# MSNBC's Savage Nation is no more! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 7, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846 "2003-07-07T20:22:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/41 "2003-07-08T00:33:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*How the hell did he get a show? Sounds like the advertisers would run him out of town. \*\* How did Bill O’Reily or Sean Hannity get shows? People seem to like to listen to big, fat, loud mouths. People seem to have admiration for those who speak loudly and unappologetically, regardless of the content of what they are saying, as long as they portray themselves as truth-speakers and not bullies. Savage crossed into bully territory once too often. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/42 "2003-07-08T00:50:51Z")
I once watched 10 minutes of this asshole, and I thought he had to be a parody. He was fucking ridiculous. Good riddance to bad rubbish. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/43 "2003-07-08T01:15:10Z")
On the one hand, I give MSNBC credit for (eventually) doing the right thing. On the other hand, it’s like they hired a zebra and then fired him because of all the damn stripes. Savage spews hate from every orifice (at least he does on his radio show–I’ve never seen the TV show), and it disgusts me that anyone would tune in and watch or listen out of anything but train-wreck fascination. (The fact that anyone would pay $20 for his book makes me want to cry.) Oh well, at least he’s off the air. Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/44 "2003-07-08T01:38:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Getting the word out is one thing, alerting MSNBC and his advertisers about stuff he’s said on his radio show is perfectly cool with me, but boycotting those advertisers seems a little much to my very Free Speech mentality. If there ever was a time where boycotting is reasonable, this is it. Why should gays buy products from Savage’s advertisers? If they do that, they are indirectly funding somebody who constantly calls them worthless garbage that should get AIDS and die. Why spend a penny of your money that keeps somebody like that on the air? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/45 "2003-07-08T02:20:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neidhart \* > \*\*I think he sold his soul to Satan. \*\* The devil doesn’t need to buy what he already owns. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/46 "2003-07-08T02:29:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blalron \* > \*\*If there ever was a time where boycotting is reasonable, this is it. Why should gays buy products from Savage’s advertisers? If they do that, they are indirectly funding somebody who constantly calls them worthless garbage that should get AIDS and die. Why spend a penny of your money that keeps somebody like that on the air? \*\* Wow. When Willow came out on “Buffy,” we staged letter-writing campaigns thanking the sponsors for advertising during the show, and begging them to continue doing it. Some advertisers HAD pulled out, and we were afraid of losing our small gains to the pressure of the majority. (I’m sure plenty of folks wrote to express the opposite hope). A lot’s changed four years. I’m flabbergasted. (I’m kind of against writing/boycotting, because I’ve been on the wrong side of public pressure most of my life. But thank you notes are okay, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Creative\_Munster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Creative\_Munster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creative_Munster)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/47 "2003-07-08T03:02:53Z")
I listened to that clip a couple of times now. What the hell set him off? ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/48 "2003-07-08T03:15:37Z")
I think whatever the caller said got cut off in the seven-second delay. The screener cut off what the caller said, so we didn’t hear it, but Savage did. What a moron. Savage, that is. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/49 "2003-07-08T03:25:39Z")
This was the _least_ surprising event in cable news all year. Heck, the first ten pages of his book are MORE than enough to know exactly what Savage thinks of gays. This is a case of MSNBC taking a gamble and losing. If they did their homework, read the book, listened to a few hours of the radio program, they’d have known exactly what they were getting. Savage is the most extreme social conservative on the airwaves, way more extreme than Hannity, and Limbaugh ain’t even on the same map any more. Boycott away, if you want. I don’t know what the GLAAD membership’s economic power is, but I don’t see any problem with them using it. I’m _not_ very approving of the things people admit to doing to his books in the bookstore (and I don’t just mean anyone in this thread), as it’s ultimately the bookstore’s decision whether to carry a book or not. If you can still find _Mein Kampf_ and the _Communist Manifesto_ in bookstores, I don’t see why anyone has to be petty and go around hiding Savage’s books and messing with the displays like some mischevious schoolboy. Also, I’m not sure I’ll go along with this notion that MSNBC did the “right” thing. They simply responded to possible economic loss, and the bad public image they’d have gotten for keeping Savage on. I don’t think right and wrong entered into their decision (nor would I insist it should), it’s simple expediency. In summary, Savage banned for breaking “don’t be a jerk” rule in outlandish manner, nobody surprised, I pronounce a resounding “meh”. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lodoen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@Jeff\_Lodoen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lodoen)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/50 "2003-07-08T03:28:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Lao \* > \*\*How did Bill O’Reily or Sean Hannity get shows? People seem to like to listen to big, fat, loud mouths. \*\* Fat? Even Rush hasn’t been fat for what, a decade? Now you apply it to O’Reilly and Hannity? The weighty issues favor the left at the moment. Michael Moore, Al Franken, Bernie Ward (known to SF locals). Anyway, Savage sucks. KSFO dumped him last month; his home for 8 years! If the national radio show craps out… bye-bye. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/51 "2003-07-08T03:40:23Z")
> [@](#): > > If Donahue’s show couldn’t be allowed because he had anti-war guests on from time to time, then Savage didn’t have long at MSNBC. Now, if they’d just straighten out Brian William’s crooked face… You think Donahue’s show got cancelled because he had anti-war guests on? Sheesh. Donahue was cancelled because no one watched his show. His ratings were in the absolute cellar, below everyone else on cable. They let that corpse stink up their channel for a long time before they finally buried it. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/52 "2003-07-08T03:43:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rysler \* > \*\*Wow. When Willow came out on “Buffy,” we staged letter-writing campaigns thanking the sponsors for advertising during the show, and begging them to continue doing it. Some advertisers HAD pulled out, and we were afraid of losing our small gains to the pressure of the majority. > > (I’m sure plenty of folks wrote to express the opposite hope). > > A lot’s changed four years. I’m flabbergasted. > > (I’m kind of against writing/boycotting, because I’ve been on the wrong side of public pressure most of my life. But thank you notes are okay, right?) \*\* I understand the sentiments, but if hatefull people are going to fight dirty why not do the same thing to their beloved shows? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/53 "2003-07-08T03:50:43Z")
Before I get flamed, by ‘corpse’ I meant the show, because it was obviously dead. Not Donahue himself. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/54 "2003-07-08T04:40:36Z")
It’s a good day for smart conservatives to beat up on stupid conservatives. I give you the Wall Street Journal’s [review of Ann Coulter’s latest offering](http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110003713). They actually call her the Maureen Dowd of the Right. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/55 "2003-07-08T06:19:51Z")
You know, despite my better judgment, I went to aself-proclaimed conservative website that is very well-known to the SDMB, and checked out their message board to see what they thought of this. God, am I scared now. I really didn’t need to subject myself to so many reminders of what some people actually think these days. (And I won’t even get into a peculiar mental quirk of mine that makes me wonder whether any viewpoint I read, no matter how repugnant to me, might be right. It’s just an OCD-ish mental snarl that rears its ugly head at times that make things like this hit harder than it might for most.) Conservatives in general aren’t really like **that** , are they? (Feel free to imagine what sort of viewpoints would constitute **that** , the sort of venom and distortions that would put the fear of God, pun intended, into me.) There are so many reasonable, intelligent conservatives on this board that I can’t help feel like I’ve been spoiled somehow. Even **december** , who is often the target of so much invective, is really a good guy, ESPECIALLY in comparison to a lot of the stuff I just read. Conservatives out there, PLEASE reassure me that the Republican party really ISN’T listening to people like those on those forums! Anyway, never again. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/56 "2003-07-08T12:07:05Z")
**Leaper** I hate to say this, but the far-right fringe just might be that bad. My older brother is deeply, deeply conservative, and he \*likes \* people like Ann Coulter and Michael Savage. You can’t get conservative enough for people with his…viewpoint. I mean, he’s convinced that feminists rule the world, and he’s convinced that he’s an expert on the evils of liberals, even though he’s never read a book by a liberal, and he shouts me down when I try to contradict him. His coworkers are more conservative than he is, and they’re all raising hateful little kid-conservatives, too. It gives me the willies to be in the same room with these guys. Better to know, then not know, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/57 "2003-07-08T12:28:35Z")
Don’t worry about your nephews and nieces. Sooner or later, they go to college. And then they’re _ours_! Bwah-ha-ha-ha! ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/58 "2003-07-08T12:43:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Creative\_Munster \* > I listened to that clip a couple of times now. What the hell set him off? Maybe the caller asked Savage out on a date. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/59 "2003-07-08T12:44:42Z")
The far-right fringe is very bad, but then so is the far left (I’m looking at you, **Elucidator**. The far right decries any improvement in the conditions of blacks, women, immigrants, and gays, and has no compunction about spinning outright lies about the objects of their hate. The far left is litte better, blaming every problem on earth on Bush and his cronies, and embracing as heroes Marxist thugs like Fidel Castro. I say everybody can shove their ideologies someplace tight and uncomfortable because none of you sem to care how your ideas affect the way ordinay people live, work, and raise their kids, and that’s the only constituency that matters. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846/60 "2003-07-08T13:08:00Z")
**gobear** , I’m on the far left and I’ve never met or spoken to _anyone_ on the left who “embraces” Fidel Castro. I honestly don’t think there is a left wing parallel to the likes of Michael Savage. There may be a few silly radical Marxists but there isn’t a festering counter-culture akin to what I’ve seen among rural conservatives. I have a brother-in-law who lives in rural North Dakota who is pretty much the stereotype of the gun toting, racist, gay-bashing, paranoid, right-wing extremist. He isn’t considered particularly radical or inappropriate in his views, not everyone is as extreme but many are, and some are worse. I’m not aware of any cultural pockets which mirror this kind of thing on the left. At worse you might get tofu-eating, recycling, California Pagans but I don’t know of a liberal counter-culture which is actually grounded in hate as there is on the right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msnbcs-savage-nation-is-no-more/186846.md?page=4)