BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

Posting this premium seemed most appropriate the day after Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that he was hoping for riots at the Democratic Convention in Denver.

The corporate media for years now has allowed a whole team of right wing "pundits" to foul the airwaves with hate, bigotry, and language and framing that justifies violence against individuals that they disagree with.

Ann Coulter, Limbaugh, Savage -- oh, just keep on going through the list of them. They are apostles of intolerance and they create artificial enemies of America who they claim should be banished, beaten or killed. It is mind boggling and a threat to our democracy. Demagogues create a following by appealing to our basest emotions and nativistic instincts as homo sapiens. They create the feverish violent emotions of a lynch mob.

It is astonishing that advertisers sponsor the programs of such poisonous spewers of venom.

In "Outright Barbarous," Jeffrey Feldman who has appeared on BuzzFlash from time to time, dissects the technique and "framing" strategies of the "voices" of the right wing media. Feldman is a follower of George Lakoff and understands the linguistic and cognitive implications of what these "outright barbarous" media personalities have wrought.

Until this assault on basic civility becomes unacceptable to advertisers who subsidize this pollution of our public commons, we run the risk of becoming despised and hunted enemies within our own nation.

-- BuzzFlash.com

From the Publisher:

�Outright Barbarous turns the spotlight on the rhetorical thuggery of the
Right, exposing how the verbal excesses are being perpetrated not just by
media blowhards like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh but by conservative
thought leaders. But Feldman does more than point fingers; he offers
practical steps for cleaning up our too-often-toxic political
discourse.��Arianna Huffington

�Since 9/11, America has been contaminated by the violence of right-wing
language, in the speeches of Republican politicians and the rantings of
the talking heads on Fox News and on conservative talk radio. Jeffrey
Feldman�s insightful and important book cuts through the violence, and
shows how we can restore the democratic ideals that America was founded
upon.��Thom Hartmann

�Jeffrey Feldman warns us to ignore the right wing noise machine at our
own peril. Backed by right-wing think tanks, foundations and millionaire
families, conservative standard bearers will continue to enrich
themselves at the cost of a more civil, equitable society. Read Outright
Barbarous to find out what they're really saying, and how we can stop
it!"�Sam Seder

Since September 11, 2001, most attempts at reasoned political debate in
America have been severely limited by the violent language of the Right.
In books and on television, it has become a regular ritual for
conservative pundits and intellectuals to infuse violence�particularly
against Democrats or liberals�into discussions of the major issues of the
day, such as terrorism, immigration and gun violence. The result is the
creation of a shrill discourse that silences opposition and destroys any
chance for serious, civil debate.

In Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons
American Democracy, political language expert Jeffrey Feldman analyzes the
words of leading conservative figures Ann Coulter, Dinesh D�Souza, James
Dobson, Wayne LaPierre, Pat Buchanan and Bill O�Reilly to show how the
Right�s language of violence is polluting our public discourse and
limiting the free exchange of ideas. In addition to exposing the
conservative obsession with violence, Feldman also shows how the civic
discussion in America can be reshaped without the use of violent language,
creating a healthier political climate.


BUZZFLASH REVIEWS