Attention #Crossfire fans: @newtgingrich & @vanjones68 host a fiery debate TONIGHT at 6:30pET. See you there! pic.twitter.com/WYyoS5zmbU
— Crossfire (@Crossfire) May 1, 2014
My post title alludes to the famous Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. line: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic."
CNN is shouting fiery -fire in the hope of inciting a stampede toward the obviously tedious TV show. It's surely a false shout, but no one believes it. So there's no stampede toward the non-fire.
Here's the Wikipedia article "Shouting fire in a crowded theater." Excerpt:
People have indeed falsely shouted "Fire!" in crowded public venues and caused panics on numerous occasions, such as at the Royal Surrey Gardens Music Hall of London in 1856, in Harlem in 1884, and in the Italian Hall disaster of 1913, which left 73 dead.And here's Christopher Hitchens on shouting fire in a crowded theater.
The word "crossfire," of course, refers to gunfire, and it's interesting that CNN is reviving the old show title, given the hoopla over the use of a metaphorical target in something Sarah-Palin-related around the time of the Tucson massacre, after which we were all admonished to speak to one another with civility. But apparently, there are times when we must cast civility aside and snipe at one another, like when ratings are low.
And, by the way, just yesterday, Rush Limbaugh was going on about how mainstream news executives care more about being hip and cool than they care about ratings. I don't know what CNN is doing with Van Jones and Newt Gingrich and the revival of "Crossfire." It's hardly hip, and it's not believable that anyone will watch. Maybe they think it will generate short clips that social media will pick up and share.
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24 comments:
Do people actually watch cnn at home? I always assumed that it was only meant as background noise in airports and hospitals.
Given what I have seen this week on CNN, they will be debating Malaysian flight 370.
CNN is shouting "theater" with no fire present.
Hamster wheel. All hamster wheel.
I was bored by a Crossfire missing plane,
And I howled at the maw of the bloated Newt,
But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas!
But it's all right. Giving legitimacy to Van Jones,
It's a gas! Gas! Gas!
The Has Been Show on the Has Been Network.
I doubt that you'd get much of a reaction shouting fire in a theater these days, what with asbestos curtains and ceiling sprinklers and all.
How about: "Kate Upton's in the lobby and she's drunk and naked!!!"
You'd probably get the best results during a Spiderman movie . . . or maybe not.
Damn, I miss Hitch.
If I could bring back one person who has died in the past 5-10 years, I would be very hard pressed to choose between these two: Hitch and Andrew Breitbart.
Wonder what that says about me?
" Bob Ellison said...
CNN is shouting "theater" with no fire present."
Well put, sir!
"...it's interesting that CNN is reviving the old show title, given the hoopla over the use of a metaphorical target in something Sarah-Palin-related around the time of the Tucson massacre, after which we were all admonished to speak to one another with civility. But apparently, there are times when we must cast civility aside…."
Yeah, that civility bullsh*t was cast aside as soon as the Dems figured out the shooter wasn't a Tea Party loon. After a few stupid apologies from MSNBC personalities for using "violent imagery" they bagged the whole thing and started calling for the beheading of climate change deniers.
Rush was referring to a comment made by Les Moonves from CBS about late night TV. There were also comments on how late night used to be a money making part of their programming and now it is not. So they need to have the late night people be hip and cool so they are talked about the next day.
The "news" executives are very different from the "entertainment" executives.
And fifty years ago Newtie was applying for his first Educational Selective Service (Draft) Deferment that would last him through the day the Nixon ended the Draft.
"Rush was referring to…"
He was mixing the subjects of the late night talk shows and the news networks.
Excerpt:
"People have asked me, "If nobody's watching, how does it stay on the air?" The answer is CNN and the people that run it are considered heroes. They're promoting the cause of liberalism, Big Government socialism. They're trashing Republicans every day. They still get invited to cocktail parties, those executives. They still are loyal to the cause. They're protected, and they still get advertising buys even though they don't deserve it. There is a loss-leader aspect to the as well for other properties owned by Time Warner. But MSNBC? How do you explain that? Nobody watches, but it's still there. Well, it's the way you buy off Al Sharpton. You give him a show. There's any number of things going on here. But ratings don't matter…."
The Republicans threw Newt out of the speakership in 1999 after four years. He was speaker as long as Nancy Pelosi. He's a demagogue and a liar. Perfect for CNN
Ann Althouse said...
"The word "crossfire," of course, refers to gunfire, and it's interesting that CNN is reviving the old show title..."
Respectfully, it's not interesting at all, ma'am. Fen's Law.
"Rush Limbaugh was going on about how mainstream news executives care more about being hip and cool than they care about ratings."
I think "being cool" is just one of the side perks of producing this propaganda that passes as "news" in the "unbiased", "objective" media, and nasty "profits" are not really their goal either.
The real value is being able to contribute billions in propaganda, not just every election cycle, but continuously 24/7, to the Democrats or whatever politicians/policies that are farthest to the left, with no need for disclosure, while still being fully deductible.
Campaign finance laws and IRS restrictions on deductible political donations are for the Republicans/conservatives.
I shall continue to ignore their tediousness.
Eric @ 939am: Shouting "Asbestos" in a theater will cause a panic and a visit by the health inspectors!
I interpreted the context of that comment differently than you did Professor. Rush mentions ratings, then the CNN and MSNBC stuff. Then he moves on to Les Moonves and the question from an audience member about late night TV. In that context is when he mention hip and cool and ratings.
The words hip and cool only appear when he is talking about late night TV.
But, who am I to disagree with a university professor, except I saw through Obama waaaaay before you did.
I think the more interesting aspect of the famous line, quoting wikipedia, is that it's a paraphrasing of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s opinion in the United States Supreme Court case Schenck v. United States in 1919, which held that the defendant's speech in opposition to the draft during World War I was not protected free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
That was settled law from the time the first Progressive president lied to get us into a war until the second time a Republican inherited but did not immediately withdraw from a war.
How about "Two Assholes"?
Let it burn.
Just think, somebody had to pitch the idea of a "revamped crossfire" with Jones and Gingrich and some executive(s) had to greenlight it and then do a few test runs and then still greenlight the show for airing.
Why haven't those someones been fired?
I tried to watch just once (at an airport naturally) and it was awful.
mccullough said...
The Republicans threw Newt out of the speakership in 1999 after four years. He was speaker as long as Nancy Pelosi. He's a demagogue and a liar.
Leaders of the Revolution don't usually make the transition to effective (not good, effective) actual leadership.
Completely different skillsets involved.
Drago,
What revolution did Gingrich lead? His only revolt was to abandon his wives. He and Tom Delay were a joke. Clinton rolled them time after time. Gingrich was a draft dodging failed academic. Clinton's first two years were a disaster and the public revolted against his policies. Why should Gingrich get credit for Clinton's incompetence? It's like saying John Boehner took back the House for Republicans.
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