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Dobbs Plays the Victim, as Movement Demanding CNN Dump Him Grows
Faced with a growing movement of communities demanding that CNN drop his program, Lou Dobbs responded Friday with one of his favorite postures: the victimized defender of American virtue. "They ask CNN to fire me because I oppose illegal immigration" said Dobbs, who added, "The last thing they want is a first amendment, where people can express themselves... These are the most un-American, frightened people in the world because they won't compete in the marketplace of ideas and facts."
Not surprisingly, Dobbs is waving the First Amendment flag to change the subject, which is not about disagreement on immigration policy, and has nothing to do with free speech. Dobbs has the right to his opinions; but there's nothing in the Constitution that says he deserves a "news" platform to disseminate hurtful and dangerous myths about immigrants.
Dobbs' suggestion that his detractors, like our recently launched BastaDobbs.com campaign, can't compete in a fact-based marketplace of ideas is both sad and comical given what passes for facts and ideas on his show. For Dobbs, immigrants are "invaders," and he regularly uses debunked statistics to paint them as disease-carrying criminals. He reports on conspiracy theories like the "Reconquista" and the "Birthers" as if they were legitimate topics of discussion. And worst of all, he provides a regular platform to the most extreme anti-immigrant groups like FAIR and the Minutemen, trotting them out as experts.
Dobbs left the realm of facts a long time ago. What Dobbs plies is not even "advocacy journalism," as he sometimes calls it. It's propaganda, and it's dangerous. At a time when discrimination against Latinos is growing, and FBI statistics signal a 4 year rise in anti-Latino hate crimes, experts are beginning to draw a connection between anti-immigrant messages in the media and anti-Latino discrimination and violence in communities across the country. In other words, it seems that when Lou Dobbs talks, people can get hurt.
Dobbs' effort to hide behind the First Amendment is even more cynical, and evidence of how poorly he understands the Constitution. In drafting the Bill of Rights, the Framers were concerned about government's heavy hand squelching public debate. Dobbs' use of "free speech" to defend his post and paint his critics as un-American is an insult to the Founder's intent. Nothing in the First Amendment gives Dobbs the right to a major media platform like CNN.
The truth is, just as Dobbs is free to gin up anti-immigrant sentiment, we are free to educate our community about his impact, call out his pattern of fear mongering and faulty reporting.
And that is exactly what Latinos and our allies are doing. The BastaDobbs.com campaign is bringing together groups and individuals organized in the 25 U.S. cities with the largest Latino populations to show Dobbs for what he is: the Most Dangerous Man for Latinos in America. We are exercising our free speech rights to demand that CNN live up to its claim to be "most trusted name in news."
While the movement to stop Dobbs has nothing to do with Dobbs' free speech rights, it has everything to do with CNN's business. Latinos across the country are letting CNN President Jon Klein know that if he wants our viewership, he can't keep profiting from the fear and xenophobia that is Dobbs' daily bread. By continuing to air Dobbs, CNN is making a choice: to distort rational debate about immigration and other issues of concern to Latinos. And that choice will come at a cost: legitimacy in the Latino market.
The growing movement against Dobbs also sends a broader message to CNN, and to all of the news media. For democracy to work, free speech cannot mean that news anchors offer wild opinions unfettered from fact. There is a difference, as CNN's own Rick Sanchez recently pointed out, between "covering" and "promoting" (an ironic commentary given Lou Dobbs' appearance last week at the conference for leading anti-immigrant group FAIR). As our country's national conversation on race, health care immigration and other issues plumbs new lows, the news media must be held to a higher standard; what they say has real and serious consequences. It's time for CNN to decide: go the way of Faux News, or renew its role in promoting an honest public debate.
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12 Comments so far
Show AllDobbs exemplifies what I call "cafeteria constitutionalism," selecting and sanctifying the parts that suit him and denigrating the rest.
But at bottom he's an entertainer, not a journalist---in no way different from a pro wrestler or late-night second banana. When his value to CNN starts to dwindle due to campaigns such as bastadobbs.com, he'll be replaced by somebody with a fresher shtick. We're left to hope it'll be someone with integrity.
when Dobbs was in Seattle, I thought he was a moron...not that my opinion is definitive, of course...I do love to watch morons gain fame and popularity, even while remaining morons...kind of funny...
Why is it that these cable and satellite talk shows, not to mention the shrill men on talk radio are so angry, hostile and denigrading to anyone "not like them"? And, why are 95% of them white men?
I gave up listening to any of these outlets years ago; I don't get enlightened, I just get upset at the absurdity and offended at the notion that everyone who isn't a white male is just suppose to lay down and take whatever garbage they want to give us. PBS is my place of entertainment and good journalism. What we need is for more of us to give the sponsors of these hate shows a letter stating our plans to not buy their products, if they continue to sponsor such hate-filled rhetoric. I'm hoping the first casualty will be the bastard Glenn Beck; would be nice. . .then onto R. Limbaugh, M. Savage, Lou Dobbs, etc., etc., etc.
Look at who owns the shows.
Look who places the ads.
Look what news sources they rely on (as in "government sources say . . .")
Dobbs and his ideological buddies are aware that Blacks and Hispanics are gradually becoming a majority in this country. They are enraged[; thus their obsession with illegal aliens .
CNN ran for a few hours this afternoon, including during Dobbs, a story with the heading "Iran's secret Nukes".... what a huge load of flagrant propaganda
Also seen today on CNN during a commercial break, an ad from "United Against Nuclear Iran"
sad sad day, can't believe my eyes these days
What next, is Lou gonna give us his version of FDR's "Fala" or Nixon's "Checkers" speech?
Boo Hoo Hoo,
Let's all cry for Lou.
What's a bigot to do?
When with his own words
He's screwed!
Poet
nabisco is coming out with a new cracker. the dobbs. based
on new data and marketing research it will be sold strictly
to fat stupid white men. they were thinking of a rush
version but it rolled around in its packaging was too
large to fit on a shelf and emitted nasty cigar smoke!
it also offended every non white person who came near it!
they might consider selling it at tractor supply or in
the outdoor department at walmart.
Didn't Billo the Clown O'Really, Sean Insanity, and Rush incite assassination of abortion doctors?? Just saying...
Apparently Mr Dobbs feels those opposed to his point of view should listen to his swill and should have no forum to counter his poistions.
Mr Dobbs has the Media. He allows Guests who might be opposed to his opinions some 20 seconds to speak on his show and callously interrupts them when they do speak. He HAS his forum.
He has the full power of the Media outlet called CNN and all the people it reaches behind him.
These Consumers have no such voice unless done in Concert and a boycott is the logical way for them to use THEIR Free Speech rights.
It seems Mr Dobbs advances the notion that Free Speech is only for some.
Note how he uses "the Un-american" labeling. The first sign his arguement is weak on its own merits contradicting his own claim that others can not compete in "the marketplace of ideas and facts".
Apparently Mr Dobbs feels that HE represents what is to be defined as "American". What are YOU afraid of Mr Dobbs? Who gave YOU the authroty to determine who and what is "Un_american" ?
My Czech wife grew up under Communism, and she is immediately turned off to Dobbs because his demeanor reminds her of former Communist television "news" commentators. Or make that disseminators of disinformation for the Soviet regime. Dobbs is a man obsessed. I cannot bear to watch him any more. It's as if he had a revelation that the main problem with America today is all those illegal immigrants. All of whom commit most of the crime in this country, in his view; or they steal jobs from American citizens; or they get our welfare and health care. Mr. Dobbs has no clue as to what he's talking about.
I mentioned my Czech wife. She is here legally as a permanent resident because we went through the proper channels with the USCIS to get such legal immigrant status. Has Mr. Dobbs ever considered how difficult it is to work with the USCIS? It was really a pain in the a$$ for my wife, who happens to be a VIP Czech citizen and frequent guest of the American Embassy in Prague. She's actually a national hero who helped overthrow the Communists, and then rebuild a new democratic government for the Czech Republic. She is one of those immigrants the USA should be very happy to admit without hassle. But such was not the case. The USCIS repeatedly returned her application for Permanent Residency, citing incorrect fees that were filed with the applications, even though every time we sent the absolute correct amount. Each submission was rejected with a threatening letter, stating my wife would be deported if she did not comply with the instructions. We would then re-submit the application with the new fees demanded, only to receive yet another rejection letter. Bear in mind, USCIS fees had previously been a few hundred $$, but now are more like $2000. It took some tough talk and legal threats to get the USCIS to cooperate. A letter notifying them about my wife's good friends like the Czech Foreign Minister [then negotiating with Condi Rice over the anti-missile radar for Czech bases] finally got them to budge. Now Lou Dobbs cannot tell me that a poor Mexican with no money and no connections can find a way to negotiate the USCIS successfully in order to gain entry to the USA legally. The system is set up to keep them out. Further, those who've dealt with Mexican workers, legal immigrants or not, will usually have only good things to say about these people. They tend to work hard, have nice families, and are pleasant to deal with. They are NOT the bogey men that Dobbs makes them out to be. I think Lou Dobbs no longer has much that's interesting to say, given our many other issues at hand. Giving credibility to the Birthers is another example, by covering the story as if it were valid. There seems to be some real talent at CNN these days, so put Lou Dobbs out to pasture and get his scowling face off my HDTV. Every time he comes on, I flip him off.
Real journalism requires deductive and inductive reasoning, the ability to alternate and divide attention while being open minded and fair, and a lack of bias when presenting the final version of the story. It requires research into objective reality without significant discounting the parts of reality that do not agree with the journalist’s belief and value system.
Lou Dobbs presents a classic defensive position in which the perpetrator assumes the role of the victim.
The Republicans have also frequently used this defensive position as an offensive weapon for the purposes of obscurantism (impeding or stopping the learning process) through gross misrepresentation of the truth.
Since he claims not to be a Republican, we might assume a few things about the cause of his defensiveness.
I think he doth protest too much.
For a long while Lou Dobbs has failed miserably in his endeavor to be a journalist.
"The great truths are too important to be new." Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965.