Following Kerpen’s Lead Again, Beck Claims That Net Neutrality Is An Attack On Freedom Of Speech
Following Kerpen’s Lead Again, Beck Claims That Net Neutrality Is An Attack On Freedom Of Speech
In September, ThinkProgress dissected how Glenn Beck’s successful character assassination campaign against former White House environmental adviser Van Jones was fueled by Americans for Prosperity’s Phil Kerpen, who had taken credit for notifying Beck of some of Jones’ past comments. On his Fox News show yesterday, Beck followed Kerpen’s lead once again, this time in an assault on net neutrality.
In a segment featuring Kerpen last night, Beck warned his audience that the Obama administration “just might be trying to take over the media.” “This is a big week, isn’t it, for freedom of speech?” Beck asked Kerpen, who said that it was because “the FCC on Thursday is going to decide what the future of the Internet looks like”:
KERPEN: It is a very big week because the FCC on Thursday is going to decide what the future of the Internet looks like, if it looks much like the past 10 years where you have private competition and pretty much people can do what they want on the Internet or whether we have a much, much heavier government hand. And they’re going to take the first step on that Thursday.
BECK: OK. I want to start just real quick – Net neutrality, because it happens on Thursday. This is that everybody should have free Internet, right?
KERPEN: Well, essentially. You know, they dress it up the way they dress up a lot of their things. They turn it upside-down by saying that evil corporations, phone and cable corporations are going to block what we can do block or we can say.
Beck then used net neutrality as a jumping off point to outline how he believed the Obama administration was trying to shut down freedom of speech. “You have a freedom of speech or the government. You can’t really have both,” said Beck. Watch it:
When he introduced Kerpen, Beck described him as “the chairman of Internet Freedom Coalition,” an alliance of conservative groups that opposes all taxes and regulations related to the internet. Kerpen’s group released a Beck-like conspiracy chart today that attempts to expose the so-called “Obama Information Control Hierarchy.” Hours before Kerpen appeared on Beck’s show, he pushed the idea that net neutrality is a threat to freedom of speech in his daily podcast, warning that regulation would lead to “a government-owned and controlled network” and eventual “content restriction” that would “decide that certain speech is out of bounds.”
Beck also appears to have no idea what net neutrality actually means. Science Progress aptly explained it last year:
At the most basic level, net neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet; all content on the Internet is equally accessible, and once a person pays for access to the Internet, they alone get to choose how they use it. This means that providers should not be allowed to block access to certain sites or applications, or charge different customers different amounts for services.
Kerpen, from whom Beck apparently cribbed his understanding of the concept, claims that there is no reason to be concerned about internet service providers blocking access or charging customers differenty. “Proponents of net neutrality rely on the scare tactic that big bad cable and phone companies will block access to Web sites and cause other mischief unless the benevolent federal government rides to the rescue, and soon,” wrote Kerpen on FoxNews.com earlier this month. “But they’ve been ringing this alarm for the better part of a decade and none of the horrors they warn us about have happened.” In fact, in 2007 it was revealed that Comcast had disrupted peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic on its network, leading to an FCC investigation. There was also an incident where “Verizon Wireless denied Naral Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, access when the group asked to the carrier to allow Verizon customers to sign up for text-messaging alerts.”
Transcript:
BECK: You know, America, I have to tell you, I said at the beginning, how many more wakeup calls are we going to receive? How many? I think we have had wakeup call after wakeup call after wakeup call. The administration, I believe, just might be trying to take over the media.Phil Kerpen is the policy director for Americans for prosperity and the chairman of Internet Freedom Coalition. This is a big week, isn’t it, for freedom of speech?
PHIL KERPEN, POLICY DIRECTOR, AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: It is a very big week because the FCC on Thursday is going to decide what the future of the Internet looks like, if it looks much like the past 10 years where you have private competition and pretty much people can do what they want on the Internet or whether we have a much, much heavier government hand. And they’re going to take the first step on that Thursday.
BECK: OK. I want to start just real quick – Net neutrality, because it happens on Thursday. This is that everybody should have free Internet, right?
KERPEN: Well, essentially. You know, they dress it up the way they dress up a lot of their things. They turn it upside-down by saying that evil corporations, phone and cable corporations are going to block what we can do block or we can say.
BECK: Correct.
KERPEN: And the government must save us by stepping in and regulating it.
BECK: Right. OK. And everybody should have it. I don’t remember anybody saying in the 1930s that everybody had a right to radio and we gave away free radios for the government.
And I don’t remember anybody in the ’50s everybody deserved a free television, but that’s where we’re headed now. So that neutrality – I want to get to that later on in the week.
But here it is – freedom of speech. You have a freedom of speech or the government. You can’t really have both. Now, I was looking at all the things that they’re doing here. FOX – and help me out where I’m going awry. They’re going after FOX because we’re the only ones that are speaking out a bit against this.
They’re coming also after me because I’m just not thinking right, I’m a danger. And this is really all about profit. That’s all this is. We couldn’t possibly believe it. It’s about profit. We’re dangerous, and we just – we don’t understand.
Newspapers, however, are right thinking. They get it. They’re helpful, but they don’t have any money. So what does the government want to do? They want to bail these guys out, right?
KERPEN: That’s exactly right. We’ve got a president who has now said he’s open to the idea of bailing out newspapers. And I’ve got a pretty interesting quote.
President Obama said – he said, “I’d be happy to look.” He said, “I haven’t seen detailed proposals yet, but I’d be happy to look at them,” for bailing out newspapers because, quote, “I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions and no serious fact checking, what you will end up with is people shouting at each other.”
So we need the government’s support in newspapers, the right-thinking newspapers.
BECK: Well, if I’m not mistaken, they’re really going for a new model of PBS. They believe – I mean, a lot of the people in the FCC now believe that PBS is the way to go. It should all be government – like the BBC, right?
KERPEN: Absolutely. That’s the model that people like Mark Lloyd like of the FCC, as well as Robert McChesney, the founder of Free Press, have, for years, been pushing …
BECK: Oh, yes.
KERPEN: … for huge taxes on commercial broadcasting to pay for vastly expanded public broadcasting under control of government.
BECK: OK. America, you need to understand this. This is about your right to speak out, because I want to show you all this week – in fact, let me show you this before we go to break. Underneath here, and I was going to unveil this today. But I decided no, no, no, we’ll wait. We’ll wait. Just for a little while, we’ll wait – maybe tomorrow.
What’s underneath this? Oh, don’t you want to see what’s behind curtain number one? Behind this is the architecture – everything that they’re doing and who’s doing it and why they’re doing it. And when you see the radicals under this, it will make your head spin. More on your freedom of speech and the fight between your right to speak out and big government, next.
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And Beck is an attack on sanity.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:31 pmAgain with the charts? This guy is more than just paraniod, he’s down right crazy!
October 20th, 2009 at 3:32 pmIf it isn’t found in Mormon coloring books, Beck doesn’t understand it.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:34 pmboo-hoo glenda becky is still on the air? who’s spionsoring his mess these days?
October 20th, 2009 at 3:37 pmBut what does Thomas Paine think of this?
October 20th, 2009 at 3:38 pmNet Neutrality Is An Attack On Freedom Of Speech…. no, it is an attack on an unfair righty take over sponsored by the money holders = the multinational corps.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:41 pmWhich telecom is funding Americans for Prosperity?
October 20th, 2009 at 3:41 pmOr is it all of them?
Teabagging reich-wing hicks are huge proponents of ‘Intelligence Neutrality’.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:41 pmDon’t cry, Reck, it will clog up the tubes.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:41 pmWhenever I see this pig-eyed, ass-clown standing in front of a blackboard, I expect to see him writing, multiple times, “I will not be a d-bag.” AKA Bart Simpson.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:41 pmIs’nt it amazing how so many fools continue to believe Glenda’s tripe? I mean, come on.. please.
oh.. I am forgetting the propensity for these fools to consistantly go against thier own self interest.
NM
October 20th, 2009 at 3:42 pmBeckerwood loves his stupidity.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:44 pmWe can always count on Beck to use his imagination to link policies to non-existent bogeymen.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pmWake up and do what? What do you want them to do Beck? Vote people out in 2010 and 2012? That is what Americans do when they disagree with government. Or did you have something more specific in mind?
It is a great thing that Beck is speaking to the laziest, most impotent people in the country. If he was saying this stuff to people that actually mattered, I’d be worried.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:46 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
I agree with Becky. We should trust the big corporations to look out for our best interests.
I’m sure that will work just fine.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:47 pmI suspect Benn Gleck thinks neutrality has to do with neutering, and he’s so scared his lil sack shrivels up.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:50 pmThanks for demonstrating the complete and utter ignorance of Becky’s audience.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pmAnd of course, it’s just fine that a reichwing billionaire buys up all the public airtime to broadcast propaganda.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pmThat’s just capitalism at work.
Right Arrong?
Tonight on Glenn Beck:
October 20th, 2009 at 3:52 pm“Obama controls my mind…
His thoughts are my deeds”
Anyone who thinks Obama is trying to take over the media is an idiot & a moron, a wingnut who lives for absurd conspiracy theories. Describes Beck the liar perfectly.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:53 pmRUCerious whoops!
October 20th, 2009 at 3:53 pmMeant to vote you up but failed
Hit “vote down” instead…
IsOK cheeseflap, your haiku grants you much karma.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:55 pmCan we please stop talking about what Beckkk and Limpballs say every day!!! They are gonna say and do whatever it takes to get attention just like little kids!
In the overall scheme of things it just doesn’t matter!
October 20th, 2009 at 3:55 pmThere are only so many headdesk moments I can have in one day. I think this just pushed me over my limit.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:56 pmSeriously, can Fox not realize this man is mentally unstable? Shouldn’t they- maybe – think about removing him from the air before he causes someone to be killed? While Beck continues to promote racism, violence, hatred, & downright stupidity, doesn’t Fox even have a glimmer of a thought that when someone kills another person in the name of Beck, that MAYBE- Fox might also be implicated for promoting & paying this imbecile?
October 20th, 2009 at 3:56 pmBeck is just an ignorant putz who has an even more ignorant audience.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:56 pmKerpen lies and Beck is clueless. What more do we need to know?
October 20th, 2009 at 3:57 pmJebus. These morons stand reality on it’s head – and then kick it’s ass.
Weird. I sincerely hope that someday soon, reality fights back.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:00 pmJust to be against Obama…net neutrality protects freedom of speech in a new of communication.
But then again the guys at Google and piratically every big computer company are fascist commies, and are never right about technology.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:01 pmdasm says:
..think about removing him from the air before he causes someone to be killed?
Too late, dasm.
If I recall correctly, the cowardly (is there any other kind?) gun nut in PA who killed 3 cops was convinced Obama was going to take his “toys” (i.e., guns) away, and I believe one of the nuts friends mentioned he had heard it (amongst other places) on Beck’s show.
Beck bears responsibility, imo.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:03 pmBeleive you me. ISP’s and “Carriers” are just as bad as HMO’s.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:04 pmWe NEED net neutrality.
Unfortunately, Clinton helped start this crap back in ‘96 with the Telcom bill.
Net neutrality is far more urgent than most realize. Just like the banks & health insurers, telcoms are waiting in line to charge you access to public platforms.
You may take accessing this blog for granted, but you can be sure an ISP or Telcom are pushing hard & spending lots of money to make it subscription based.
The Telcom wet dream: Charge bloggers by the word, just like they’re now doing with texting.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pmbelieve or
October 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pmI can’t do any more of Beck. Who in their right minds listens to the crap that comes outta his mouth?
I know, please don’t bother to answer that question.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:06 pmZimzone,
October 20th, 2009 at 4:07 pmThanks for explaining what I was trying to say ;-)
someone ought to clue in boo-hoo becky to the fact that using props like a blackboard, doesn’t make him look teacher-like, it makes him look like a bigger tard than he is. he should stick to playing with barbies.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:08 pmHoly crap! Government regulation of ARPAnet—I mean, the Internet?! Who could imagine the disaster that would lead to?
October 20th, 2009 at 4:09 pmWell… A least he wasn’t crying.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:10 pm“he should stick to playing with barbies”
I believe some British Talkshow host has that market cornered;-) (BBCA)
I invision Glenda playing with naked G.I. Joe’s.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:11 pmYes the owner of Fox News is said to be trying to buy NBC. Now that’s what I call a take over. As for Van Jones he was a successful man before he accepted the job from the President. Now he is free to continue to build his company and he’s doing really great. Now Beck relies on the pay check and the funny books he’s selling. In time Beck will be back in rehab. and wishing the unemployment still had the extentions. Fox News was funny and entertaining, as we’re in a recession we need serious news and go to the movies for a funny show.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:12 pmHey Glenn! They have white boards now!
October 20th, 2009 at 4:14 pmIs it true Beck raped and murdered that poor girl in 1990? He has yet to address this important question.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:16 pmIdiotic claim as many sites and many blogs filter, edit and remove ’speech’ [Is typing speech?] from their sites.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:17 pmShorter Beck,
“I support censorship. As long as it applies to webcontent I don’t like.”
October 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pmThat is also Aaronk’s point of view.
White boards schmytboards!
October 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pmHe needs to use uncomplicated audio/visual devices.
Might confuse him and his audience otherwise.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
aaron Isnt it time you STOPPED being proud of how stupid you are? Net neutrality has NOTHING TO DO WITH SPEECH. Its that simple. I cant make it any simpler ya moron. Stop embarassing yourself. Try for once in your sad life having at least a dim idea what you are talking about. Who knows you MIGHT like it
October 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pmWhat a threat Obama poses to the naive disk jockey and her perverse philosophy. The fact that Becky goes out of her way to whine and lie about Obama gives Obama more creditability.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:24 pmBOOM!
October 20th, 2009 at 4:25 pmSTORMfront
Decided to stop by to remind us how stupid you are I see. Beck is ONLY a danger to truth, sanity and the IQ of anyone that takes him seriously. Since that would preclude anyone with more than a room temperature IQ it would also preclude almost ALL liberals. You extremely ignorant cons are on your own.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:25 pmWrong beckkky.
“They” are coming after fokkks because of it’s “architecture”.
David Horowitz
Dr. Charles KKKrauthammer
KKKarl Rove
And Rupert Murdoch, who also owns the company that publishes and edits the NIV Bible, the mandatory replacement for the King James version for evangelicals.
It’s time to out the real conspirators,
October 20th, 2009 at 4:26 pmthose of the foxxxnews propaganda machine.
hey STORMfront,
do you fear increased government oversight of the internet will interfere with your kiddie porn watching time?
help me out here, i’m trying to understand cancervatives concerns here
October 20th, 2009 at 4:27 pmMurdock = Antichrist
October 20th, 2009 at 4:28 pmConservatism = Terrorism
October 20th, 2009 at 4:29 pmRupert Murdoch.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:31 pmSeriously, is anyone surprised that Beck has it backwards and totally wrong?
This is becoming his MO. That and crying a lot.
Beck is one sick puppy.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:31 pmOnce again, mere paranoia isn’t so bad compared to Becky’s mix of phobias.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:31 pmReligion = Political Control
October 20th, 2009 at 4:32 pmThere are not enough words for Beck to word smith the issue of turning the public against net neutrality.
Give it up Beck, get lost and take your vicks rub with you.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:33 pmWill Beck EVER have the self awareness to be shamed by his inability to understand virtually ANYTHING?
October 20th, 2009 at 4:34 pmWhy, if cable companies can’t control what said on the internet who knows what will happen!!!
October 20th, 2009 at 4:35 pmAFP… boy, those guys are everywhere…
Maddow Calls Out Americans for Prosperity President: ‘Parasite Who Gets Fat On Americans’ Fears’
…
so, all this time i should’ve been yelling out
ANTI-NET NEUTRALITY
and the frighties would be FOR it?
October 20th, 2009 at 4:36 pmThat’s modern conservatism for you. When the question is protection of the individual’s rights vs. the rights of corporations, today’s conservatives always fall with the corporation.
And, it’s hard to believe anyone could take this position after watching American business rip off billions:
Kerpen: “Proponents of net neutrality rely on the scare tactic that big bad cable and phone companies will block access to Web sites and cause other mischief unless the benevolent federal government rides to the rescue…”
Right, Kerpy, if you can’t trust your cable company, who can you trust!? We don’t need the public (with the help of our elected representatives) telling our precious cable companies what to do!
October 20th, 2009 at 4:36 pmBeck = dumbest man on television,
and that’s saying a LOT.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:42 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
tombaker
I dont know. I mean Beckie is REALLY stupid but Hannity. I mean the man is an IQ vacuum
October 20th, 2009 at 4:45 pmTORM,
the WH is as scared of beck as i am of you,
which is to say
not.
i’m sorry.
you’ll have to pretend to be a victim somewhere else…
October 20th, 2009 at 4:45 pmno – beck really is dumber – that’s why he’s got all the wack-a-doodles in his creepy fan club.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:46 pmMy GOD you are stupid STORMfront. NO ONE anywhere is afraid of the MORONBeck. Pointing out his stupidity, insanity and basic lack of decency isnt fear. Its a moral imperative. I mean there is a certain percentage of Americans like YOU that are STUNNINGLY stupid. They might accidentally think Beck is saying something meaningful. I mean look at how ignorant YOU are.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
And the Beck fan somehow sees this statement as an expression of fear. I’m guessing the Beck fan tends to see fear in a lot of things.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pmTORM,
so what?
that all ya got?
sounds to me like you and the Fox people are all ninnies.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:55 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Chicken Little got a bit carried away but was only afraid of the sky falling. Becky, on the other hand, has to keep his phobias in a Rolodex.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:56 pmAnyone who actually watches this guy’s program probably is in dire need of therapy.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:57 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
The whole quote from Ms. DUNN:
STFU, stupid troll.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:59 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Oh yeah. That’s one thing that FAUX is famous for. Cutting quotes with the intention of miss-characterizing what the speaker said.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:04 pmSTORMfront
You worthless ignorant MORON. Pete already PWNED you. I never expected someone as stupid as you to understand the concept of nuance anyway. I mean it is evident what a MORON you are. You are so stupid you can only see things in a Manichean black white reality. People arent one thing. Good people do bad things. Bad people say good things. Is this REALLY that complicated? The guy had some great things to say and was a mass murderer. She didnt say we should all emulate Mao. My GOD you are so stupid. Hitler liked German Shepherds. Does that mean anyone with a German Shepherd is a Nazi? Are you REALLY this stupid or do you just PLAY a moron on the net?
The biggest difference between FOX and NBC is that FOX went to court to defend their RIGHT to lie to brainwashed morons like YOU. See Fox has a total absence of a little thing you are FAR too stupid to understand called integrity. Look it up then hire a six year old with a normal IQ to explain all the big words to you
October 20th, 2009 at 5:08 pmI also haven’t seen any opinion shows on other networks spend months promoting marches, tea parties, protests, counter protests, or much of anything. They just send a camera crew.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:09 pmSTORMfront
You are forgetting that you are stupider than car exhuast air freshener so the only thing YOU can think of is almost certainly something extraordinarily STUPID
October 20th, 2009 at 5:10 pmSTORM says:
Quoting Gibbs somehow validates your stupid comment that the White House is afraid of Beck? You really are a tool.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:12 pmAnchors and editors on some networks have degrees in stuff like journalism and political science. FAUX? Not so much.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:13 pmSTUMPY
Why would anyone who actually understands what NET NEUTRALITY means would be AFRAID OF A MORON, Tammy Glenn Becker, who doesn’t know WTF he is talking aboout?
October 20th, 2009 at 5:13 pmTruthfully . .
Isn’t this really a SNL skit?? We’re being PUNK’D by Murdick, we are, aren’t we??
Becky is really an actor, right, say it . .
BECKY IS AN ACTOR . .
Say again . .
October 20th, 2009 at 5:13 pmSTORMfront. The other difference between FOX and real networks is that other networks have a bias toward, you know, REALITY. While Fox has an agenda to provide brainwashing and propaganda to MORONS like you. They know you idiots HATE facts and reality like a vampire hates holy water so they pander to your ignorance.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:13 pmYour answer, storm, is at my post @4:26.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:14 pmResearch the biographies of the names that are listed.
And g00gle sedition.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Beck’s ability to pontificate on a subject on which he so obviously knows nothing (such as net neutrality) kind of reminds me of the Bucky Katt character in “Get Fuzzy”.
Rob knows Bucky is full of crap, and basically ignores him. Satchel, on the other hand, seems willing to buy into whatever Bucky is trying to sell, and he falls for it all the time.
If the world was filled with Robs, Beck would just be seen for the liar he is, and he would fade quickly from view. Unfortunately, there are enough Satchels out there to give Beck an audience. And Beck’s crap factor never seems to bother them much.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:15 pmThen there’s Inshannity’s pesky lying problem. Like the time the President said, “I’m not saying they’re bad people” and Lil’ Seannie blurted out, “he said they were bad people”. That’s what informed observers would call the opposite of true.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:15 pmSTORMfront is doing what punkass trolls gotta do. Even someone as stupid as HE is cant rationally defend Becks utter stupidity on this. It is just an impossiblity to its change the topic time. He is both stupid AND a troll
October 20th, 2009 at 5:15 pmO.K. This one must be a parody. No one can really be that stupid and remember to breathe.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:17 pmSTORMfront
WWWHOOOOOOSH. That was the sound of a fairly obvious point, made by pete, going right over your head like a 747 over a cornfield you MORON. I am sure for someone a stupid as you it is a fairly common sound. NOW you can recognize it for what it is
October 20th, 2009 at 5:18 pmNet Neutrality = Attack on the freedom of speech
Jeebus, that’s a whole lotta stupid.
But this is a Beck thread…
October 20th, 2009 at 5:19 pmpete
I am astounded by that phenomenon every day.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:19 pmTORM,
you’re already a product of Fox’s non-stop misinformation machine,
so nothing outside the foxbubble is ever going to make sense to you again..
that’s your problem to deal with – not ours.
[people who continue to hang around places they're not welcome have some serious emotional problems]
October 20th, 2009 at 5:21 pmBeck got a whole buncho’ believers over on FR. They are foaming at the mouth and checking the ammo. UNREAL.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:25 pmSTORMfront
You can help me out here. What does it feel like to be so stupid? What is it like to have no possibility for higher brain function? To be so brainwashed you are USED like a Chatty Kathy doll by the screechmonkeys that do your thinking for you? They just wind you up, pull your string and you come to sites like this and regurgitate the most ignorant, stupidest most inane talking points ever uttered in the English langauge. You are like a puppet on their strings. No thought you can call your own. What is it like to be so hollow, so, well, PATHETIC?
October 20th, 2009 at 5:25 pmEugeneDebs
I should be used to it but the utter vapidity sometimes still leaves me speechless. I literally can’t think of the words needed to express all the scorn I feel for such willful idiots.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:26 pmBeck poses a paradox with this issue. If you are defending free speech why would allow corporate dominance of the internet to a monopolistic degree?
That dominance could lead to a similar situation like Conservative dominance of AM radio, FOX News, or the dominance the newspapers exercised when they were the major source of information.
Beck makes no sense, does he? We can see the role of maintaining corporate control.
I am for free access of the internet!
October 20th, 2009 at 5:27 pmWTF? Is that representative of Beck on an ordinary day? Well, he did get a couple of things right.
He clearly has a problem in his thinking; I’d say he’s probably as dishonest with himself as he is with his audience. Is he a danger? That too; mostly he’s a danger to the process of having an informed, knowledgeable public, but he may be a danger to himself, as well. If he believes his own garbage, I’d say he needs a daily dose of an anti-psychotic, but a tranquilizer might be as effective; I suspect it’s all an act though, and he’s simply greedy and will make up anything to sell advertising time and keep Rupert and Roger paying him.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:36 pmBecky is clinical manic-depressive, if not borderline schizophrenic.
He only appeals to the “mental midgets” among us.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:37 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Oh yeah, if Beck believes what he’s saying, he clearly has no understanding of free speech issues, no understanding of communications law, and has zip in his head about net neutrality – no knowledge, no opinion, etc. He probably thinks that because the phrase contains the word neutrality, it’s a commie plot to make sure Kerpen’s buddies can’t take over the ‘net and use it solely for transmission of sales pitches and plundering of accounts via direct e-withdrawal.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:44 pmYes you are.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:46 pmSTORM Ditch is full of swamp water.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:47 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
#110 Storm Ditch,
It was your message moron boy.
I just helped you with an answer because you are stupid.
Do your parents know you still live in a cave eating stray cats?
October 20th, 2009 at 5:59 pmnettles again tries for the funny,
yet comes up an annoying prick instead….again.
i’m sorry.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:11 pm1) Net Neutrality is to guarantee equal access to the bandwidth – the heart of freedom of speech.
2) And you’re trying to tell me that if Rupert Murdoch via Faux News were to buy out a major internet provider, that Faux wouldn’t censor access to websites ?
October 20th, 2009 at 6:14 pmNet Neutrality. Public Option.
I just wish the Dems would come up with terms for the general public that are more easily understood…
Like…
Internet Freedom! Medicare for all…
Sheesh, for a bunch of liberals, you’d think that they would speak more poetically than like a bunch of engineers…
October 20th, 2009 at 6:19 pm@ 78. pete…
“The whole quote from Ms. DUNN: …
“In 1947, when Mao Zedong was being challenged within his own party on his plan to basically take China over, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Chinese held the cities, they had the army, they had the air force, they had everything on their side. And people said, “How can you win? How can you do this? How can you do this against all of the odds against you?” And Mao Zedong said, you know, “You fight your war, and I’ll fight mine.” And think about that for a second. …”
If Dunn said that about Mao, I think she may be a bit less knowledgeable about Mao and the Chinese Civil War than she should be given credit for. By 1947, the Civil War was well under way again; Mao had led the Communist Party of China through the Long March period of the 1930s and then WWII, fighting the Japanese and, occasionally, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists, despite the truce of the Anti-Japanese War period.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:19 pmBeck was at it again today on net neutrality..how lame does this guy have to get before Ailes simply says ‘enough’ ?? Now he’s using magnetic pictures of various administration folks and of Mao to illustrate his COMPLETELY un-informed rhetoric.
Almost everything he said AND that Kerpen said was COMPLETE CRAP!! Here’s something that was uttered back in 1996 just after the passing of the Telecommunications Act..It still applies today, probably even more so, but has a strong message to Kerpin, Beck and the ‘it’s mine for profit’ crowd…
http://homes.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html
October 20th, 2009 at 6:50 pmStorm: “How are the Fox opinionated shows any different from others? The only reason I can think of is one group is staunchly opposed to Bamer’s politics.”
I appreciate the fact that you impatiently waited for an answer. I had work to do. OK, the main difference I can see which is not even arguable is that viewers of the Fox shows, as a group, are consistently misinformed or under-informed on certain issues. The reason it’s not really arguable is that this has been confirmed by a number of different polling orgs and studies over the years. For example, Fox viewers are much more likely than viewers of other networks to believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9-11 attack. Now, this might be because smarter demographics tend to watch the other networks across the board, but it could mean Fox viewers are being somehow fooled into believing things that are not true.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:53 pmBeck is a simpleton but Net Neutrality isn’t all that simple. For example, we WANT ISPs to block P25 outbound for residential accounts unless you want significantly more spam from infected WinDoze boxes.
What we really need is more competition so that consumers could compare Terms of Service. On the upper east side of Manhattan, I have only two choices (Time Warner or Verizon). That is absurd.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:58 pmSTORMfront, you confuse “idiot” with “brain-dead”.
but then you confuse a lot of things.
A quick reminder: “idiots” are easily manipulated because they’re not very bright and thus don’t have solid critical thinking skills. So they are more vulnerable to fear-based arguments than to logic-based ones, which require critical thinking. However, once they form an attachment to an idea, that idea is difficult to dislodge because of the discomfort that accompanies considering new perspectives.
Brain-dead people (like yourself) are not manipulatable because their brain takes in no new data.
So the difference is real, but small.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:05 pmnettles
You are truly a MORON
October 20th, 2009 at 8:33 pmSTORMfront
You are too stupid to understand anything so it is pretty easy to see why you cant understand that people too stupid to even RECOGNIZE logic like say YOU cannot be swayed by logic. It is BECAUSE you are so stupid you cannot be convinced. You dont WANT to be convinced. You are a moron. You want to be LIED to so long as the lies conform to the delusional fantasies you have made up in your head. This is so simple most of us get it without it being explained. While YOU are so stupid explanation is wasted. You still dont understand what a mudpuddle is
October 20th, 2009 at 8:35 pmSTORMfront
It doesnt say much about OUR message that YOU are too stupid to comprehend it? That you PREFER lies to reality? Nah it doesnt say much about YOU.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:36 pmWhat does it say when such a “genius” on the wingnut side like Glenn BECK has to rely on Kerpen for his talking points? and what does it say about those who take Beck’s words as gospel?
October 20th, 2009 at 10:15 pmSure it’s an attack on free speech. They’re absolutely correct.
It’s an attack on the free speech of FOX News, but no one else’s.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:31 pmThank you for your sharing.!
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:49 pm