Encounters with Strangers Posted by christian h., 26 Jun 2007 06:26 am

Encounters with Strangers (#4): Talk Radio and Communism

In my time at the University of Illinois, I have been traveling a lot - to conferences, to meet with colleagues for a couple days, for job interviews. Mathematics is a very social profession - even in the age of email, face-to-face interaction is preferable. Part of the ritual is getting to O’Hare airport in Chicago from Champaign-Urbana, the town where I live and work - about 2-3 hours to the South of Chicago. There’s a small airport here, but it’s often very expensive to fly out of. I don’t drive myself, and in any event most people like to avoid a three-hour drive to start off a day that is also going to involve several flights. So usually, I take a shuttle bus up to O’Hare, or down from there home - sometimes it’s a van, sometimes an old bus, depending on the number of passengers booked on the thing. This is one experience I am definitely not going to miss when I move up to Chicago in a couple weeks.

The ride can take up to 4 hours, as passengers are dropped off and picked up along the way. The drivers often like to talk while on the road - driving back and forth on I-57 isn’t the most exciting thing to do. Once you leave Chicago it’s Midwestern farm country, flat and featureless (Champaign County, for example, has a maximal elevation difference of about a hundred feet, I think. If that.) Something else many drivers like to do is listen to the radio - and often, that means talk radio. Rush in the morning, Levin and others at night.

One night last fall, I had arrived back from Banff, Alberta and was taking the 9pm shuttle down to Champaign, happy to be the only passenger. Banff is a resort town in the Rockies where the Canadian, US and Mexican governments run a research center for mathematics. They have one or two workshops or conferences a week for the whole year - beautiful surroundings actually help you think (though the temptation to blow off the scientific program and just go hike or ski is quite strong…).

Anyway, I was sitting next to the driver thinking positive thoughts lingering on from a productive week in the Rockies and he’s listening to Sean Hannity on WLS 890 Chicago (”The station liberals hate”). Well, I am in a good mood, so I make some exaggerated face and ask him why on earth he’s listening to a lying scumbag like Hannity (only I left out the “scumbag” part). He says it’s fun, and he doesn’t think Hannity is necessarily a liar - though interestingly, he isn’t prepared to declare him an honest person. Basically, he likes that Hannity is sticking it to the people up there, and the guys who made him take sexual harassment awareness training when he worked for IDOT even though there were no women in the whole workforce, and so forth. And what is my political persuasion anyway?

So I tell him I’m a communist. Which is true, but to be honest I also tried to get a reaction - usually, I’d probably say I’m a socialist (leaving out the “revolutionary” part). And I did get a reaction - but maybe not the one I expected. The driver simply asked if I’m going to vote for whoever the CPUSA would run for governor. I explained that I don’t know if they are running anyone, that I don’t have a vote, and that I’m a Trotskyite anyway, and what I mean by that.

At about that time (10pm) Hannity was thankfully done, only to be replaced by Mark Levin, a true nut. Talking about the trilateral commission and stuff. In any event, my new friend made clear he isn’t really a Republican, he’s just fed up with everyone - “you know, Sandy Berger walks out of the office with classified information and gets off free, but if some little guy does anything, he goes to jail.” I generally agree, of course - but why is he taking that from Hannity and Levin, who make shitloads of money off this shtick? They are not on his side! Isn’t it obvious that things will never change a long as the current socioeconomic system stays in place? (I’d say this kind of talk amuses him.) After some more friendly argument (about “The Chief”, among other things, the Indian mascot of the U of I), we amicably pass ways - meaning we arrive.

A couple weeks later, a friend of mine is taking a late shuttle back up to Chicago. She talks to the driver, yes, she’s a professor of mathematics at U of I - and could you please turn down the Hannity a little? So he says “hey, a couple weeks ago I drove this German math professor - he’s a communist. But he was such a nice guy!” So I think I left some impression, if only that communists aren’t monsters. Small steps.

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Responses to “Encounters with Strangers (#4): Talk Radio and Communism”

  1. on 27 Jun 2007 at 7:26 am 1. JP Stormcrow said …

    … German math professor - he’s a communist. But he was such a nice guy!”

    We Are All Communist German Math Professors Now… (Trotskyite persuasion)

  2. on 27 Jun 2007 at 7:40 am 2. christian h. said …

    Uh no, JP, that would be horrible. Talk about a world you really don’t want to live in!
    Anyway, the story isn’t about communism, of course, but rather about the hijacking of what should be themes of the political left by the far right.

  3. on 27 Jun 2007 at 9:53 am 3. James Killus said …

    Basically, he likes that Hannity is sticking it to the people up there, and the guys who made him take sexual harassment awareness training when he worked for IDOT even though there were no women in the whole workforce, and so forth.

    Wow, there’s a “target rich” comment. Did you ask him why there were no women in the entire IDOT workforce?

    I had a friend who was sexually harrassed by his (female) supervisor. I was also under the impression that sexual harrassment training was also about what to do if you yourself were to be sexually harrassed, and a male-only workforce is not immune to that either, is it?

    Ultimately, of course, Hannity is one of “the people up there.” That’s the genius of prejudice, of course, the identification, projection, and obfustication.

  4. on 27 Jun 2007 at 10:22 am 4. christian h. said …

    Wow, there’s a “target rich” comment.
    Indeed. And yeah, I did mention that maybe the fact that IDOT (that’s for “Illinois Department of Transportation”) didn’t have any female employees was kind of telling in itself (to be honest, I’m sure he was talking only about the road crew he was working on - I’m certain there are lots of female IDOT employees in the “traditionally female” roles…).

    And spot-on about Hannity et al. This was one point I tried to get across, likely without any success. Pretty much a What’s the matter with Kansas? moment: many people feel they have lost control of their own lives, but instead of going after those who have taken it from them, they are successfully diverted into different kinds of cultural prejudice and conspiracy mongering (a neat trick: make problems out to be caused by some gang of secret conspirators, and there’s no need to investigate systemic causes anymore).

  5. on 27 Jun 2007 at 11:39 am 5. Oaktown Girl said …

    Ultimately, of course, Hannity is one of “the people up there.”

    Quite right you are, James. These assholes at the top are making millions (literally) by crying about how the “little guy” is getting screwed by the Liberal Agenda”. It’s the ultimate racket. And speaking of “getting away free”, unless I’m getting my wingnuts confused, doesn’t Hannity have a rather MAJOR (dead) skeleton in his closet?

    That this otherwise intelligent driver would choose Sandy Berger as an example of government malfeasance is a testament to the effectiveness of right wing talk radio, and why it’s so incredibly important that the AM talk stations offer alternatives to the constant drone that goes on in the background and effectively penetrates the thinking of “Middle” America. Wingnut radio hammered relentless on the Sandy Berger issue, and of course never went back to tell its audience about the final findings of the investigations into the matter. Berger did not get off “free”, by the way:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Berger

    Berger eventually pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material on April 1, 2005. Under a plea agreement, U.S. attorneys recommended a fine of $10,000 and a loss of security clearance for three years. However, on September 8, U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson increased the fine to $50,000 at Berger’s sentencing. Robinson stated, “The court finds the fine [recommended by government prosecutors] is inadequate because it doesn’t reflect the seriousness of the offense.”[14] Berger was also ordered to serve two years of probation and to perform 100 hours of community service.

    People who dismiss the power of talk radio truly do not understand its impact, and play right into the wing nuts’ hands.

  6. on 27 Jun 2007 at 1:24 pm 6. spyder said …

    Oh christian this is all too familiar for me on this road trip. The rationale that people listen to these programs because they are entertained by the humiliation and commentary (though of course they really don’t believe that these people mean what they say) has become the whitenoise background this summer. The left/west coast has a plethora of these types who flood the airwaves with vicious little character assasinations in order to drive ratings. Labelled humorous, these sick freaks represent a hypocrisy so distorted that they see no problem immediately denying that they just said what they said so as not to have to admit that what they just said negates their own supposed basis of political theory or substance.

    It seems to me that reichstag talk radio suffers from a huge inferiority complex from the success of the Daily Show and Colbert Report. These talking heads would like to think they can be as intelligent and witty, sarcastic and parodic; but they are trivial and mediocre blabbermouths who produce a lexicon of banal humor for people who have no interest whatsoever in seeking out or wanting to know what is really happening in the world around them. I think it is about comfort Zones.

  7. on 27 Jun 2007 at 2:05 pm 7. Oaktown Girl said …

    Exactly, spyder. The people who listen to that stuff for “entertainment” are totally deluding themselves to believe that they are above having their thinking and opinions influenced by it. Oh the (horrifying) stories I could tell…

    [Insert wingnut radio-influenced stories of working class people acting violently against their own interests to benefit the very rich here.]

  8. on 27 Jun 2007 at 2:07 pm 8. Kiera PSI said …

    Yet these same people would decry subliminal influences in advertising. When they use this garbage as “background noise” or “entertainment”, what do they think they are getting?

  9. on 27 Jun 2007 at 2:59 pm 9. christian h. said …

    I can only second all that spyder, Oaktown Girl and Kiera PSI wrote. If you hear the same “facts” over and over again, you will come to believe them, even if they are really outlandish seen in the light of day. This is inevitable, and the basic method of propaganda - nothing complicated about it.
    It happens to all of us, of course, the hegemonic structures in society shape the way we perceive reality - but there are degrees. The least we can do is not stand for active, conscious liars like Hannity.

  10. on 27 Jun 2007 at 3:29 pm 10. JP Stormcrow said …

    doesn’t Hannity have a rather MAJOR (dead) skeleton in his closet?

    I am pretty sure that you are referring to Joe Scarborough (MSNBC talking head) who had an aide found dead in his Florida office while he was a congressman.

  11. on 27 Jun 2007 at 3:52 pm 11. Oaktown Girl said …

    JP - thanks! That’s why I put the “unless I’m confusing my wingnuts” disclaimer on.

    Kiera - excellent point. And christian is right, of course - we are all subject to being influenced. The only defense against it is to recognize that this is so and not try to pretend you’re “above” it. And then you must seek out other sources of news information for yourself, preferably non-corporate, (and preferably not from your neighbor who also has wingnut radio and TV playing in the background constantly). But even that requires an understanding of what kind of questions to ask, and with our country being so media illiterate, sadly, many people are lacking in this key skill.

    Media literacy should be as fundamental to our basic educational system as Civics, which is another rapidly disappearing curriculum for all the obvious reasons. We can’t go around having people informed about their Constitutional rights, now can we? An educated, thinking population only emboldens our enemies!

    http://www.mediaed.org/resources

  12. on 27 Jun 2007 at 3:59 pm 12. Kiera PSI said …

    Don’t forget to include internet literacy. Many people believe everything they read online, regardless of how dubious the source might be. It’s frightening. They treat it like a newspaper which can at least be forced to print a correction if they get it wrong (outside of editorials, of course).

    So many people publish such official looking sites that have no research, no backup, no sense, let alone truth in them. Yet our great flock of sheep just nods and says “baaaa”.

  13. on 27 Jun 2007 at 4:35 pm 13. Bill Benzon said …

    christian — what kind of math do you do? Note that I know much math myself, but I’m curious.

  14. on 27 Jun 2007 at 4:42 pm 14. Oaktown Girl said …

    Kiera - absolutely the internet is included in media literacy. It’s just a newer form of media, that’s all.

    Media literacy: once people are taught the basics of what to look for, the usual methods of manipulation and spin, and what kind of questions to ask, those lessons can be applied anywhere. The problem is so many people think they already know and understand these things, and they really, really don’t. And we all know how dangerous a little information can be… on the other hand, that’s exactly what’s brining us closer to the Glorious Giant Nuclear Fireball, so I really shouldn’t complain.

  15. on 27 Jun 2007 at 4:47 pm 15. Bill Benzon said …

    “Glorious Giant Nuclear Fireball”

    Gojira be praised!
    Gojira be praised!
    Gojira be praised!

    But:

    Does “the internet” = “the internets” (with an ESS)?

    And which was inventer by Al Gore?

  16. on 27 Jun 2007 at 5:02 pm 16. christian h. said …

    Oaktown Girl, my personal pet peeve is the misuse of mathematics in the media and social sciences, on the basis of “it’s numbers, so it must be right” - especially in any reporting having to do with economics, but of course also more generally (polls and such).

    I love mathematics (Bill, my area is called “algebraic K-theory”, situated at the intersection of algebraic geometry and algebraic topology - some day I’ll try to do a post explaining what all this is…), but I really detest the gratuitous numerization of so much of our lives. The numbers (and formulas) may not lie, but their interpretation depends on knowledge of the precise definitions employed, the basic assumptions made, the questions asked in a poll, etc. - and more often than not, much of this crucial information is not transmitted, and people aren’t taught what to watch out for. Some colleges now offer courses in “Numeracy” that can be taken in place of the usual “Math for people who don’t care” - courses, but I’d put that into high school. Forget the algebra requirement (though I recommend learning that stuff, of course, especially if you want to go to college).

    As I told my linear algebra students last year, neoclassical economics is ideology dressed up as mathematics (to take but one especially egregious example).

  17. on 27 Jun 2007 at 5:25 pm 17. JP Stormcrow said …

    Does “the internet” = “the internets” (with an ESS)?

    And which was inventer by Al Gore?

    Al Gore invented whichever has the fattest tubes. John Edwards got a haircut! So did Bill Clinton! I heard it on the radio!

    As I told my linear algebra students last year, neoclassical economics is ideology dressed up as mathematics (to take but one especially egregious example).

    Hah! 4 out of 5 economics majors say you are wrong. I’d like to see you argue against those odds, Herr Professor!

  18. on 27 Jun 2007 at 6:13 pm 18. James Killus said …

    I’m pretty sure that neo-classical economics predates the mathification of economics, but it is true that math is used as part of the snow job at a certain level.

    I’m slowly going through The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the “slowly” being because I can only read so many horrible mistakes in logic, math, and philosophy at one sitting (for the record, anyone who uses the term “Mandelbrotian” is up to no good).

    I do, however, find it “stimulating” in the sense that it’s going to give me an excuse to write things about a number of topics that interest me. How better to begin an essay than with a bad example? The first one was on the Central Limit Theorem. With pictures! And nary an equation is sight, so’s not to scare the neighbors.