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I hate Hypocritical Hosts

westfield60

Frequent Participant
Keith Obermann is suing his former boss (Current TV), which I would think is unusual, since both are chummy liberals and that they wouldn't need to go nasty and drag this thing out in the press. But then ultimately I realized that no matter what side of the fence you are on, everyone is a phony hypocrite and particularly the loudmouths on radio. Here are four examples.

Tim Conway Jr. the poster boy for dumb dope smoking half brains, was kissing Obama and his push for Obamacare when he was unemployed and when he had to pay thousands of dollars in medical care for him and his child out of his pocket. On his short lived podcast he would constant decry the state of medical care in this country and praise the President for doing something. Now that the idiot has a regular gig and health insurance he couldn't care less for Obamacare. Hypocrite # 1.

Larry Elder is Hypocrite # 2. For someone who thinks he is as perfect as they come (listen to some of his stories), the guy should be demanding to be fired from KABC for only drawing less than 18,000 listeners while John and Ken are averaging almost a million. Larry's performance in anyone's book is a F minus grade. So if you believe that affirmative action or other special treatments should not be given to anyone and everyone should be judged on their performance and merit, then please step aside Larry and let someone else try to get at least a listener or two. Ditto for glee club member John Phillips - another F student.

Hypocrite # 3 is Geraldo Rivera. Lately his show has been a mantra looking for sympathy for illegal aliens. His favorite line is "Show sympathy to them". For someone who lives behind high walled mansions, whose kids go to private schools, who never has to drive the crowded freeways on a daily basis, never has to visit an emergency room seeking out medical care or has nice accountants to minimize what he has to pay the State and Federal government, it's nice to ask everyone for sympathy when he doesn't have to face some of the downsides of the massive influx of uneducated people.

Hypocrite # 4 is Howard Stern. Prior to leaving Terrestrial radio, Howard talked about creating a revolution. He would end terrestrial radio and a new era would being. He would work harder than ever to make this happen. As soon as he cashed in his 100 million dollar paycheck, he tripled his vacation time and cut his show down to 4 days a week. He is running the revolution from the beaches of Florida.
 
Welcome to show business!

All of these people are performers paid to put on an act: they basically have the same job as Krusty the Klown and it doesn't matter if their on-air persona is not the same as who they are when the mike is off, or even who they were when performing a couple years ago. If their their audience likes what they hear when the mike and/or camera goes on tomorrow, that's all that matters.

Should we expect more from them? Nah... it's show biz and they are entertainers, the 21st Century court jesters.
 
radio-darn said:
Welcome to show business!

they basically have the same job as Krusty the Klown


No more calls, please...we have a winner for quote of the day, month, year and decade...
 
I think you can add most of the rest of the talking heads to your list as well. Almost none of them live the lifestyle they preach, or never had to for the most part. As long as the checks keep coming, they could care less either.

On the rare occasions that I do listen to any talk program, all I hear between the cries of conservatism or liberalism, is "you need to follow my agenda and scorn anything else as wrong, and evil" None of them really say anything useful and generally just try to polarize people into their way of thinking. None of that seems to do any real good, and only furthers the divisions in this country we see on a daily basis. But, it sell ad time too.............
 
Manny Michaels said:
I hate hypocritical posts.

Well Its the Radio Propaganda Business. Look at Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC and CNN they sell propaganda they don't sell news. HLN and ABC News sells Tabloids like TMZ and Murdoch tabloids in the UK do.
 
westfield60 said:
Keith Obermann is suing his former boss (Current TV), which I would think is unusual, since both are chummy liberals and that they wouldn't need to go nasty and drag this thing out in the press. But then ultimately I realized that no matter what side of the fence you are on, everyone is a phony hypocrite and particularly the loudmouths on radio. Here are four examples.

I don't listen/watch any of your four hypocrites but I do know a bit about Olbermann and his issue with Current does not have anything to do with politics - his or anyone else's. Apparently Keith expected or was promised a certain level of production on his Current show and he feels that level wasn't met. His objections resulted in his firing. Basically, he is suing for his pay check.
 
radio-darn said:
Welcome to show business!

All of these people are performers paid to put on an act:

One well known Bay Area talk host - a liberal - was reported to have said before he got his Bay Area job - that he'd be happy to be a conservative on air, if he could land a gig at KGO.

(This was at least a decade ago, when KGO was the top rated station).
 
Something else occurred to me.....why do some people accuse radio "actors" of being hypocrites when, in fact, they are just acting out a personality that is different than their real one? We don't do the same to TV or movie actors - at least not often.

For instance, Carroll O'Conner was a well-known liberal in his personal life but he portrayed an arch-conservative in his most popular role. I never heard anyone criticize him for being a hypocrite. After all, he wasn't trying to deceive anyone since virtually everyone knows the difference between an actor's private life and their public roles.

So.....why do we criticize radio actors for doing the same thing?
 
landtuna said:
Something else occurred to me.....why do some people accuse radio "actors" of being hypocrites when, in fact, they are just acting out a personality that is different than their real one? We don't do the same to TV or movie actors - at least not often.

For instance, Carroll O'Conner was a well-known liberal in his personal life but he portrayed an arch-conservative in his most popular role. I never heard anyone criticize him for being a hypocrite. After all, he wasn't trying to deceive anyone since virtually everyone knows the difference between an actor's private life and their public roles.

So.....why do we criticize radio actors for doing the same thing?

The answer is - they are not billed as "talk show actors" so people assume they are being their true selves on air, not playing a part. Some probably are playing a part, while others are not. I've talked to people who are acquainted with Michael ("Savage") Weiner - and they tell me that other than his fake name, the guy you hear on the air is pretty much that same guy off the air.
 
landtuna said:
Something else occurred to me.....why do some people accuse radio "actors" of being hypocrites when, in fact, they are just acting out a personality that is different than their real one? We don't do the same to TV or movie actors - at least not often.

For instance, Carroll O'Conner was a well-known liberal in his personal life but he portrayed an arch-conservative in his most popular role. I never heard anyone criticize him for being a hypocrite. After all, he wasn't trying to deceive anyone since virtually everyone knows the difference between an actor's private life and their public roles.

So.....why do we criticize radio actors for doing the same thing?

Landtuna, I think my point is a little beyond you.

I don't think any of the people I mentioned think they are actors. I truly think they all believe in what they say down to their core. Geraldo really would love to see illegal aliens be given everything they demand. Larry Elder probably does believe is his far superior than all of us. Tim Conway Jr just has the mentality of a dope smoker that he probably doesn't remember that he contradicts himself every 10 minutes or so. Howard probably really did want to change the face of radio. But having 100 million in the bank makes you complacent and he realized it is difficult to lead a revolution.

So this hypocracy has nothing to do with them being actors. It has everything to do with them saying and believing in one thing but then doing another.

Maybe that will explain it clearer to you.
 
westfield60 said:
Tim Conway Jr. the poster boy for dumb dope smoking half brains, was kissing Obama and his push for Obamacare when he was unemployed and when he had to pay thousands of dollars in medical care for him and his child out of his pocket. On his short lived podcast he would constant decry the state of medical care in this country and praise the President for doing something. Now that the idiot has a regular gig and health insurance he couldn't care less for Obamacare. Hypocrite # 1.

I first recommend you relax. If you want to lose sleep over hypocritical faces in media --- well, you'll never sleep again. For that matter, Jack Benny wasn't really a cheapskate.

But to TCJ's defense (since his is one of the few radio shows left I genuinely enjoy): I was excited for Obamacare initially. I would've loved to have a public option, compared to the sorry excuse for health insurance I currently have. But the bill morphed into a mess and today Obama's done little more to help the "average Joe" like me than Bush Jr. did.

But, politics aside, realize ownership bias is a real deal. Do you really think TCJ wanted to shout down a school teacher, ala J&K? Why did he? Because he was filling in for J&K. You have to give the audience what it wants. The ratings 7-10p look quite good (some of the best KFI has had in years). They've signed TCJ to a 3-year deal back in January. Yeah, stoner humor isn't my thing --- but I laugh and listen. Hypocritical or not, it's good radio.
 
westfield60 said:
Landtuna, I think my point is a little beyond you.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. But maybe I am not quite as "dupable" as those who would follow as opposed to lead.

westfield60 said:
I don't think any of the people I mentioned think they are actors.

They may not use the word "actors" to describe their vocation but I am willing to bet they all fully realize what brings in their bacon. Just as in a formal debate you can belong to an argument which you personally disagree with but need to defend to win. My impression is that is exactly what is happening with some if not all "commentary" hosts. They will invariably take the side which generates the greatest discussion and publicity -or- having already built a following they will defend their position so as to placate their fans.

westfield60 said:
So this hypocracy has nothing to do with them being actors. It has everything to do with them saying and believing in one thing but then doing another.

I believe the answer is much more simple. They are merely taking public positions which is most likely to earn them the most money. What they actually think personally is not important.

General George Patton was once confronted by an aide who told him his behavior was confusing his men. They could not tell when he was joking or serious. Patton's reply was to the effect that "it wasn't important for his men to know, it was only important for him to know".
 
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