Let me preface this post by saying that I’m not a fan of Ron Paul. Much like Michelle Malkin, I think he’s solid on core economic issues, but his foreign policy and defense views make him a no-go in my book. I have said this several times on this blog and other fora. I think much like Obama supporters, a good majority of Ron Paul supporters are frothing zealots who worship the cult of personality that is Ron Paul, instead of objectively looking at the candidate.
Having said that, let me proceed to the core message of this blog post.
One of the things I really hate on both sides of the political aisle – be it conservative or liberal – is this tendency to invoke the USSR and Stalin/Lenin when things don’t go their way. Bear in mind, these people, for the most part, have grown up in the United States, never having known the actual horror of totalitarianism, never having known the USSR, Stalin, Lenin, Khruschev, Brezhnev or any of the other monkeys who made living in that communist dictatorship hell. They toss around words and phrases such as “Stalinist tactics,” “censorship,” and “Soviet” in an attempt to make themselves victims and elicit some sort of sympathy without truly understanding what they mean.
Prime example is this Joe Newby character.
Joe Newby is a conservative fan of Mark Levin. Mark Levin is a radio talk show host, author, conservative commentator and lawyer. I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of Mark Levin. I agree with a lot of his points about the economy, but he’s a bit too much of a social conservative for my taste. He’s rude to callers who dare to voice even the slightest disagreement with his rants, he insults them, doesn’t allow them to get a word in edgewise, and hangs up on them. The only people who are allowed to speak to His Greatness are ones whose tongues are so far up his ass, they lick the back of his teeth. Additionally, as a former broadcaster, his voice is like nails on a chalkboard to my ears, especially when he gets angry and starts to squeal like an angry sow.
All of this is beside the point. I know how to change the channel on my car radio, so when Levin comes on WMAL in the evenings, I merely tune out and listen to something else.
But back to Joe Newby. A recent article of his whines and complains about Mark Levin being taken off the air at a Toledo radio station WSPD, ostensibly for “disagreeing with Ron Paul.” I’d like to address this article, because of the sheer ridiculous rhetoric, lack of understanding of true principles of liberty, and complete constitutional retardery emanating from this douche.
Supporters of Ron Paul like to say they support freedom and the Constitution. That is, unless someone disagrees with Ron Paul – then all bets are off.
Now let me say this: I’ve personally gotten into heated debates with rabid Ron Paul supporters. I know first hand just how obnoxious and frothing they can get. But this claim that all support for the Constitution goes out the window when someone disagrees with Ron Paul is not just stupid, but disingenuous. The most rabid of his supporters skew polls, flood any negative articles about Dr. Paul with flaming rhetoric and generally revert to some form of “if you don’t support Ron Paul, you’re a totalitarian asshole, who doesn’t understand the Constitution” meme when confronted with any dissent. Does that make them anti-freedom and anti-Constitution? No. But Joe Newby’s understanding of the Constitution is remarkably shallow.
Earlier in the week, conservative talk show host Mark Levin was removed from Toledo’s WSPD for disagreeing with Ron Paul, after being part of that station’s lineup for more than five years.
Levin addressed the situation by first acknowledging all the program directors, managers and executives of the more than 250 radio stations that carry his program.
He explains that one of the hosts at WSPD is Brian Wilson – a man who also happens to be the program director.
“He is also a contributor of articles to a website of a gentleman named Lew Rockwell, who is a former chief of staff and newsletter editor to Ron Paul,” Levin said, adding that “this host slash PD is very close to the Paul people.”
Levin said he has been extremely critical of Ron Paul and have “gotten into it with some of his folks.”
If by “gotten into it” means called Paul a “crackpot,” calling his followers “the biggest assholes there are” and comparing them to Marxists, then sure.
So Levin insults Ron Paul and his supporters continuously on the air, knowing that his PD is a friend and a supporter, and then is surprised when his contract isn’t renewed, right?
Personally, I see no problem with this. Levin is entitled to his opinion, and the program director is entitled to either keep or get rid of his show. That is that little thing called “freedom.” You certainly have the right to voice your views, but not to avoid the consequences of your words.
But apparently, to Levin sycophants like Newby, who want to portray poor Mark Levin as a victim of those evil, dictatorial Ron Paul supporters, that is just Marxist and Soviet in nature.
But when it came time to renew his contract with the station, Wilson decided to cancel Levin because of his political views, a tactic similar to that used in the former Soviet Union.
Since Joe Newby obviously has shit for brains, let me issue a little correction.
In the former Soviet Union, Mark Levin would never have been allowed to utter anything resembling criticism of the regime, like he does on the radio every night.
In the former Soviet Union, there were no privately owned broadcasting outlets. They were all state owned, and neither Brian Wilson, nor Mark Levin would have been allowed to air their views – or any views critical of the state – on the air.
In the former Soviet Union, the government-controlled media would have shut Mark Levin up – not a PD working for a privately-owned (or corporately owned) radio station.
Levin was taken off the air for biting the hand that fed him, so to speak. For all intents and purposes, he insulted his boss’ views, and like in any free society, that boss had the right to take action if he so chose. In other words, they both made free choices – and Levin faced the consequences of said choice. Believe me when I tell you that in the former Soviet Union, those choices would not have existed.
But to Newby, facing the consequences of one’s words and actions is something akin to Stalinism. He believes that his idol, Mark Levin has the right to speak his mind, but his employer doesn’t have the right to fire him based on that speech, even though he is the one providing Levin with the medium to broadcast those thoughts and paying him to do so.
And then there’s Levin himself, who’s not above invoking the festering carcass of Stalin to make himself out to be a victim in all this.
Levin said that his team received a note from Wilson basically saying that unless Levin apologized for comments made about Paul and some of his supporters and changes his attitudes, he would not be renewed.
“It’s one thing to drop a program and to add a program, and everything in between. It’s quite another to try and censor a program,” Levin said, in order to control what he says on the air. Levin said that rather than wait the 90 days, “we quit,” and excoriated Wilson for using “Stalinist tactics.” [emphasis mine]
Stalinist, eh?
You mean like complimenting Ron Paul’s son Senator Rand Paul for being rational and astute in March 2011…
“…there is a lot that is sensible, particularly on the Rand Paul side of the family when it comes to the Constitution, and economics and so forth.”
…and then threatening, yes THREATENING to work to defeat Rand Paul in Kentucky, despite admitting that the Senator has it together when it comes to the Constitution and economics, if Ron Paul runs as a third party candidate.
“If Ron Paul decides that he is going to go third-party, which is detrimental to this nation, and pulls a million votes, which is relatively insignificant in the big scheme of things, I will do everything in my power to defeat his son in Kentucky. I will do everything in my power to defeat his son Rand Paul in Kentucky,” Mark Levin said on his radio program tonight.
This is how thoroughly irrational and backwards Levin and his supporters are. Apparently spouting off nationally about your boss’ views and his friends and political allies and reaping the consequences of your boss’ decision to discontinue your employment is “Stalinist.” But threatening to use your considerable media resources to defeat the SON of a politician with whom you disagree – merely because you dislike his dad, and having publicly admitted the son is actually a good politician (yes, I know – an oxymoron) is perfectly OK.
Being fired from a job, because you continuously insulted your boss is totalitarian, but using your extensive media contacts and outreach to exact revenge upon an innocent man because of who his father happens to be is somehow moral and right. Because, gosh… Ron Paul threatens the status quo, so we must sacrifice Rand Paul for the good of the country.
Which one sounds more totalitarian?
These men grew up in a free country. They grew up in a nation where the government is prevented by the Law of the Land from infringing upon your rights. They have enjoyed those rights since childhood. They have opportunities to broadcast their views. They have media to publish their judgments and beliefs, and they do so without government interference or the fear that they will be silenced by government force.
They have no concept of what it’s like to live under a totalitarian regime, where the state controls all media, where their voices would be silenced by government force, where they would be jailed or killed for speaking out against those in power.
And yet, they have the gall to sit in front of their mikes and computers and assail the very system of freedom that protects their right to be pernicious warts on a national level. They purport to support freedom, and yet they smear others’ right to logically react to their words.
They want their freedom to spew, but don’t like it when they have to confront the fallout of said spew. They want their right to say what they want, but don’t want others to have the right to react as they see fit. Their freedom to speak their minds is sacrosanct, but their employer’s freedom to dismiss them as a result is not.
Mark Levin apparently thinks he has the right to that job, no matter what he happens to say on the air, without consequences. And his employer’s decision to terminate him based on those words is “Soviet” in nature.
It makes it clear that despite being a constitutional lawyer, Levin not only has very little respect for the rights protected by said Constitution, but also doesn’t understand the nature of the freedom it protects.
As for Newby, the fact that he parrots Levin’s petulant claim about the program director using “Soviet tactics,” when he ended the station’s association with Levin’s show, shows him to be an uninformed buffoon who wouldn’t know freedom if it jumped up and licked his shriveled nutsack.
For two people who have never lived under the Soviet regime, who have never been censored by the government (and no, an employer’s decision to take Levin off the air because of his views is not censorship, it’s the exercise of the employer’s right to run his station as he sees fit – his property rights), and have spent their lives taking advantage of the rights and freedoms this nation strives to protect, these two are sure quick to toss out the “Soviet tactics” accusation when confronted with the unpleasant reality of having to sow what they reap.
UPDATE: So Joey boy was whoring his ridiculous article on the Spokane Examiner Facebook page. I decided to go over there and confront him about his assclownery. I told him, in essence that he had no clue about what Stalinism was, and no idea what the Soviet tactics he claims were used in the firing of Levin actually were. I encouraged him to keep writing, because it showed everyone what kind of jackass he truly is.
Joey replied with the usual deflection of “you don’t know what I’ve been through!” He then proceeded to claim that he was merely quoting Levin when using the “Stalinism” quote. So I pointed Joey boy to his own words: But when it came time to renew his contract with the station, Wilson decided to cancel Levin because of his political views, a tactic similar to that used in the former Soviet Union.
Whoops!
Caught with pants down!
Now you didn’t expect me not to call Joey Boy out on his lies, did you?
I did, and guess what happened next!
He deleted both my comments, and barred me from commenting on that page again!
I note with no small amount of irony that when confronted with his own ignorance and lies, Joey boy simply erased my posts and prevented me from commenting again. By his and Levin’s standards, I should now be claiming that they’re using “Soviet tactics” against me!
After all, I have a right to my opinion, and it doesn’t matter that it’s a medium owned and managed by someone else! Right?
No?
It’s Newby’s page? But… but… but…
Exactly.
