# Free Market "Stalinist": Laura Ingraham **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 10, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187 "2018-04-10T22:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/1 "2018-04-10T22:04:19Z")
[Ingraham Crackers is now trying to say a specific business decision is Stalinist](http://www.newsweek.com/laura-ingraham-says-ad-boycott-stalinist-attempt-change-american-society-878642): > [@](#): > > Fox News host Laura Ingraham fired back at activists pushing a boycott of her show _The Ingraham Angle_, saying they were left-leaning “speech czars” who wanted to suppress political dissent. Eighteen advertisers have decided that staying with her show is less profitable than pulling out of her show, a decision all Free-Market Loving Republicans must now regard as Liberal and, therefore, wrong. Crackers must be Truly Conservative to see that and, soon, perhaps she’ll be so Truly Conservative it will be impossible for _anyone_ to give her money, which is the true apotheosis of the Free Market. Remember: Giving her attention only counts if you support her advertisers. Her dwindling, anemic number of advertisers. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/2 "2018-04-10T22:29:35Z")
God Bless Free Markets! ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/3 "2018-04-10T22:44:12Z")
The kind of person who likes Ingraham knows the catch-phrases of his or her tribe, a prominent one of which is “we believe in free markets.” But that kind of person doesn’t actually know what “free markets” _means_. He or she just knows that EVERYONE IS BEING UNFAIR TO US. Because that’s the _most_ prominent catch-phrase of the tribe. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/4 "2018-04-10T22:45:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [Ingraham Crackers is now trying to say a specific business decision is Stalinist](http://www.newsweek.com/laura-ingraham-says-ad-boycott-stalinist-attempt-change-american-society-878642):Eighteen advertisers have decided that staying with her show is less profitable than pulling out of her show, a decision all Free-Market Loving Republicans must now regard as Liberal and, therefore, wrong. It’s up to 21 advertisers now, if anyone’s counting. Which I am. Gleefully. SlimFast just pulled out today so it’s not like the bad news is over. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/5 "2018-04-10T23:17:19Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > SlimFast just pulled out today so it’s not like the bad news is over. The ‘bad news’ won’t be over until every advertiser of legitimate products pulls their support for any Fox News program and all they are left with are ads for cheap teeth whitening products, Paula Deen foods, and the [fake catheter cowboy ads](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wyt90VqUv40) that _Last Week Tonight_ can afford to run in whole blocks because it is the only remaining revenue stream for Fox which is now reduced to selling ad time for pennies on the dollar. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/6 "2018-04-10T23:18:23Z")
I particularly love her whining that she’s getting backlash for saying things that were supposedly OK five or ten years ago. Setting aside the absurdity of claiming that personal insult was considered a valid form of argument five or ten years ago… well, yeah, that’s actually how it works in the real world. If I showed up at the office and tried to do my job exactly the way I did it five or ten years ago, as if I had learned nothing in the interim, I wouldn’t remain employed very long, and I suspect the same is true for most of you. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/7 "2018-04-10T23:53:28Z")
Apparently insulting children who were shot in school is bad for your public image. I’m still sad that so many on the right don’t grasp this concept. I see people comparing the kids to nazis, calling for them to be attacked, etc. I hope this boycott sends a message to the right. I personally contacted the companies whose items I buy and let them know I wasn’t happy about this. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/8 "2018-04-11T00:40:21Z")
Do y’all remember the outrage when there was a call to boycott MSNBC and their sponsors for keeping Don “nappy-headed hoes” Imus on the air? And do you remember how, even on this board, people refused to accept that a society that values free speech and a free market should also value the public using its collective spending power as a means of expressing itself? I also remember having to make the point that people who use their position of celebrity to promulgate offensive things aren’t victims of censorship when public outcry leads to their firing. Being fired is the cost to opening your mouth and letting shit come out of it. No one is entitled to airwaves. I say all of this because as bad as Ingraham looks by crying foul, her viewpoint isn’t exactly foreign or surprising; she’s obviously been accustomed to seeing herself as untouchable because no one has dare to fight back in any kind of meaningful way before. She’s been given wide berth to be as provocative as she wants, and she’s taken that berth with the haughtiness of the privileged. And the public has enabled this by making boycott a bad, uncomfortable word. Likening it to censorship and lynch mobs and such. But maybe, just maybe, people are starting to see that this is nonsense, Pressuring advertisers is pretty much the only way an otherwise powerless people can push back against harmful media content. Now more than ever, we need to harness this power rather than ignoring it. I’m really encouraged that David Hogg and others are shining a light on what organized action can do. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/9 "2018-04-11T00:47:08Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I particularly love her whining that she’s getting backlash for saying things that were supposedly OK five or ten years ago. Yup, not surprised she would say this. It wouldn’t have been okay 5 or 10 years ago, but social media wasn’t a living breathing organism back then either. It’s easier to find and organize the like-minded around a certain cause (like getting her off the air) when Twitter can reach millions. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/10 "2018-04-11T03:21:04Z")
I was not aware of [her dark history](https://www.carbonated.tv/news/laura-ingraham-sent-a-reporter-to-infiltrate-lgbt-group-at-dartmouth) before. This woman is the vilest scum, and she needs to be treated accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/11 "2018-04-11T03:27:36Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [Ingraham Crackers is now trying to say a specific business decision is Stalinist](http://www.newsweek.com/laura-ingraham-says-ad-boycott-stalinist-attempt-change-american-society-878642):Eighteen advertisers have decided that staying with her show is less profitable than pulling out of her show, a decision all Free-Market Loving Republicans must now regard as Liberal and, therefore, wrong. Crackers must be Truly Conservative to see that and, soon, perhaps she’ll be so Truly Conservative it will be impossible for _anyone_ to give her money, which is the true apotheosis of the Free Market. > > Remember: Giving her attention only counts if you support her advertisers. Her dwindling, anemic number of advertisers. Ummm, OK, these assholes thought boycotts were A-OK when they had a problem with (just one example) the Dixie Chicks. To hell with her. And her fans. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/12 "2018-04-11T03:48:16Z")
I’m getting increasingly perturbed when people call things that are matters of morals & ethics “political.” When Nike did a LeBron ad that promoted equality (the tagline was “equality”), people were like “Why does everything have to be so political?” Like, how is the idea of “equality” political? Same thing here…Ingraham made personal jabs at a young man who is taking up a cause for, if nothing else, protecting his peers. Is making jabs at a young man political? No. But, if you say that what you are saying is “political” speech, and you say that believing in equality is “political” then your politics are trash. You’re trash. You’re also saying that whatever party you stand for and its members are trash. Even the fucking Dixie Chicks controversy was about them taking a POLITICAL STANCE saying something against a POLITICAL FIGURE and the POLITICS of the country. That warrants a political fight, fine. You can say you don’t like their politics. You don’t want to hear politics in your country music. Your politics disagree with theirs. You’re right. If you just have shitty morals and act cattily, you’re just shitty. Don’t try to hide behind “politics.” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/13 "2018-04-11T04:11:42Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Ummm, OK, these assholes thought boycotts were A-OK when they had a problem with (just one example) the Dixie Chicks. To hell with her. And her fans. Yup. Here’s a mash up of her loving boycotts and hating them. > > > Indivisible Network 🇺🇦 @IndivisibleNet And hats off to Hogg, who grasps the essentials of social media. [INDENT][INDENT][INDENT]Small brain: Engage with trolls Big brain: Do not feed the trolls. Galactic brain: Cut off their oxygen. [/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT] ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/14 "2018-04-11T04:20:35Z")
A reminder that Laura Ingraham shilled for Goldline, [along with a number of other right wing chatterers](https://www.politico.com/story/2009/12/right-wing-talkers-go-for-the-gold-030231). Goldline was subjected to criminal penalties in 2012 for bait and switch techniques, unfair sales practices. Markups of over 50% were not uncommon. [Goldline agrees to refund up to $4.5 million to former customers](http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/23/business/la-fi-0223-goldline-settlement-20120223) ETA: General article not related to Ingraham: Why gold buyers are so susceptible to fraud [Opinion: Why gold buyers are so susceptible to fraud - MarketWatch](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-gold-buyers-are-so-susceptible-to-fraud-2017-06-13) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/15 "2018-04-11T04:57:39Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > ETA: General article not related to Ingraham: Why gold buyers are so susceptible to fraud [Opinion: Why gold buyers are so susceptible to fraud - MarketWatch](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-gold-buyers-are-so-susceptible-to-fraud-2017-06-13) This makes points about the weird and weak regulatory environment which previously prevailed (the prohibition on gold from 1933-1975 created a black market, the SEC and the CFTC couldn’t agree on jurisdiction until the ball got passed firmly to the CFTC) but it barely touches on how psychologically and, yes, politically important gold is to the hard right. Gold is not just a commodity, it’s _the_ commodity, it’s the thing which has been used as money since ancient times, it’s the thing you can convince yourself is the sovereign and inviolable store of value if you draw the graphs right and ignore almost a century of economic thought and experience. And that’s the other part: You can ignore economics, the field of study, if you convince yourself it’s been hijacked by Them. They own it, so They will tell you gold is just another commodity, like pork bellies or orange futures, and that inflation isn’t a moral failing induced by a weak-willed government which won’t make sure all the numbers on the price tags stay the same, but is a natural response to economic growth as long as it doesn’t become unmoored from reality. They don’t want you to know about gold, so They won’t let you keep gold once They are firmly in power, just like that [del]Rosenfeld[/del] Roosevelt dictator… and, once you get deep enough into it, They’re the Jews, just like They were in the Middle Ages. If you follow the Goldbuggery trail far enough, you go right out to Austrian Economics, far-right politics in general, and from there it isn’t far from Alex Jones and the frankly anti-Semitic portions of the right-wing world. There’s probably a lot left to be written about how people get funneled into para-politics, my little nonce term for the extremist groups normal political parties can count on for votes; it must be a true comfort to have Alex Jones listeners and Southern Baptists and True-Believing Mormons who are so disconnected from reality they’re mushrooms, for the right wing to keep in the dark and feed bullshit, but mushrooms who vote Republican. Goldbuggery has been a marker for right-wing para-politics for decades now, and there are always people who can harvest mushrooms. The hope is that normal, mainstream companies can be shamed and boycotted out of it. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/16 "2018-04-11T05:18:13Z")
A sort of “pareality” where certain people actually say true things. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/17 "2018-04-11T07:23:40Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The ‘bad news’ won’t be over until every advertiser of legitimate products pulls their support for any Fox News program and all they are left with are ads for cheap teeth whitening products, Paula Deen foods, and the [fake catheter cowboy ads](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wyt90VqUv40) that _Last Week Tonight_ can afford to run in whole blocks because it is the only remaining revenue stream for Fox which is now reduced to selling ad time for pennies on the dollar. > > Stranger The My Pillow guy is pretty tight with Fox and vowed not to take his ads off Ingraham’s show. Oh yeah, he’s a [conman.](https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/mypillow-gets-a-rude-awakening-as-the-better-business-bureau-gives-it-an-f-010517.html) It was funny to watch the MAGA’s on Twitter post their receipts for buying [mediocre $50 pillows](https://www.consumerreports.org/mattresses/should-my-pillow-become-your-pillow/). ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/18 "2018-04-11T09:20:38Z")
Um, speech \*\*czars \*\*enacting _Stalin_ist policy. I’m beginning to think Laura doesn’t know what those words mean. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/19 "2018-04-11T10:20:33Z")
They’re vaguely russian words, that’ll have to do. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187/20 "2018-04-11T10:40:24Z")
Now that we’re all getting to know the Nazi bitch, does anyone still think [this was accidental?](https://boingboing.net/2016/07/21/funny-gif-of-laura-ingraham-re.html) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-market-stalinist-laura-ingraham/812187.md?page=2)