Damn you, all the right wing wacko’s on the radio, thanks to all you idiots (and I am talking to both the local pervert and the nationwide dopehead here) my buddy (we will call him G) has lost the ability to discern news from (bad) entertainment.
In the local elections here he took some positions that freaked me out and in our discussions since the election I have figured out that he is parroting back the ultra conservative spittle that he gets off of the radio.
Can I help him?, is there someone I can take him to for deprogramming?.
If Rush, et al. are simply the idiots that you claim they are, then why do you get worked up when people actually find themselves agreeing with their opinions?
Can it be that behind the rhetoric, they’re really not all that dumb? That they might actually just have a point of view that you disagree with that they couch with bravado and arrogance to provide a certain entertainment value?
In any event, if you’re that worried about it, slap your friend around and steal his radio. That should fix things for a while.
Well, if you actually tell him what you’re trying to do, you’re probably going to get reactions like the ones above this one. I’d say, whenever he tells you something bizarre, talk about it with him as if you didn’t know it came from loony right-wing radio hosts. Argue gently and reasonably with him. Specifically, point out the factual inaccuracies that underlie “his” reasoning. (When people try too hard to oversimplify the reasons for holding a position in order to make it easier to explain on the radio, inaccuracy often crops up) Point out errors enough, and he’ll either learn to stop trusting right-wing radio hosts so easily, or he’ll learn to stop telling you this stuff. Both are generally positive outcomes. And if the radio people somehow happen to be right, then no harm done.
The OpP’s relative shouildn;t have gone to sleep with an Ann Coulter book in the room. While he slept, the book extruded tendrils that absorbed the sleeper’s personality, so that the original human disappears and all that remains is a simulacrum that has lost the ability to think for himself.
“Relax and enjoy your weekend, friends. I’ll do the hard work, studying the issues and telling you what to think so you don’t have to.”
–Common Rush Limbaugh signoff phrase
As for the OP, I suggest a double-barrel approach: throw copies of The O’Really? Factor and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them at said friend.
Take a chill pill, unclviny, and celebrate the fact that America allows people to hold differing views. There’s nothing wrong with his holding differing views. Try debating them with him, and if you can’t shake him, try seeing if your own views are in fact correct - shock horror he might be correct - or simply agree to disagree.
Typical left wing rant-- your friend was a “victim” of right wing radio.:rolleyes: Maybe your friend should be held personally responsible for his own decisions. Or maybe his new positions are, in fact, correct (or at least something that honest people can disagree on).
