What Is Happening to Television?

There is nothing good about hate speech nor can anything good be said about it. Is there any one who disagrees with that? I suspect not. I bet even fringe types who view the world as being flat, the moon landing a hoax, and Elvis still being alive would even agree if directly asked about it. Given that, it raises the question of why people still do it. Why are there commentators on national television, for instance, that call President Obama a racist, for instance, without one shred of evidence to support their claim, tolerated or, at the very least, not challenged? Has our nation become so polarized that this sort of thing is ok? Have people reached such a level of frustration that it is acceptable to spew such venom on mainstream television? Is extreme speech now part of the national landscape?

Since it's beginning days, programming on television has largely been designed to appeal to the greatest number of people. For better or worse, its content is geared to engage, not offend; to make viewing a comfortable and enjoyable experience and not necessarily one that offends. Generally, content touching on themes judged to be out of the mainstream, if displayed at all, have occurred at times and days when the greater majority of views is judged to be at its lowest such as late at night. When it comes to the coverage or introduction of so-called radical notions, television has been a slow-moving creature. Inter-racial relationships and gays are examples of what were deemed to be explosive themes that took decades before they were eased into mainstream programming.

Given the tone of a number of talk shows on television these days, particularly ones on the Fox network, it seems as if television is in the process of taking its viewers to another level where hate speech is being brought into the living rooms of families throughout the country. Apparently, television executives, at least the ones who oversee Fox, have deemed the mainstream viewing public as ready for hate speech. It is now ok for Fox commentators to publicly lambaste others in the most hateful ways and, as an extension, encourage unruly behavior among those who support their views. An example of this is how bands of extremists are being sent to various town hall meetings on the proposed health care legislation for the sole purpose of disrupting them. It is the same thing that was done in Florida when the Republican party sent bands of thugs down to disrupt efforts by election officials to count votes in the Bush-Gore election.

This is not a matter of free speech or a question of whether American families are ready for this kind negative communication. The onus here falls on the shoulders of the executives at Fox who seem to be so blinded by their own ideology that they have misplaced the great responsibility their positions as influential communicators demand. Fox claims it's news programs are "fair and balanced," but clearly it is not. In fact, it is interesting that the only people who seem to be saying that are ones who work at Fox. Communication, at its best, is engaging and inclusive. Hate speech is neither. Fox's judgment here is as irresponsible as it is poor. A better step on their part would be to begin living up to their slogan.