“Did you hear any incidents of hate speech or groups targeted for hate speech in media topics over the past year?”

Well, if we accept the dubious criteria this report is based on, then yes. On radio programs broadcast regularly by NPR, Radio Pacifica, American Public Radio, Sirius, and XM, as well as the cable and broadcast TV networks MSNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS, I regularly hear commentators and guests denigrate and demean white people, men, Jews, devoted followers of religions other than Islam, residents of the American South, Midwest, and non-urban areas, Republicans, members of the military, and people who have successful occupations in the financial, medical, manufacturing, and insurance industries.

But those aren’t the examples you were looking for, are they?

If we’re to take seriously the ridiculous suggestion that the mere utterance of a falsehood, flawed argument, or divisive term amounts to “hate speech”, then no one in this society is innocent. There is no such thing as “hate speech”. The concept is an odious contrivance of the Left and others of a totalitarian bent that’s meant soley to stifle opposition to their political views. Anyone who dares defend such an anti-intellectual, anti-democratic idea in public should be laughed off the stage.

I can’t say I agree with all of this study’s logic or conclusions, but one thing I do know, Michael Savage is a hypocritical, hate-mongering moron and I don’t understand why 97.1 even puts him on the air. they have another show (can’t remember the guy’s name) with a real old guy who does nothing but spout hate-speech and grumble and complain about everything (sort of a mean-spirited andy roony). It suprises me that these two shows have enough auidence to keep them on the air… the South couldn’t souly be keeping these guys with good ratings could they?

What does this study really say? There are black and Hispanic victims of hate crime, and Lou Dobbs, Michael Savage, and John and Ken have conservative views on immigration. I could publish a study that makes two points: (1) Grass is green, (2) Green is the color of money, and (3) Money is associated with greed, therefore anyone who has a grass farm is greedy.

What the study does not tell us, which is not surprising coming from the open borders lobby, is who is committing the hate crimes? In Southern California, many of the hate crimes committed against blacks are done by Hispanics, and vice versa. The rub is that Hispanics are counted as white when they commit a crime, and counted as Hispanic when they are a victim of a crime.

Go Fish -

Sorry, but I’m going to have to call you out on this one. I listen (no surprise) to NPR regularly and I would like to hear your specific examples of commentators denigrating and demeaning the groups you mention. If anything, NPR is fair to a fault. One of the best things about the KWMU feed is the BBC overnight, where their media is at least unafraid to be critical.

I have a friend who worked for a news agency in Rwuanda after the uprising and the carnage. He told me that the first thing the U.N. should have done is shut down the radio stations.

The ruling Hutu had control of the media and repeatedly made reference to the Tutsis as “Cockroaches, and Rats.” This kind of name calling fueled the hate that brought out the machetes that killed hundreds of thousands.

Any time a popular commentator has an almost religious following of fanatics, they have the power to create a dangerous level of hate. There needs to be some level of sanity through regulation by the cooler heads of a non-partisan review of what they spew.

What a bunch of absolute garbage? This “study” was only done as a preface in re institute the so called fairness doctrine. What a joke? This study was to stop Conservatives from having a voice. Sorry, but you are only going to piss them off. Along with that, I am lots of friends who are Democrats and are NOT in favor it this legislation.

What I am looking forward to most is to call Rush, Hannity, or some of the other more popular talk show hosts? How about the vitriol of Randi Rhodes or the idiot who is trying to steal the election Al Franken? now they are nasty.

This country is getting to be more and more socialists every day. I am sick and tired of our freedoms being stolen from us. I have a feeling that this fight is going to be more than they bargained for and I look forward to it!

You forgot all the mass media hate speech and fear mongering of European Americans. Oops…forgot European Americans are always free game we just can’t talk bad about any other ethnicity.

Also, any conversation on race and crime should include (black on white) vs (white on black) racial disparities. Here are statistics from 2005 from the US Dept. of Justice.

Page 30 Table 42
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus0502.pdf

Black on white sexual assault/rape victims - 36,791 white victims
White on black sexual assault/rape victims - 10 black victims

Black on white robbery victims - 88,077 white victims
White on black robbery victims - 2,694 black victims

I believe that a very serious national debate needs to take place about the racial disparities that exist between (black on white) vs (white on black) crime. For disparities to be these high, it means some underlying hate is targeted towards European Americans. The numbers are only for a single year, imagine what they are from the last 20 years?

Go Fish: Can you offer specific incidents and quotes of hate speech and specific commentators and guests who “denigrate and demean white people, men, Jews, devoted followers of religions other than Islam, residents, etc.?”

I respectfully disagree with your belief that “there is no such thing as hate speech.” It is a fact that hate speech used in advertising campaigns, propaganda films, inflammatory news articles, leaflets and radio shows sparked ethnic cleansing in the Baltic region and the infamous genocide in Rwanda.

The categories of false facts, flawed argumentation, divisive language and dehumanizing metaphors are all means used to stigmatize, criminalize and demonize a particular group. In some instances in blog comments here and story comments throughout stltoday.com, all four categories have been employed to characterize specific St. Louis populations.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the undertones of the conversation about race appear so angry. It is a fact that because Americans have been socialized to be prejudiced and are raised with numerous stereotypes about every identity group that one can think of, we are all prejudiced and hold such strong stereotypical feelings about one another. The anger and frustration comes from lack of understanding, knowledge and/or exposure to people of different cultures and backgrounds. It is clear that many people speak from mis-education and not from personal experience with people who are different from themselves. In reality, we have many more similarities than differences. Understanding patterns of oppression, victimization, internalized superiority and internalized oppression are critical to understanding how we can engage in informed dialogue about race or any other issue impacting people who represent the many minority groups in our community.

In principle, I agree with Go_Fish - and American Resolve’s statistics are devastating.

Because of the clash of worldviews in our culture today, people can claim that there is a “climate of hate and prejudice.”

To anybody who watched the Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow television shows on a regular basis from late August through today, how would you assess their treatment of President Bush, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin?

From my perspective, it was a nightly orgy of ‘hate’ towards these individuals for two solid hours, with both shows then repeated. You NEVER heard a negative word uttered towards President Obama (and still don’t) from Mr. Olbermann and Ms. Maddow - NEVER.

A more liberally oriented person may have watched the same shows and thought to themselves, ‘What’s the big deal?’

It’s tough to take ANY study like this seriously…