Daggeman,

Here are a couple of old, dead, white guys who would probably agree with you:

“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavouring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.”
John Stuart Mill

“And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? Her confuting is the best and surest suppressing.”
John Milton

I might add that we no longer (if we ever did) operate in a field of free and open encounter. Absent a free press, and informed electorate and a government free of endemic corruption at every level, Truth is slain before she even enters the battle.

Bob Boldt

deboldt—- thx, liked it a lot.

Wow. It’s really cool that there is so much civil
discourse here pertaining to an article about civil
discourse.  Many good points. 

@MeHere
I like what you say. It’s true. Corporate media only
care about decorum because if boosts profit margin.
And, absolutely, that decorum coexists very well with
“misinformation, disinformation, deceptive
advertising, and lack of true political discourse.”

@Big B.
Well put. The bigots came out of the woodwork as soon
as Obama was elected. 

@oregoncharles
I’m not really gay but I think I want to marry you. 
Couldn’t agree with you more. I sincerely wish a
political party—any political party—would make
dismantling the corporate news media a part of its
platform. It would be a win win. Independents,
conservatives and progressives all hate the
corporate news media. And our country would benefit
as well. The founding fathers intended the news media
to be the final check on the checks and balances
system, not a tool for promoting propaganda and
punishing people who do not follow Puritanical moral
standards. 

@Tobysgirl,
You make a good point.  We just need more truly
progressive radio stations and news media outlets.
Even the most progressive news media outlets NPR and
PBS are still right of center; they’re not even left at
all.  They cater to war hawks and give them a
platform to advocate war.  They spew the official
position of corporations and the government, with
Frontline being the rare exception. They let serial
liars appears on their shows repeated. Witness Pat Buchanan appearing once a week on that despicable
talk show I won’t deign to mention. Where’s Nader,
where’s Hedges, where was Zinn, where’s Moore,
where’s Kucinich, where’s Chomsky? When those guys
start appearing regularly on NPR and PBS, then we
will have a match for Limbaugh’s idiocy. As it
stands, it’s a stacked deck. Progressives are not censured
after making a mistake; they’re kept off the air
altogether—or at least reduced to minimal
appearances. 

@socks,
I agree one hundred percent. Limbaugh is a bigot and
a misogynist.  Starting with his use of the term
feminazis, he’s been attacking women for
decades. He deserves what he gets. He should have
gotten it long ago. 

PS Truthdig:

I’m all about being civil but this has been broken
for months.  FIX YOUR FUCKING TEXT ENTRY COMMENTS BOX
FOR GODSAKES! DON’T YOU NOTICE HOW FUCKED UP PEOPLES
POST’S LOOK? ITS’ A GODDAMN WASTE OF TIME.  It’s Web
programming, not string theory. There’s are known and
proven solutions.  Shit!

Speaking of winged hookups…
 
I just ran across this item from the personals in the Jerusalem Times dated November,6 BCE:

Winged creature seeks hook up with non-hearing impaired Galilean virgin for purposes of aural sex.  I’m not the jealous type so said virgin could already be married or engaged. Prefer no post-encounter complications. If interested contact code name: Michael at Box 735.

angie——how do you feel about hooking up with winged creatures?

are your glamorous and polymorphously perverse pals prone to interspecies
dating and into menage a la menagerieism?

moonie——-  The best way to deal with him would be to jerk the licenses of all
media who carry him.———

for what reason?  ugly words from a talk show host?

licenses for to conditioned on broadcasting in good taste?

hell, I spent my teen-aged years listening to WBAI. I doubt that my favorite station
of any other Pacifica station would have retained a license if you were Queen

Standards? Now that Sirota is one funny guy.

kazi,
you’re thwarting free speech. proof is in
attacking a person. you aslo skipped to tell us
what is it that makes you mad, rude, etc.
if it’s my comment, good for me!
i think you’re an ashkenazi jew. you have a lot of
“jewishness in you”. i can smell it miles away.
and i am not gonna read you posts! so, keep
that in mind!

He made the slut slur to up his audience.

He apologized (sic) for the same reason.

Pond slime like him have no shame.  The best way to deal with him would be to jerk the licenses of all media who carry him.

Absent that, the next best choice is to ignore him.

Media executives and advertisers are only interested in whatever the market (audiences) will support and produce large profits for them. Truth, basic decorum, and nice stuff like that have nothing to do with the goals of the corporate media. They’ll do whatever it’s good for business.  Moreover, misinformation, disinformation, deceptive advertising, and lack of true political discourse have been coexisting very well with the best basic decorum. So what’s the real issue here?

His “apology” was the same kind of apology you hear from 5 year olds that broke mommy’s vase, and wife beaters at the magistrates office.

They are sorry they got caught.

One thing you can say for the Obomber administration, it has been able to show us america’s underbelly. Americas sexist, racist, ignorant, backward, primative, underbelly.

this piece is about a person mostly. so, i stopped reading it
after reading just a few sentences. this is, to me, just too
gossipy.
let this ashkenazi supporter of aipac write about issues and not
individuals and what they say or do.
let him tell us what the 1% says and does and means to do!
thanks

There is definitely a false note here.  What Sirota says is true - but dangerous.  The overall effect is to give certain giant corporations EVEN MORE control over public discourse.  Granted it improves civility, and perhaps it’s good that those corporations realized civility is in their interest - after huge public campaigns, including significant loss of income.

There are at least two obvious correctives to the basic problem:  first, more channels and networks.  The entry of Current TV, RT TV, and Al Jazeera, even if only online, is an important corrective - and so far, mostly on our side; though that is a commercial decision:  a huge audience was being neglected.

And 2nd, on the legal side:  effective antitrust measures, specifically in media.  The press is only free if you own one; the more different people and interests who own one, the better.

Personally, I prefer free speech. I have known for decades that the people who call themselves “pro-life” are, for the most part, also anti-contraception, a little fact they prefer not to talk about in front of the general public. Limbaugh’s remarks have brought that ideology front and center (see, e.g., Patricia Heaton’s idiocy; if she’s so anti-abortion, why wouldn’t she want health insurance to cover contraception?), which I appreciate.

Yes, he’s disgusting, but he wouldn’t be disgusting if we didn’t have a huge number of mentally sick individuals who listen to such garbage. I am far more interested in pointing out that we have a sizable population who is vicious and stupid, and that this isn’t accidental, but is the result of our societal attitudes.

I welcome the use of the term “discourse”, because that basic manner of communication has been all but lost in our time. Discourse, discussion, debate..any reasonable form of two way communication that might lead to simple agreements and mutually beneficial compromise toward humanitarian progress has been virtually obliteated by our seeming insatiable need to “win”, to come out on top, to feel and act superior and in charge. People rarely talk any more: they argue, rant (me too), label, libel and accuse and when they have the opportunity to do it via a microphone and the airwaves, it is all more degrading and noxious..and in Rush’s case, nauseaus. Any (hoped for) reversal of this trend would be most welcome.

Rush has not apologized yet, no matter what they call
that hog-wollop, it was not an apology.

We women have listened to him slander and belittle us
for decades, and his disgraceful slander of that
student was unforgivable, even if he had apologized.

Rush is free to speak his mind, and every one of us is
also free to our speech as well. And he has called down
on his own head the wrath of our collective anger. Our vengeance is well deserved.