Thursday, December 31, 2009

That's No Way To Start A New Decade

Ugh. Michelle Malkkkin will be a guest for three hours on Book TV on 3 January 2010.

Hey C-SPAN standards: Your slip is showing.

Complain here.

2 comments:

TC said...

Why would you want to complain? C-span tries to be non-partisan and present an equal number of interviewees on the right and the left. Some of their most entertaining interviews have been with authors on the right that I wouldn't normally read. Victor David Hansen is much better live than in his books (he's a pro-war conservative professor who teaches the classics in case you didn't know.)

I also got some good reading suggestions from Niall Ferguson who is kind of a Tory. One of the best books on World War II and Churchill and FDR, i.e., "The War Diaries of Lord Allenbrook."
Makes all of them look pretty pathetic including Eisenhower.

Malkkkin is stooping pretty low, but I wouldn't want to discourage C-span from including people on the far right. When they are really bad that comes across also. Brian White has that straight-faced way of getting things out of people by feinting uninformed, non-judgmental curiosity.

I think Sarah Palin would be an interesting interview about her book. I don't worry about her convincing anyone about anything. Are you suggesting that C-span only interview authors on the left? Or are you saying that they should have more erudite authors on the right? You might make a case for that, but exposing less than stellar wingnuts has it's place also.

bjkeefe said...

I am not at all suggesting that C-SPAN should have an ideological litmus test, and I agree that there is even something to be said for inviting on full metal wingnuts to let them expose themselves for what they are.

However, there should be some standards. I don't see the need to give a microphone to someone who thrives on nothing besides spreading lies and hate speech. It's not that I worry that someone like Malkkkin will change any sane person's mind; it's that I see her being invited onto a credible show as giving her an unwarranted reward.

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