Precious Moments
There was an absolutely priceless moment on NPR’s Fresh Air a few days ago. Terry Gross was interviewing Bill Moyers, who (either before the moment or after, I can’t recall) admitted to “every now and then” listening to her show. But that wasn’t the great moment. Moyers mentioned, to Terry’s great surprise and astonishment that he reads transcripts every week of Rush Limbaugh’s show. She sounded like she could not in a million years believe that, and questioned why would you do that?
How clueless.
I love Fresh Air. I think Terry Gross does a hell of an interview, and because of that fact, as with artists like Alec Baldwin and Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, I can overlook her extreme left politics. Rush is to the right of me, but I love his show too (though I’d say I listen to more Fresh Air than the RL Show). Nobody communicates a message more cogently than Limbaugh. He’s good.
The point is, Moyers reads Rush transcripts because he wants to stay in touch with what a huge right-leaning audience listens to and in most cases, buys into. Extremists (on both sides) at least in their own minds, marginalize those who believe differently than they. And that’s a mistake. Moyers has the right idea.
But Terry, your closed mind was showing.
