Yelling Heads

   Buchanan and Press, O’Reilly, Begala and Tucker Carlson, Matthews, Savage. Who are these guys, and what are they doing in our living rooms?
   Though they appear on cable TV “news” channels, they are not, by even the most generous stretch of the imagination, newsmen. As nearly as we can tell, with the exception of Buchanan, who’s been at the trough forever, and Begala, who achieved what passes for fame now as one of Bill Clinton’s political ops, their sole qualifications are that they have opinions on everything and enjoy shouting.
   Never mind that they are neither serious nor wise, they are very noisy, and they have sprung full-blown from the heads of cable TV news executives who want desperately to emulate the astonishing popularity of yellers and screamers on talk radio.
   Whatever their particular political persuasion, to a man (yelling women are, apparently, not desirable, except as occasional guests), they all portray themselves as super-patriots yelling and screaming in behalf of all that is good and true in this country, but they don’t seem to have an even passing acquaintance with anything good and true, and, at bottom, are simply playing for ratings. To be quiet, much less thoughtful, in this cutthroat arena is to be dead, i.e. cancelled.
   Perhaps the most reprehensible ploy of these self-anointed super-patriots is their rush to suspend or violate the Bill of Rights, the foundation of this democracy.
   It happened most virulently during the witchhunts of the 1940s and 1950s, when The House Unamerican Activities Committee, with the assistance of the forebears of the current corps of yelling heads, attacked Hollywood, and not only ruined the lives and careers of countless talented writers, directors and actors for doing nothing but exercising their rights, but, in the process, did serious damage to the Bill of Rights.
   Now the yellers and screamers not only sanctimoniously and regularly attack Hollywood stars who oppose the war, but challenge their right to dissent.
   These anti-Hollywood rants come almost daily now and are designed to boost ratings, silence Hollywood and goad all the self-styled super-patriots out there in TVland into bombarding the stars with hate mail. So it is that the yellers exercise their right to speak freely to deny Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange and others their right to speak freely.
   According to the yelling heads, Hollywood stars shouldn’t “use” their celebrity to promote their causes, though that is precisely what they themselves do daily – for money … and ratings. More sinister are their allegations that stars who speak out are somehow unpatriotic and therefore should be shunned by audiences, and/or banished by the studios.
   The witchhunts of the 1940s and 1950s were triggered by politicians who subverted the Bill of Rights to further their careers. The current witchhunts are being orchestrated by yelling heads who are perverting the Bill of Rights to further their careers.
   In fact, when Americans disagree with their leaders they not only have the right, but the responsibility to speak up.
   Samuel Johnson said, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” The yellers and screamers aren’t scoundrels, they are just little men with big egos, bigger ambitions and no scruples at all. Not patriots sir, just pimps.