I just finished reading "The Republican Noise Machine" by David Brock.

[RandomKoolzip]

And I'm more than a little flabbergasted. Thank god an insider like Brock was able to wean himself off the Kool-Aid and tell it to the people straight-up: the "conservative movement" was a largely fictional, pathetically extremist phenomenon which was backed by so much "think tank" and corporate money that they basically willed themselves into legitimacy. The ideas espoused by today's conservatives would have been laughed out of the public forum, for good reason, forty years ago. It's only because of the financial backing of large quasi-fascist organizations like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute that the virulience of the conservative movement was allowed a place in the spectrum of mainstream political thought.

The scariest part is this: these guys have a LOT of patience.


Anyone else read this book yet? If not, you owe it to yourself to pick it up.

[Lefty48197]

1. Thanks for the tip

I liked Brock's first expose, "Blinded by the Right". It didn't do enough to atone for his earlier works, but it's good to see that he's still working at his own salvation.
I think our brow-beaten news media has contributed to the right wingers' erection of their house of cards. The right wingers have the entire media back on their heels, afraid to challenge the lies.

[RandomKoolzip]

7. Brock is making good speed in atoning.

The right wing's extremist, corporatist views are consistently harmful, often physically so, to the American people, yet the American people acquiese time and again because of the constant blare of the talking heads who are PAID A LOT OF MONEY by "The Four Sisters" to cheerlead for policies which benefit the already-moneyed class solely. And because this fictional "liberal media" with which the progeny of John Birch shadowboxed for years was made to seem like a real threat. In reality, the mainstream press was quite objective for most of the 20th Century. There really was no "liberal bias" in the media. But the Cato Institute and their ilk gave shmucks like Dinesh D'Souza literaly hundreds of thousands of dolllars to make it seem that there was.

And these paid-for stoolies are implanted in the media, ever so slowly, to make the policies of the multinationals seem, well, legitimate. Like I said, these guys have a lot of patience. This right-wing media takeover has taken decades to accomplish.

This book was amazing.

[arcane1]

2. I lost a lot of sleep after reading that book

and Brock is awesome at laying out these byzantine connections in a way that doesn't overwhelm the reader. :toast: to him

[patrice]

3. I'm about half-way through it, got side-tracked with a bunch of

grassroots activity.

I am discouraged by how old, huge and rich the Noise Machine is.

BUT, what they've created is Group Think, which is inherently weak.

If we work in the same model as they use, we might find that they break easier than you think.

[RandomKoolzip]

13. Seriously.

These dudes have a LOT of money on their side. Almost all liberal organizations have been real grassroots shindigs, while the republican groups have received the backing of very rich corporations and think tanks to promote ideas which, even thirty years ago, would have been dismissed as neo-fascist and totally wacko.

Near the end Brock talks about how much the conswervative talking heads make in a year on average....it'll make ya puke.

[sandnsea]

18. Group Think? Democrats?

Not friggin' likely. We can't even get people to understand how to say "he voted to get weapons inspectors back into Iraq". :eyes:

[Soopercali]

4. Yeah, it's a great book.

Probably the single most persuasive thing I've read yet. It's enough to give you nightmares.

[Connie_Corleone]

5. I checked it out at the library

There's alot of information to go over in his book. I'm gonna have to buy a copy so I can take my time thru it all.

It's a real eye-opener alright.

[RandomKoolzip]

9. It's worth buying.

It's worth it to support left-leaning authors financially. They're up against a mountain of money on the right.

And it'll send a message to Crown/Random House that there's money to be made in catering to the majority (i.e. the American liberals.)

[izzie]

6. They also seem to really think they are going to tell us how to live.

I think things go in big waves and when it gets to big it falls over. I hope it is their now and we will see the end of this church take over of govt. gone.

[liberalitch]

8. In the same vein....

Yesterday, on Bill Moyers' Now, he hosted this guy who wrote a book laying out how the Neo-con are basically robbing poor americans of the economic american dream by using their more conservative social values against them. They get these people so worked up about causes such as School prayer and abortion that they loose sight of the fact that the Republican party DOES NOT have their best interests at heart in any way.... at this time they steal their birthright... their vote.
I think his name was Thomas Frank

[RandomKoolzip]

11. It's the "smaller government" bait-and-switch manuever.

Hey, "smaller governement" SOUNDS great, doesn't it? "Less intrusive government" SOUNDS wonderful. Too bad what those phrases really mean is less regulation for gigantic corporations to exploit the non-shareholder class.

It's amazing, almost admirable, how the right wing think tanks were able to disort reality the way they have so that the American people will consistently vote against their own interests. All you have to do is equate "morality" with "less intrusive government" and voila!

[liberalitch]

16. The rednecks in Chesapeake, Va. just think that means..

they'll be able to grow pot and shoot guns in the woods to their heart's delight.... but what it really means is that you're going to jail under the patriot act for the weed and there will be no more woods (due to republican policies) so.... you do the math.

[LizW]

10. I haven't finished it yet

I can only read it a little while before I get so angry that I have to put it down and read something else. :(

[Shopaholic]

12. It's a great book--

highly readable but I'm with you--I get mad as hell every time I pick it up--which is why I can only read a few pages at a time. It really should be required reading--it's a real eye opener.

[RandomKoolzip]

15. It's funny reading it nowadays, though.....

because you can pick up a newspaper or a news magazine and feel things SLIGHTLY turning themselves back towards the center, little by little (DeLay's involvement with Enron was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune today, "Fahrenheit 9/11" made bookoo bucks at the box office, etc.) and realize that the left has legitimate ideas and most people agree with them.

[TEXASYANKEE]

14. That's how I felt about Blinded by the Right.

One of the scariest books I've ever read -- and I had to read it a little at a time because it absolutely overwhelmed me. I purchased Repub Noise Machine but haven't read it as yet.

[Karenina]

17. I never got through

"Blinded by the Right." Read first 50 pages, got physically ill, "Hey MOM! What'sa matter? Got a stomach flu?" Had my kids read it cover to cover and tell me about it... I already knew the players. Now, they do too.

[Carolina]

19. I read it

in fits and starts because I would get so angry and then so depressed.
1980 was a watershed year. Reagan's FCC Chair started the undoing of the 4th estate and Ted Turner decided he needed to balance what was on the "liberal' networks by offering 24 hour news and a venue for conservative chattering heads.

Thus began the unraveling ... It's damning stuff and a damn good read.

[lastliberalintexas]

20. Our side missed the boat

Every Tom, Dick and Harry who calls himself a conservative can get a wealthy right wing benefactor to set up a think tank for him. I've always been amazed at the amount of money that has to be flowing into these organizations- just imagine what our country could be like if that money was spent for the benefit of all rather than trying to promote a selfish, fascist, neo-Con, pseudo-Christian agenda.

Even now, we are very far behind the right wingers, and are basically relying on MoveOn to carry the load. We could learn so much from (some of) the tactics of the right. Unfortunately, we don't have the kind of money they do!

[Joanne98]

21. I got really depressed when I found this out

It was a webpage called www.mediatransparency.org www.cursor.org It's hard to find out how well funded they are. But we are making headway. The more people understand how they've been setup and lied too the madder they get. It is getting better. Left-wing authors are making money now. BUT we need to find ways to de-fund them. TAX THE RICH. That's the quickest way.

[DURHAM D]

22. LIVED IT.

I am old and this book raised my blood pressure. My adult life roughly parallel's the rise of the noise machine. I was actually working for the Republican party during the Nixon administration and was appalled by Spiro Agnew's hate mongering. One day I just stood up in my office and (referring to yet another nut who had just called in in support of Spiro)stated "these are not my people". I walked out, registered, and have been working for Democrats every since.

I could not finish David's book - actually I already knew the whole story. I passed it on to a young friend who previously had no idea why I got so passionate about the media serving as a propagandist, had no understanding of the think tank factor and wished I could be more balanced in my dislike of repubs. He read the book and he gets it now but I still have to coach him to recognize some of the more clever shrill shillers.

I hope to live long enough to see political discourse return.

[RandomKoolzip]

24. Thanks for the anecdote....

Yes, it's truly depressing talking to younger folks like my own friends (I'm 29) and having to run up against statements like, "well, you have to see both sides to the story" or "you can't say that the republicans have no legitimacy" or other such nonsense. They don't realize that there are huge corporations paying spokespersons to swerve the discourse into a right wing snowbank that barely existed in Nixon's time.

Nowadays your anecdote would get you called "elitist" or "biased" by freepers and dittoheads. Who in turn will never own up to their own elitism or bias.

Amazing also how these hate radio mavens loooove to appear as members of the working class just like their listenership, but all make upwards of a million dollars a year and travel in limousines so as not to mingle with the rabble. And yet it's the Dems who get consistently painted with the "out of touch," "Elitist" brush. It's bizarro polemics.

[Jade Fox]

23. I bought a copy two weeks ago, have yet to crack it because...

I know I'm going to be enraged/depressed, but I bought it because I do
want know this stuff, and I want to read it carefully.

I think things are getting better, but the Right has SO MUCH MONEY to
defeat us with. I greatly admire Brock's willingness to take on this topic.