Comments on: The Hannity Prophecy http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2009/08/26/the-hannity-prophecy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-hannity-prophecy @TAC Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:36:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Thomas O. Meehan http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2009/08/26/the-hannity-prophecy/comment-page-1/#comment-9348 Thomas O. Meehan Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:31:55 +0000 http://www.amconmag.com/blog/?p=2114#comment-9348 Jack, your welcome. Anything to relieve the earnestness. Jack, your welcome. Anything to relieve the earnestness.

]]> By: Jack Tracey http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2009/08/26/the-hannity-prophecy/comment-page-1/#comment-9310 Jack Tracey Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:23:37 +0000 http://www.amconmag.com/blog/?p=2114#comment-9310 Mr Meehan, Thanks for the Friday laugh before my Friday commute. Mr Meehan,
Thanks for the Friday laugh before my Friday commute.

]]> By: steve risher http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2009/08/26/the-hannity-prophecy/comment-page-1/#comment-9245 steve risher Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:23:22 +0000 http://www.amconmag.com/blog/?p=2114#comment-9245 On democratic politics and the press: Not even the most demented Trotskyist could deny that Enoch Powell was a genuine intellectual, yet the press reduced his career to one taken-out-of-context phrase. This brings to mind the fact that another intellectual, Mel Bradford, was very active in the Wallace campaigns of 1968 and 1972. During the NEA appointment controversy I don't believe that any controversial pro-Wallace statements of his surfaced. How did he manage that? All the brouhaha seemed to be about his rough treatment of Dictator Lincoln. On democratic politics and the press: Not even the most demented Trotskyist could deny that Enoch Powell was a genuine intellectual, yet the press reduced his career to one taken-out-of-context phrase.

This brings to mind the fact that another intellectual, Mel Bradford, was very active in the Wallace campaigns of 1968 and 1972. During the NEA appointment controversy I don’t believe that any controversial pro-Wallace statements of his surfaced. How did he manage that? All the brouhaha seemed to be about his rough treatment of Dictator Lincoln.

]]> By: steve risher http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2009/08/26/the-hannity-prophecy/comment-page-1/#comment-9238 steve risher Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:19:14 +0000 http://www.amconmag.com/blog/?p=2114#comment-9238 Newspapers-at least the morning ones-were doing fine until the internet came along. But I think most people were reading them for sports, horoscopes, advice columns, "lifestyle" tripe and the advertisements. The extent of the popular appetite for serious news can be deduced from the fact that "journals of opinion" are-and always have been- subsidized money-losers. "The function of a newspaper in a democracy is to stand as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks." They gave up that function a long time ago. The NYT Science section being an occasional exception to the rule. Newspapers-at least the morning ones-were doing fine until the internet came along. But I think most people were reading them for
sports, horoscopes, advice columns, “lifestyle” tripe and the advertisements. The extent of the popular appetite for serious news can be deduced from the fact that “journals of opinion” are-and always have been- subsidized money-losers.

“The function of a newspaper in a democracy is to stand as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks.”

They gave up that function a long time ago. The NYT Science section being an occasional exception to the rule.

]]> By: Thomas O. Meehan http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/2009/08/26/the-hannity-prophecy/comment-page-1/#comment-9224 Thomas O. Meehan Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:51:08 +0000 http://www.amconmag.com/blog/?p=2114#comment-9224 That's an interesting commentary on the effects of mass communications and democracy on each other. But regarding Hannity, I have a question. If we were an organized political movement rather than a dyspeptic remnant, and Murdock were funding us, wouldn't we have our own version of Hannity simplifying our message beyond all recognition? Politics in a Democratic mass culture demands propaganda. And to steal a line from movie advertising, Hannity IS propaganda. They use gasbags like Hannity because he effectively communicates the neo-con and establishment message to a TV audience of simpletons. And getting the largest number of simpletons to vote you into office is what we call politics. Or perhaps a paleo-con FOX news would sound more like this. "And now from Moscow, Dan Larison who asks, What Would St. Maximos Do?" "And after that, David Lindsay weighs in with the Old Labor, Catholic Medieval view" That’s an interesting commentary on the effects of mass communications and democracy on each other. But regarding Hannity, I have a question. If we were an organized political movement rather than a dyspeptic remnant, and Murdock were funding us, wouldn’t we have our own version of Hannity simplifying our message beyond all recognition? Politics in a Democratic mass culture demands propaganda. And to steal a line from movie advertising, Hannity IS propaganda. They use gasbags like Hannity because he effectively communicates the neo-con and establishment message to a TV audience of simpletons. And getting the largest number of simpletons to vote you into office is what we call politics.

Or perhaps a paleo-con FOX news would sound more like this. “And now from Moscow, Dan Larison who asks, What Would St. Maximos Do?” “And after that, David Lindsay weighs in with the Old Labor, Catholic Medieval view”

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