First, a review; then, a question.

[calimary]

37. With ya on that! I too want hate radio destroyed.

I too want Pox Noise disemboweled. And that ridiculous “home of the bimbos” OAN (“One America News” - who are they kidding?!? - btw, I think we know) as well.

They are both the prime reasons why conservatives have gone overboard and are throwing their weight around to the degree they are. They gave aid and comfort to the knuckledragger contingent, validated them, and made them feel justified. And made it okay for them to be out ‘n’ proud about some of the nastiest, most sexist, racist, intolerant, mean-spirited and and unashamedly in-yer-face about it.

They made it okay. Hell, they made it mainstream. I used to be that weird old Uncle Harold who was such a Neanderthal, stayed up in the attic because nice people didn’t say those things, much less actually believe them. Now, those “dirty little secret” feelings you didn’t dare utter in public (what would people think of they knew I felt this way?) for fear you’d have no friends - all that is now out in the open, strutted and not apologized for, and even celebrated!

Hearing that poison repeated for hours on end on little pipsqueak stations out in the middle of nowhere keeping truckers company out on the highway have them a feeling of solidarity and support, and validation. “Yeah! He’s tellin’ it like it IS!”

And all this shit and unspoken grievances and resentments people nursed in private because those feelings were severely anti-social and backwards and unChristian and intolerant and greedy and selfish and mean-spirited and just plain wrong were allowed out of the closet and into the fresh air. Where the toxins could stretch out and spread. They were all suddenly okay! And you weren’t alone anymore because that big rich fat-ass on the radio was saying the same things. He was saying out loud what you were thinking but didn’t think you had the nerve to say out loud. And that made it okay. And you felt not only okay but justified and reinforced. And definitely not alone.

That’s how it worked. And how it spread. Like a metastasizing cancer. And just as deadly. Deadly to our body politic, that is.