Care to dissect a hit piece?

Alternative weekly, "The Austin Chronicle" has rolled out a couple jabs at 9/11 skepticism, a two-part column by house writer, Louis Black (Not to be confused with the FUNNY Lewis Black).

Part One - Page Two: Conspiracy Theories

Part Two - Page Two: Brain Wash

If you decide to write a letter to Louis, make it an open letter, and post it in the comments section below.

Thanks, altruist, for sending this in.

Yeah, WE'RE the "name-callers...."

From Louis Black's Page Two 2/07/07 column:

"The Chronicle's News staff, my family, my therapist, and close personal friends from around the country have all forbidden me to listen to talk radio. Right-wing hate radio made me crazy enough, as I obsessed over different points, fired up by blatant untruths and deliberate hate-mongering. I had long been asked to stop, and I tried.

But since I've stumbled into listening to the Republic of Texas, Radio Free Austin – truth-seeking conspiracy radio – the Chronicle staff, at least, has threatened a walkout if I continue. The network features a full range of conspiracy theories, including those addressing 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and the Illuminati, all the way to fluoride in the water – all mouthed by passionate hysterics who know the United States' founding fathers were devil-worshipping Masons. These are people who prove they are not anti-Semites by saying they aren't – that they are just true patriots reiterating every hateful, vile insult and damning accusation ever made against the Jewish people. They insist that they love the Constitution, only not the document that it is – the one that is invites opposing views, philosophical conflict, and compromise – but instead their version, which privileges these patriots above the rest of us. These America- and American-hating, true red-white-and-blue believers know they are the only ones to see the truth. All of them resist the New World Order as though it were a Legion of Evil in a Republic serial from the 1940s, with a purity that makes those brave souls at Lexington and Concord pale in comparison. This is a network on which mere self-sanctified self-righteousness is pedestrian compared to how highly these folks regard themselves and those who are "like-minded." God speaks directly to most of this handful of good guys who bravely face the armies of darkness while the clueless and compliant masses (you and me) stand by."

Interesting how in the more recent columns LB has tempered the divide and conquer racist card....the one sure to turn-off all unaware liberals....sounds like he might be a bit worried that he might be on the wrong side of the Truth on this issue.....I don't agree with remotely everything on patriot radio either, but then I strive to evaluate people "one person at a time"....

And, another one....

Ah, more of the brutally honest editorial stylings of Louis Black (sarcasm); this one from 01/05/07 (Austin Chronicle, Page Two column):

(BTW, by "right-wing hate rado" below, LB is referring to GCN, WTPRN, RFA, etc., not Rush Limbaugh or Hannity, etc.)

"My take on the current situation is based not just on my (admittedly unhealthy) interest in right-wing hate radio. One can simply consider that all too many people insist that there is not only one inarguable "truth," but also that it is defined by exactly what they believe. This leads to the unquestioning endorsement and/or rejection of information by camp-followers, depending on their personal beliefs. Books by either right- or left-wing authors that boast completely one-sided, polemical screeds are thus hailed or denounced based on preconceptions rather than the weight of arguments. Media outlets are either derided as biased (when they present information one dislikes) or celebrated as fair and accurate (when they present information that reflects one's point of view). Though frequently denounced, polarized and polarizing political rhetoric continues to yield positive electoral results. There is a championing of those who stick to their principles and intellectually refuse to yield or negotiate, regardless of circumstance, over those who cooperate and compromise in order to achieve progress and serve the greater good. The purity and potency of the Constitution is declared, especially by those who custom-tailor its very meaning to fit their monotheistic, specific convictions and ignore its core insistence on dialogue, disagreement, and respect for the opinions of all citizens.

There is the distressing need of conspiracy theorists to reduce history to its most simplistic, and thus tidiest, meaning – it's mostly about bad guys doing bad things, countered by the determination to expose them by the theorists, who are, of course, bathed in the pure white light of truth. The rhetoric of minority candidates' supporters is usually about the self-righteous nobility of privileging their own personal morality rather than a consideration of such campaigns' real-world consequences on underserved, disenfranchised, and often actually suffering minorities. (And let's not forget most fundamentalist religious intolerance and lifestyle biases.) Finally, all too often political and policy disagreements involve the struggle of pure good (your side) against conscious, overt evil (those who advocate other positions) rather than any kind of sense of carefully considered, principled, and honest disagreement.

By the way, Texas Liberty Radio, or whatever it's called, not only continues to offer unbridled, undiluted, vicious anti-Semitism and Christian-based patriotism, but in the past week, I've heard several overt Hitler apologists, as well. Although profoundly scary, for us extreme political rhetoric junkies, the absolute conviction of righteousness unmitigated by reason, accuracy, constitutionally based convictions, or even a hint of common democratic decency is strangely entertaining. "