This page was last updated on August 28, 2010.
Media encourage misinformation; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; August 27, 2010. I am not related to Mr. Cox.
Most of Mr. Cox’s at least 56 letters since 2004 are tinged with race, and all take leftist positions.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“‘Ronald Reagan done drove America crazy.’ - the Rev. Jesse Jackson (1984)”
[RWC] A few minutes of Google searches found no reference to the alleged quote or anything close.
“Jackson was referring to the tendency of the American electorate to embrace the rantings of President Reagan. Candidate Jackson was telling them that Reagan’s re-election would create massive job losses and poverty nationwide for the foreseeable future.”
[RWC] Given his letter-writing body of work, you have to get a chuckle out of Mr. Cox writing about someone else’s alleged “rantings.”
Even if Mr. Jackson said what Mr. Cox claimed, he would have been wrong. After Mr. Reagan’s policies began to take effect, unemployment decreased for six straight years, from 9.6% (1983) to 5.3% (1989) and GDP growth ranged from 3.2% to 7.2%.
“Also, Reagan’s elimination of the fairness doctrine in media has contributed mightily to the widespread ignorance of many of our citizens today as the hate radio movement has made it impossible for moderate, liberal or progressive voices to be heard.”
[RWC] Here are a couple of reminders about leftyspeak. “[M]oderate, liberal [and] progressive” are synonyms and “hate” describes any position with which lefties disagree.
In his support of the misnamed “Fairness Doctrine,” have you noticed how lefties have a problem with the freedom of speech and the press provisions of the First Amendment when they disagree with the speech? Note how Mr. Cox didn’t tell us how “the hate radio movement has made it impossible for moderate, liberal or progressive voices to be heard.” I guess Mr. Cox doesn’t watch ABC News, CBC News, NBC News, CNN, or MSNBC. Mr. Cox does read the BC Times, however, so he must know his comment is wrong.
“I agree with letter writer David V. Matthews (‘Media are to blame for cluelessness,’ Wednesday) that the media encourage misinformation by never challenging dangerous right-wing rhetoric they know to be wrong (Obama’s religion).”
[RWC] Since Mr. Matthews is a fellow traveler of Mr. Cox’s, and was wrong as noted in my critique of his letter, it’s no surprise Mr. Cox agrees with him.
“Glenn Beck is rallying his tea-baggers at the Lincoln Memorial. Barring some violent clash, Beck’s rally won’t take anything away from what Martin Luther King Jr. did there in 1963.”
[RWC] More name-calling. As for “some violent clash,” this is projection on Mr. Cox’s part. As a lefty, Mr. Cox expects violence at his events so he expects righties to behave the same way.
“Beck is just an overgrown crybaby bully, the kind who would write a bad word on the schoolhouse for thrills.”
[RWC] Wasn’t Mr. Cox writing about “hate” above? It appears Mr. Cox is throwing rocks from a glass house.
“All Americans should be angered by Beck’s shameful desecration of the memories of two great heroes of our American nation - President Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
[RWC] I’m sure it was an honest oversight <g>, but Mr. Cox forgot to mention Mr. King’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, was a speaker at “Beck’s shameful desecration …” Mr. Cox also failed to mention all contributions in excess of the event’s production cost were donated to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. At the end of the event, Mr. Beck appeared to claim the event had exceeded its fundraising goal by almost $2 million with contributions continuing to come in.
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