Leftists love to talk about “diversity.” What they prefer to practice, however, is strict intellectual and moral conformity. That is, they are all for diversity, especially for enforcing diversity, when its a question of assuring that their agenda is being carried out. But for anyone who wishes to introduce a competing point of view, the advice is akin to that advocated by Wittgenstein at the end of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: “Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen” — “That about which we cannot speak we must remain silent.”
Wittgenstein sought to exclude the whole realm of ethics and metaphysics from the kingdom of speech; our politically correct leftists wish to exclude anything that doesn’t conform to their political agenda. Both ambitions are preposterous, but leftists never seem to recognize this. (We don’t have Wittgenstein’s opinion on political correctness, but it only took him a few years to reject the teachings of “the author of the Tractatus”). Usage note: attentive readers will register the fact that I say “leftists,” not “liberals.” Conservatives, I know, often speak about the depredations and bad behavior of “liberals.” But it has been a long time since the people whom we have called liberals were interested in freedom or liberty. What they are interested in, on the contrary, is pursuing the illiberal agenda of control.
This is a large and melancholy subject. For the moment, I want to instance the growing attack on one of the most fecund sources of genuine diversity opinion, talk radio. Leftists hate talk radio. Why? Because it represents an independent source of opinion, a source, moreover, that is at once extremely popular and (from the perspective of the leftists) politically heterodox.
This is not a secret. We’ve seen Leftists try to put popular talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh out of business. But the attack is far more broad-based. What drives Leftists to distraction is the thought that someone, somewhere entertains a thought that differs from the thoughts they ought (according to leftist gospel) to entertain.
Just yesterday, I heard about the latest assault on talk radio from my friend Guy Green, who presides over a popular talk radio show from Minnesosta called “The Speakeasy.” I’ve been on the show a couple of times, as have many friends: Andy McCarthy, for example, Frank Gaffney, David Horowitz, Michael Ledeen, Hans von Spakofsky, J. Christian Adams, Michele Bachmann, Jack Cashill, and Robert McFarlane,among many others. “The Speakeasy” broadcasts from station wwwi in Brainerd, Minnesota. It was recently bought Red Rock Radio, which is owned by Myron Kunin, a left-wing activist who is almost certain to shut down “The Speakeasy.” In an email to me, Mr. Green quotes a CBS radio executive who speculated that the move was part of a movement “to buy out smaller stations across the country to cripple the talk radio format.” I wouldn’t doubt it. But if you like talk radio (and if you’re reading this, you probably do), I urge you to check out “The Speakeasy” and see if you can help keep them on the air.
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