LIBERADIO(!)

During one of his episodes of Morning Browser (looking good, btw!) Christian of Nashville Is Talking hones in on one of Lou Dobbs’ more upsetting segments in which he defends the right of people to carry guns to health care reform town halls.

Now, Dobbs’ point is well-taken. Like it or not, an open carry law allows a person to carry a gun in plain sight. For instance, a man in New Hampshire can go to a public event, like a presidential town hall on health care reform, with a loaded weapon strapped to his leg and carrying an intimidating sign.

But what’s upsetting is the defensive quality in which Dobbs receives criticism of the man’s decision to carry in this specific circumstance. It’s about context, right? Dobbs says that the guy carrying openly at the presidential town hall is trying to make a point, but he doesn’t get that carrying to “make a point” is what makes the situation tense. He doesn’t get that openly carrying at this time and this place was not the action of a responsible handgun permit holder.

In the segment, Lou also shrugs off the hateful, menacing statements made by talk radio hosts, including one that he made on his own radio show about driving a stake through the heart of Senator Harry Reid. It’s as if he can’t see that the unyielding angry and violent rhetoric targeted to the person or persons with whom you have policy disagreements, coupled with statements about the disintegrating fabric of American society “as we know it,” has the potential to be incendiary.

In one six minute segment Dobb animosity towards personal responsibility. It’s not that the guy carrying the gun has every right to do so. It’s about Dobbs not seeing that the guy openly carrying the gun and the innuendo-laden sign to a presidential event could have made a better decision that day. It’s not that Dobbs doesn’t have a right to say what he wants on his show, it’s that he could make better choices about his content.