Of all the conservative talk show hosts on radio the most bizarre of them all has to be Michael Savage. I admit I have listened to him just enough to realize how disturbed and nutty he actually is. What is even more amazing is how well his books have sold. There clearly is a deep angst in many conservatives who feed on the anger and dark world of this man.
Kelefa Sanneh, writing a recent piece on Savage in the New Yorker magazine, says he lives in a "dark, apocalyptic world." The talk show host, who has an audience of 8 million listeners, says, "Twenty-one hours a day I live in misery. Three hours a day I'm happy." Having listened to a little of this man while in my car I found this to be exactly what I would have expected. Callers who try to converse with Savage have little chance to say anything of substance. He attacks people, interrupts them and bullies them, and in general is simply aggressive beyond description. His ideas often sound like some of the most radical expressions of hatred imaginable.
Before Michael Savage, now 67 years old, became an author and popular radio host he wrote about alternative medicine. He still will not wear head phones when he is in the studio for his fear of going deaf. He talks about losing his sight every day. The man seems totally paranoid when you get into his comments about life. He actually operates from what he calls "hidden locations" for fear of his life. Perhaps the reason for this is the deep loathing he has created among extremists on the left. Living in San Francisco, as he does a good deal of the time, would tend to make such a guy fearful I suppose. After all, this is the same man who said all liberals were psychopaths. He ought to know.
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When I listen to him (which isn’t often) I am reminded of the movie Conspiracy Theory with Mel Gibson. He’s crazy but from time to time he stumbles onto something we should take seriously. The voices of reason are numb sometimes to the things that really matter.
In case you forgot here is the plot of Conspiracy Theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_Theory_%28film%29
For me to listen to a radio program or whatever medium, I have to feel like I come away with more positive than negative. For a while I listened to Michael Savage. I liked his straightforward approach. I like how he is able to talk intelligently about a variety of things. But after a while I felt that his outbursts did not serve well the intelligent things he said.
Also, there is so much bad news in the air these days that I have to consciously limit what I let into my mind. Righteous indignation I understand. But I’ve had my own battles with a bad temper in the past. I just didn’t want to keep listening to someone who did what I was in process of freeing myself from.
I have occasionally listened to Savage when driving. I agree that, overall, his thinking and character are erratic and strange. But he is also highly intelligent and very well read. And he has a degree of respect for the Bible. From time to time he reads passages from the OT, especially the prophets, and has a sense that the Bible is saying something very important to this generation. He characterizes himself as spiritual and believing but non-religious. Yet he avoids the oft-heard denunciations of “organized religion.” He is abrasive and abusive and, as Gene notes, occasionally says something that borders on brilliance. And women detest him. He is one of many interesting and strange creatures that fill this world that God created.
I am not a Michael Savage fan at all. So I won’t comment on my differences of opinion with the “Savage style.”
However, I would like to please ask if I could hijack this thread by asking John Armstrong to spread the sad story of this new convert to the Christian faith:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/027200.php
Here, in America, we have a case where a young convert finds her life in jeopardy
simply because she converted to Jesus Christ.
Why aren’t more Christian bloggers covering this story?
Where are the Presbyterian bloggers (who supposedly are the recipients of the rich theological heritage of the 2 Kingdom view) on this sad story?
Is this not a case of the “2 Kingdom model” in action?
If I was a pastor in Dallas, and a Muslim converted to Christ in my congregation, wouldn’t I want to seek protection on behalf of that new member from the civil authorities? Isn’t this a clear-cut application of the Biblical “2 kingdom view”?
This happened in Dallas:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/06/20/the-dallas-honor-killings-revisited/
And Buffalo, New York:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,494785,00.html
And don’t get me even started on Dearborn-istan, Michigan.
Since the author of the 1965 Immigration Act that fundamentally changed the landscape of America has passed away, isn’t it now time for Christians in America to have dialogue on this issue since Muslim immigration and Muslim Visa over-stays are increasing?
The evidence suggests that honor-killings are not going away.
Dear John:
Michael Savage has more courage than 99% of Reformed and Evangelical pastors, present hour, (particularly when compared with the irrelevantist Westminster West heresy hunters). You frankly should do more spade-work before making sweeping generalizations of this nature, or will your pendulum so continue to swing that, contra Savage, you will eventually tout Rachel Maddow as a sane media voice in due time?