Political opinions in inappropriate places

I’ve become a big fan of podcasting. You can find a free subscription on just about any given topic. My personal favorites swing between podcasts about Adobe products and anything having to do with writing and publishing, and I tend to veer away from podcasts with a political bent. I’ve tried a few here and there, but rarely get through one episode. It amazes me how passionate people can get about their political views, and while I don’t object to people having strong opinions about politics–I have a few such strong opinions myself–I do object to slander, foul language and a total disrespect for the opposing viewpoint–and there is plenty of trash out there that fits under that category, no matter what the viewpoint.

So, I have a few favorite (nonpolitical) podcasts that I jump to listen to whenever new ones are available. A new favorite of mine, however, has stepped over the line, IMHO. This particular show, DragonPage’s Cover to Cover, interviews authors and reviews books in the sci fi and fantasy genre. Now, I don’t really expect people who frequent that genre to be flaming conservatives. Science fiction, in particular tends to attract liberals, and the fantasy genre can be anything to anyone–and a lot of authors tend to make it a liberal soapbox. I’m usually okay with this–I don’t expect anything else, so I’m rarely disappointed.

But on a couple episodes–coincidentally 2 episodes in succession–one of the hosts of the Cover to Cover podcast took the opportunity to spew out very unkind statements about Republicans in general (of the variety which pretty much relegates anyone Republican to the intellectual level of a flea). Now, I’m not saying that he doesn’t have a right to his opinion. I’m not even saying he shouldn’t speak his mind–to be perfectly honest, I think the same thing about some liberals (notice I said some–I’m not given to mass generalizations)–and we do, after all, still have the freedom of speech in America–even if such freedoms come under attack (by liberals) all the time.

In this case, I object to the medium of these particular insults. Cover to Cover is not a political commentary–it’s a program about books and writing. Sure the hosts have political opinions. Show me someone in the US without a political opinion, and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t vote. But by going off on such a tangent–where such a tangent was not called for–said host was running the risk of alienating a potentially large hunk of listenership (may I remind you that the current US administration was voted in by a real majority of American voters), as well as potential readers. Now maybe he doesn’t care whether he alienates readers–maybe he has good enough sales on his books that he doesn’t mind losing a few here or there. Maybe he only wants liberals to read his books.

I really don’t care what his reasons are at this point, or whether he even has reasons. I’m just ranting, after all. However, ask me if I’m likely to go spend money on one of his books. Go on, ask. NO! I’m not buying his books. And it’s not because he’s a liberal and holds low opinions about conservatives in general. The reason I’m not going to buy any of his books is not because he has such opinions, but because he made broad(and patently untrue) statements about a large group of Americans that he doesn’t personally know in a medium that potentially had an audience containing said group of Americans. If he’s stupid enough to do that, then he doesn’t deserve my money. In a capitalistic society, that’s how we show our disapproval.

Now, am I running a boycott campaign against this author? No, I’m not. You notice that I didn’t give his name–though it’s easy enough to find out, if you care to research the matter. I have no intention of slandering this man. People can make up their own minds about him. If he were to apologize for being so blunt to his audience (not for having the opinion, but being so blunt and caustic about it), I might even forgive and forget. But I’m a strong believer in consequences for actions. The particular consequence for this action is that he loses me as a potential reader. I refuse to personally fund that kind of arrogant stupidity.

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