Please Add a Comment to let us know what you think.
On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Michael Zwerling/KSCO/ZBS wrote:
So will you participate in the discussion?
On Mar 23, 2012, at 3:59 PM, Dale wrote:
Getting Rush off the air is not about censoring him; like me, he is free to say what he wishes. But it is about not enabling a person who uses hate speech and lies (masked as “satire”) to silence others.
His whole 3 day tired, with 57 insults/lies, was intended to demonize her, to kill the messenger, to silence her voice.
This is not free speech; it is an attempt to inhibit free speech. \
Dale Ruiff
On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Dale wrote:
Michael, I can’t find the info on the discussion about the Rush show. Could you forward this information. I will participate if I am available. Thanks, Dale
On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 6:31 PM, Michael Zwerling wrote:
Hey Dale,
There is nothing on the website promoting further discussion of this issue– we’re going to have Sheriff Joe Arpaio from AZ on from 11:30 to Noon tomorrow, and the expert who claims Obama’s birth certificate is bogus and computer-generated from 11 to 11:30.
That leaves the entire 10 o’clock hour for open mike (caller-driven topics) but I thought that if you would come on as a guest it could male for a great, lively discussion.
I guarantee you would find it a worthwhile experience.
You’re the Dale running the petition for us to drop Rush, yes?
Michael L. Zwerling
Owner, KSCO NewsTalk AM 1080
Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz-San Jose
On Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 2:18 PM, friend wrote: (in Red) (and MZ Replied in Green)
Michael, I was unable to change my schedule to appear, but I was able to listen to your program on Rush in the car. Wow! I am glad I was unable to appear, as you made it clear from the start that you had a closed mind, calling people like me who feel that slander and hate speech have no place on the public airwaves. First, you called me (and those like me) “zealots,” which thesaurus.com defines as ” activist, diehard, extremist, fanatic, fiend,maniac, militant, nut, radical,”
Dale, I would appreciate it if you would be honest here; this was live talk radio. It seems pretty clear to me that inability to change your schedule had nothing to do with your not appearing on KSCO today; after all, if you had the time to hear the show in such great detail you certainly could have participated via cell phone as most of the others did.
Here’s what I believe and I would TRULY welcome you to prove me wrong on this: I don’t believe that you ever even HEARD of KSCO before the recent Rush controversy; I also don’t believe you reside in our broadcast coverage area, am I right?
I DO believe that after you read my sincere invitation to have you on the station to discuss this issue today, just to be safe you decided to listen to the show to see if you could trust me to treat you fairly at some time in the future, presuming I would make the invitation again — which I will; consider it a standing one…..
Dale, you need to know that had you chosen to participate, via phone, skype, live in-studio, or otherwise, you would have (and will STILL) been (be) treated with the utmost of dignity and respect by me– please ask anyone you can find from your perspective who KNOWS me and KSCO to verify this and you will find it to be true.
Did you know that we have the “What’s Left” two hour segment featuring hosts from your political point of view each weekday from 2 to 4 PM? Listen to those shows sometime.
Then a moment later, you called me (and those calling for canceling Rush) as Nazis. This is ironic, since your entire framing of the issue followed the standard fascist historic tactic of demonizing those who disagree.
I am glad I was unable to participate in this rightwing propaganda effort, and I feel that you wanted me to set me up for a beating, which in my absence, you did anyway.
I guess I can understand how you can feel that way given what you heard me say. But you are WRONG, plain and simple. I think one of the dirtiest, most rotten things a person can do to another person is to set him or her up for a public humiliation/flogging under the pretense of an invitation for a civil, respectful discussion. That would be an ambush and I do not ambush people — EVER!
Dale, I never even mentioned your name, so how can you say I gave YOU a beating? If you would have participated, I would have been just as kind and courteous to you as I was to that Shelly lady who called from Aptos, and to the others who share your point of view regarding Rush. Ask any one of them about me and fairness.
Then, later, I heard you say you believe Obama is an alien and not legitimate. Ok, I get it. You are a far right “zealot” with no interest in “fair and balanced” discussion but looking for the opportunity to slander (like Rush) those who have differing opinions. As you know, when you go far enough right, you end up at fascism, which thrives by demonizing, slandering, and practicing hate speech.
My objection to Rush is that I have heard him call for resegregation of the races (when, after a few blacks beat up a white kid in a bus, he said: “This is Obama’s America. We need to go back to segregation.” He claimed later this was satire, but who was the target he was satirizing?
You clearly listen to Rush a lot more than I do. I can’t comment on the above.
Then his 3 day rant and slander against Ms Fluke was not only lewd but criminal (slander is using lies to harm a person’s reputation).
We have had hosts and callers on our station say just that– and that Ms Fluke could well have a good case of slander against Rush if she chose to pursue it..
Your use of Nazi to describe my efforts to have Rush cancelled was also a slander.
Oh STOP it. If you REALLY believe that than please Dale, SUE ME AND KSCO NOW; get on with it!!
Hate speech enables or leads to hate crimes, so when a person with an audience of 15 million on the public airwaves preaches hatred (of liberals, of minorities, of women (feminazis), and of gays, he is actually encouraging acts of violence and seeking to silence the voices of these groups and those who seek equality and justice for them.
I’ve NEVER heard Rush try to silence those who disagree with him — RIDICULE THEM, YES, but silence– no NEVER — that is YOUR method; not Rush’s nor mine.
Then you went kind of crazy on the radio. I used to listen to Rush but his poisonous barbs gave me headaches. I will no longer listen to your station or buy from sponsors I am aware of. You are a far right extremist using fascist rhetoric to demonize those who disagree with you.
You are wrong. Make me prove it. (I’ve actually been accused of being a closet liberal– honestly!)
Your views on Obama to me have no other source than racism, as no other President has ever been challenged on his citizenship. The fact that shortly after his birth, 2 Honolulu newspapers printed birth notices makes your believes cranky and absurd. The only rational explanation for so demonizing Obama (whose birth certificate has been verified by both Republican and Democratic officials in Hawaii) is that he is black. I accuse you of racism, Michael, tho I know that you will deny it (there are no racists; Zimmerman is no racist: the real racists are the blacks, etc).
You greatly disappointed me in the way you set up the discussion by calling those, in advance, who disagreed with you as Nazis. I am grateful I did not give you the opportunity to attack me, as clearly you intended to.
I hope you will re-think this, Dale because again, you are wrong; NOTHING could be further from the truth regarding how you have characterized me.
Polls show that between 25% and 40% believe Obama is not a citizen. These are the same people (45-70% according to 2003 polls) who thought Hussein was behind 9/11. This lie was advanced by people like Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, and other rightwingers, tho there was zero evidence and in fact Al Quada hated Hussein for his secularism.
Such misinformed people commonly get their misinformation from Rush, Hannity, and stations like yours, which broadcast these lies. The result: 900, 000 civilians killed in Iraq, just as in Vietnam, 2 million civilians (including hundreds of thousands of children) were killed based on the fraud of the Gulf of Tonkin. Lies, hate speech, and slander lead to violence. Sadly, you are part of this process of fueling hatred and despicable acts by ignorant and brainwashed people.
Regarding Sheriff Arpaio, the Justice Department says he violated Federal law and the Constitution. ” Neil V. Wake ruled in 2008, and again in 2010, that the Maricopa County jails violated the constitutional rights of inmates in medical and other care related issues.” He has also been found guilty of abuse of power by numerous judges and courts. Even among Republicans, his approval has dropped to 57%. This man has been found guilty of discrimination and abusing his power.
I was inclined to think well of you, but now I realize that you broadcast views, both your own and those of people like Rush, that encourage fear, ignorance, and hatred.
Why don’t you write a guest commentary about me and submit it for KSCO airplay? Or we could simply publish this letter and my response on our website KSCO.COM?
Would you make a similar offer to me if the situation were reversed? Somehow I think not, but again, hopefully I’m wrong about this also.
Sincerely,
MZ
Sincerely, Dale Ruff
From: friend Date: Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 8:44 PM Subject: Re: Rush and censorhsip To: mzwerling51@gmail.com
Michael, you are in denial about the kinds of rhetoric and views you broadcast. They are far far right, very extreme. You flat out said that those who wanted to get Rush off the air (and that certainly included me foremost in this context) were Nazis.
Everything else you say pales before the extremism of that slur and your real view of my position. Perhaps you can makes changes in your schedule with less than 24 hrs notice, but I cannot. Nor do I have a cell phone.
I have listened to your station for many years, that is where I heard Limbaugh, and I have heard your mother whine about liberals many times. I have listened to Cory Gold and Costa, etc. etc. Bigot people always tell you what you are thinking and doing, because they are operating from stereotypes.
The sad thing is I was prepared to like you because your invitation seemed so sincere, but when I heard you call people who think hate speech, lewdness, and slander should not be broadcast “Nazis”, I lost all respect for you. People like David Duke, a neo-Nazi, love Rush’s hate speech. I know understand that you do too.
Do you think calling someone a prostitute and other lies to destroy their reputation is not slander. Slander is lies meant to hurt a person’s standing in the community. This is exactly what Rush was doing, for 3 days straight, talking about how Ms. Fluke had too much sex and should “back off,” saying she should send him sex tapes to watch, etc.
His hate speech is evil because it encourages others to act out the hate. Do you think hate speech, which has the effect of intimidating those targeted and encouraging the extremed, is intended to further rational discussion? You know that hate speech is the prelude to violent acts. Hate speech includes racist comments, homophobic slurs, and misogynistic remarks. Rush does not deny making such statements but defends them as “satire.”
I have spent a lot of time, on the internet discussions, trying to reason with the birthers, which you belong to. Almost of of them articulated racist attitudes and refused to answer questions about such inconvenient facts as the 2 newspaper notices of birth in Honolulu, or both Republican officials confirming his birth certificate. Behind this absurd movement, unprecedented in our history, lies a bedrock of racism in the inability to accept a black President as legitimate.
As for the Sheriff, he has been found guilty of violating Federal law and the Constitution.
So you called me (by implication) a Nazi for opposing hate speech and you defend a blatent bigot (Rush), a disgraced sheriff, and you join the racist ranks of the birthers.
You can deny it; you can project. I have lost all respect for you now that I see what you are really about. You say you would never set me up, but when you called me a Nazi (not by name but by my call to cancel Rush), I realized that all along you thought me a Nazi for my viewpoint. Pretending that you were acting out of respect withers in the face of that ugly slur.
Like most rightwingers I have sought to have some dialogue with, you are, just beneath the surface, ready to erupt into the most scurrilous lies.
And you did go nuts over the radio today. You are a sad excuse for a human being.
You can publish or read anything you wish. I have lost all respect for you and wish to have nothing to do with you. When you set up a live discussion on air with the prelude comment that those who disagree with you are Nazis, that’s all I need to know about you. That is hate speech. That is slander. That is pathetic.
Dale Ruff
