There's a claim that Michael Savage is not racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, misogynist, etc. and that the language and the characterizations he uses daily in his show "The Savage Nation" Are merely the words of a Patriot who is defending his country, as the mantle he put on implies by the creation of his "Paul Revere Society" with him riding his horse yelling: "The Latino immigrants are coming to invade us!", "The Latino immigrants are coming to invade us!"
Now, there's a debate that needs to take place but, alas!, the so called "Mainstream Media", in general, does not allow for opposing views to be heard, as to why this is so would take at least a full volume to do justice to the issue, but in short, these media people on the fringes of the political dialog such as: Neal Boortz, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, , Ann Coulter and many others, have nationally syndicated shows and/or are invited to Network Channels and allowed to make outrageous and regularly baseless comments without challenge from the hosts and with the exception of a few guests with mildly opposing views, there's practically no guests with real opposing views or opinions, or these shock-jock hosts are just simply dismissed or ignored thus keeping the stream of hateful words to continue unabated.
Whether or not people like Michael Savage are prejudiced or hold phobias against segments of the population who are attacked as groups, it is not the main issue, at stake is the poisoning of the minds of millions of people who then make decisions based on what they hear on such shock-jock shows to support exclusionary or punitive legislation in accordance with the message received, it also creates and sustains a social atmosphere that adversely hurts the targeted groups without the benefit of hearing the other side of the narrative.
Case in point: On August 14 2007 there was a press conference to announce a demonstration on August 15 2007 in front of M. Savage's broadcasting booth to protest his statements RE immigrant students fasting to raise awareness and support for the passage of the DREAM ACT.
Is it Hate Speech what Savage and people also holding his positions do?, or is it Free Speech as his supporters claim?
We, the protesters feel that what Michael Savage does, creates an atmosphere of warrantless intolerance that incites hate and violence and needs to be publicized/debated/discussed in public forums, but with the exception of Spanish speaking Media's limited coverage of the action, the Mainstream Media silence on it, was deafening, besides a C.W. Nevius balanced article in the San Francisco Chronicle: Despite Latino protest, silencing Savage seems unlikely" Wednesday, August 15, 2007, and some bloggers reporting on Michael Savage's words and what people are saying, as you can find on the Huffington Post Bloggers:, you have to go to Spanish speaking reporters such as Erika Cebreros', writing for El Mensajero and La Opinion Digital - Discriminación ‘salvaje’ - Rechazan ‘palabras de odio’ - Protesta comunidad latina contra el locutor Michael Savage, arrollado por el ‘Tren de la dignidad humana’ Lunes, 20 de agosto de 2007 , the few seconds on the 6 and 11 pm news shows on Univision, Telemundo, local English TV outlets in SF on that day, progressive websites and 'leftist' local publications, what you normally find on the Mainstream National Media and on the internet, are misleading articles, the rest for the most part, is intolerance and hate coverage.
Thanks to some local Spanish AM radio stations in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Seattle and Phoenix, that I know of, who gave us air time to carry our message locality to locality, we will get there if we keep the eyes on the prize.
In addition, I wrote a report on the action to our supporters (Text)
Since last year, new developments have taken place, more organizations are getting more involved and have joined in the struggle to stop the verbal, legal and physical attacks against the Hispanic / Latino community in general and against immigrants in particular, such as NHMC's Campaign "Latinos Against Hate Speech", and NCLR's "WAVE OF HOPE" With their "We Can Stop The Hate" Campaign.
For a more humane and civilized society,
Aurora
More Documentation and info below in the event you are interested.
SAN FRANCISCO: Rob Roth Reports On Group Protesting Comments By Radio Host Michael Savage On KTVU TV (Local FOX Affiliate hence NOT, repeat, NOT "fair and balanced" Where Dr. Marcos Gutierrez, Producer and Host of "Hecho en California" ("Made in California") Called in to demand time for an opposing opinion (There was none in the original format of the segment))
Demonstration on August 15, KNEW's broadcasting booth and local Clear Channel Communications' executive offices - See Pictures - See video(From: SFCollegeRepublicans)
The Savage Debate
Press Conference: Stop Hate Messages on Local Radio August 14, 2007 on SF City Hall steps (Video), Photo Gallery.
Know Your Right-Wing Speakers: Michael Savage
From Campus Progress
Born Michael Weiner in the Bronx in 1942, the future Savage graduated from Queens College with a degree in biology, after which he attended the University of Hawaii for master’s degrees in anthropology and botany. He spent the rest of the late 1960s and early 1970s traveling the South Seas. Weiner received his doctorate from the University of California in epidemiology and nutrition science. He became an expert on herbal remedies, penning more than 15 books while still known as Michael Weiner, including such classics as Earth Medicine, Earth Food, Getting off Cocaine: 30 Days to Freedom, and The Complete Book of Homeopathy. While his knowledge base in herbal medicine was vast, he was more of a snake oil salesman than anything else. In Getting off Cocaine, he gave addicts “an alternative plan for getting ‘high’” that consisted of a daily dose of Sudafed, vitamins C and E, amino acids, and the occasional coffee enema. No word on the effectiveness of this treatment. His turn to the far right coincided with the rise of gay activism, as he linked homosexuality to the spread of not only AIDS, but the general spread of disease.
Savage is a prime purveyor of the slanderous liberal-bashing that passes for “humor” on talk radio. He describes his style as a mix of “Plato, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, Moses, Jesus, and Frankenstein,” although a comparison to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde would also be appropriate, given his frequent mood swings. Savage is juvenile and defensive in his insults, resorting to lazy and trite grasps at “humor” as well as frequent comparisons of prominent progressives to Nazi leaders. In reference to Jimmy Carter’s criticism of Israel’s West Bank policy, Savage called him an “anti-Semitic bastard,” “Jew-hater,” and “war criminal” who is “like Hitler.” Yes, Michael Savage compares a celebrated humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize winner to the man responsible for one of the worst genocides in history. He has referred to Brokeback Mountain as Bareback Mounting, making him as original as the guy who comes up with puns for pornographic movie titles.
Savage is also convinced that affirmative action is a conspiracy to hold back all white males.
From Salon.com By David Gilson
Page 1: Michael Savage's long, strange trip"
How a Jewish kid from the Bronx went from swimming naked with Allen Ginsberg to spewing the ugliest bile on talk radio.
Everyone who has ever known Michael Weiner seems to agree that he has always been a big talker. One of his classmates from Jamaica High School in Queens, which Weiner graduated from in 1959, recalls him as a garrulous character: "He was on the short side, and he was intense -- a fast talker, and always hatching some scheme or other." "The fellow I knew was a natural comic and as reliable as a clock," remembers another classmate, who says the teenage Weiner was "non-political." His yearbook page notes his participation in the Chemistry Lab Squad, school government, and the Rifle Squad, presaging his interest in science, politics and firearms.
Page 2: The therapeutic benefits of a coffee enema
In "The Way of the Skeptical Nutritionist," he ventured that a person's ideal diet should be determined by his or her ethnicity. "Getting Off Cocaine: 30 Days to Freedom" promised blow addicts "an alternative plan for getting 'high' -- legally and naturally!" The treatment involved ingesting a daily cocktail of Sudafed, vitamins C and E, and amino acids, as well as self-administering the occasional coffee enema. "Use a good quality coffee," Weiner advised. "Not decaffeinated or instant."
Page 3: "Inner voice screaming at me ... first rational, then crazy"
Mar 5, 2003 | At first glance, Michael Alan Weiner seems like an improbable candidate to be America's angriest, most vicious conservative radio host. Born 60 years ago in the Bronx, Weiner has lived in Northern California for most of his adult life, making a living as an herbalist and nutritionist. He communed with Fijian traditional healers, got married in a rain forest and studied ethno-medicine at the University of California at Berkeley. He swam naked with Allen Ginsberg, dreamed of being the next Lenny Bruce and wrote a rambling novel about a half-mad alter ego. His son's middle name is Goldencloud.
Page 4: A deepening love affair with the sound of his own voice
These days, Weiner's more interested in purging the body politic. Using the pseudonym Michael Savage, he's launched a one-man mission to save America from its enemies at home and abroad, which on any given day includes liberals, gays, academics, the homeless, the Clintons, immigrants, feminists, CNN, the American Civil Liberties Union, Muslims and other minorities. Broadcasting three hours a day, five afternoons a week, from a rented studio in downtown San Francisco, he gives voice to the right wing's darkest fantasies. He muses about launching preemptive nuclear strikes on the Middle East ("I wish to God the hatches were open and the missiles were flying!"), suggests gunning down illegal immigrants ("If we had a government, we'd blow them out of the desert with airplanes!"), dreams of dispatching with "commies, pinkos and perverts" and other undesirables ("I say round them up and hang 'em high!") and even paraphrases a remark attributed to Nazi leader Hermann Goering ("When I hear someone's in the civil rights business, I oil up my AR-15!")
