What do the following radio and TV hosts have in common?
- Rachel Maddow
- Glenn Beck
- Larry King
- Tucker Carlson
- Jim Cramer
- Alex Jones
- John Stewart
- Andrew Napolitano
- Neil Cavuto
- Bill Maher
- David Asman
- Montel Williams
- Ed Schultz
- Joe Scarborough
- Stephen Colbert
These are the people I tune into to find out their political views. Its a very diverse group. They don’t share the same views, and often attack each other. How did this happen? You’d have to be schizophrenic to listen or understand this group as a whole. I didn’t start out seeking a wide perspective for political views, it happened quite accidentally.
During the 2008 Presidential election, I was following Ron Paul. Whenever Paul was on TV I tuned in regardless of the network or host. I paid attention to how Paul was treated by the host. If the host let Paul speak and didn’t interrupt and interacted with Paul, I started tuning into their shows more often. The issue was not if the host agreed with the views of Ron Paul, but if they gave him a chance for his views to be fairly expressed.
There are some big names not on the list, like Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly. Keith Olbermann I don’t listen to because Paul is basically nonexistent to Olbermann; O’Reilly kept interrupting Paul and not letting him finish a thought. Ron Paul is one of the most polite people in politics; it says a lot about someone who is rude to someone as humble and polite as Paul.
Ron Paul was the person in the news that came the closest to representing my views. If the host was showing politeness and respect to Ron Paul, then I felt they deserved the same politeness and respect from me. Ron Paul has often spoken of unintended consequences of government policy; one of the unintended consequences of following Ron Paul has been a much broader view of politics.
Glen Beck belittled Ron Paul and even accused him that his supporters had sent death threats to him. Glen Beck is a Neo-Con pretending to be a Libertarian, I think of him as the best anti-Libertarian Disinformation artist there is.
Funny, I never thought about it, but what you said makes me realize that Ron Paul’s appeal is a very human thing. He exudes genuineness and his views unfold from that place. No wonder so many are attracted to him, including me, even though I never considered myself a libertarian before.