about culture? I'm not sure that conservative Limbaugh listners even know the meaning of the word because in order to have cultural understanding, you might have to actually open your mind and think: something that conservative radio isn't really conducive to. I think the main reason that NPR is so despised by conservatives is the fact that in order to understand the stories, you actually have to use your head and think rationally -not a trait that is very highly practiced amongst conservatives.
Yes, Yes. All conservatives are close minded fools and all liberals are weak hearted air heads. Please, I rarely listen to NPR but when I do I would hardly call it neo-liberal. But then again thats what I get for not listening regularly. As a man of conservative principle I do not listen to NPR because I am a closed minded twit (as so many moronic libs like to spout off about as a general and generic "template"), I listen to other programs because I cannot take the arrogant smug "better than your culture" attitude. Now, stepping from my pulpit I will remind posters that it is dangerous to receive any commentary without first filtering it. It is especially dangerous to watch a news network (of ANY kind) and believe yourself to be informed of the issues. Why do I say this? Well, we must all realize whether you lean left or right there is always a bias, always a slant to a story, radio program, or news network. The trick is to get information from multiple sources and evaluate it yourself and come to your own conclusions. Let Limbaugh and Hannity make their points then decide if you agree.
Just out of curiosity, why are you zeroing in on a two-year old post at this point?
Just came across it.
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