Listened to Some Conservative Talk Radio

The situation in my workplace is such that I can listen to the radio for much of the afternoon/evening. Most of the time I listen to my own music collection on my mp3 player, emphasizing music by Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case, Radiohead, and Nirvana. But occasionally I venture out into the hazardous (for my sensibilities) world of broadcast radio.

Usually I confine my radio listening to the NPR station in Gainesville, 89.1/WUFT. I have come to completely avoid the vast wasteland of music stations, leaving only either sports talk or conservative talk radio to choose from. Tonight I felt like hearing what the "righties" had to say, but I decided to do this differently: I set out beforehand to adopt their mindset and be one of their cheering, loyal listeners. Y'know, Obama bad muslim foreign socialist hates America. Liberals communists. Democrats liers. Tea party equals freedom equals American spirit.

So having done this preparation, I took a deep breath and tuned in to some programs, namely Neil Boortz, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage. The listening went surprisingly smoothly for me, with it being very easy for me to switch into "Democrats=Bad Guys, Republicans=Good Guys" mode. Only one problem, though.

Although Boortz was his usual emotionally balanced self, Levin and Savage had a manic, even hateful aspect to their presentations. I found myself getting into a filthy, nasty, sour mood and finally caught myself and understood. These people are conveyors of anxiety and negativity. They mess with your emotions and depend on that effect to manipulate you into eventually following them uncritically.

I shook myself loose from my self-imposed trance and went back to being in my normal emotionally "neutral" state. But I wonder how anyone can listen to talk show hosts like Levin and Savage night after night without it completely skewing in a profoundly negative way their outlook on life. Never mind which political side they happen to be on.