| ▲ | throwaway48476 12 hours ago |
| The FCC was created in order to prevent the airing of opinions the government disfavored. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Coughlin |
|
| ▲ | legitster 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| This is incredibly hyperbolic and misleading. The Communications Act of 1934 was passed for a variety of very necessary reasons at the time, the most important being making sure broadcasters didn't hijack each other's signals. Coughlin's show coincided with the creation of the FCC and they never really tangled. His show was pulled off the network a full 5 years after the FCC was established. FCC regulation may have had a part in that, but there is no reason to believe he in particular was targeted and certainly not that the law was passed to target him. |
| |
| ▲ | ajross 11 hours ago | parent [-] | | In an amusingly bald bit of Wikipedia editorializing, while the Coughlin page links to the Communications Act page in the context of (as the upthread throwaway account[1] says) half-implying that it was created to censor opinions... ...the actual page linked doesn't mention Coughlin at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Act_of_1934 [1] The habit of throwing discussion bombs like this from throwaway accounts is another sign of HN's decay. |
|
|
| ▲ | mullingitover 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Government licensing of radio spectrum preceded the FCC and was in response to the RF chaos that hampered the rescue operation after the sinking of the Titanic[1]. [1] https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/radio-act-of-1912/ |
| |
|
| ▲ | tomrod 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Never heard of him before. Thanks for sharing. |
|
| ▲ | coderintherye 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| You are spreading misinformation. The FCC existed before Coughlin. Furthermore, the FCC declined to take action on Coughlin despite all the pressure it got from the public. Instead, it was the National Association of Broadcasters that forced him off the air. |
| |
| ▲ | throwaway48476 12 hours ago | parent [-] | | Coughlin started broadcasting in 1926. The FCC was created in 1934. How exactly did the FCC exist before him? |
|
|
| ▲ | 63 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| [flagged] |
| |
| ▲ | janice1999 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | By comparison, Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyle) was executed for treason (the last person to in the UK to receive such a punishment). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Joyce | |
| ▲ | throwaway48476 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | He advocated for peace. Maybe you read that as fascism. | | |
| ▲ | 63 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | From the page linked: > After making attacks on Jewish bankers, Coughlin began to use his radio program Golden Hour to broadcast antisemitic commentary. In the late 1930s, he supported some of the policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The broadcasts have been described as "a variation of the Fascist agenda applied to American culture".[5] | |
| ▲ | mullingitover 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Absolute howler. He was a full-throated Nazi. He literally cheered for Kristallnacht[1]. > During his radio broadcast on November 20, 1938, while reports of the Kristallnacht pogrom in Germany were still on the front pages of many American newspapers, Coughlin defended the Nazi attacks as justified. Claiming to merely be a “student of history,” he traced “the causes of the effect known as Naziism” [sic] for his listeners, concluding that Nazism had “evolved to act as a defense mechanism against the incursions of Communism.” [1] https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/pe... | |
| ▲ | delecti 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Coughlin was an anti-communist antisemite who was sympathetic to Hitler and Mussolini and advocated for government control over industry in the 1930s. I would also read that as fascism, yes. | |
| ▲ | tomrod 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > In the late 1930s, he supported some of the policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The broadcasts have been described as "a variation of the Fascist agenda applied to American culture".[5] His chief topics were political and economic rather than religious, using the slogan "Social Justice". Sounds like you're confused, or disingenuous? I prefer to give benefit of the doubt though. Which part of the Nazi policies and anti-semitism that he advocated do you consider peaceful? | | |
| ▲ | throwaway48476 12 hours ago | parent [-] | | You didn't quote anything he said. Likely because the wiki page hardly quotes him and that's the extent of your knowledge. | | |
| ▲ | SketchySeaBeast 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | If you didn't think it was a worthwhile source, why did you link it? Seems to be a bit of a double standard if you're using it to bolster your claim (without actually using the page, mind you) and object to others doing the same. | | |
| ▲ | throwaway48476 12 hours ago | parent [-] | | Wikipedia is useful as a source for incontrovertible biographical details. Less so for political opinions which bias towards the editors. | | |
| ▲ | SketchySeaBeast 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | The statement "The FCC was created in order to prevent the airing of opinions the government disfavored" does not seem to be "incontrovertible". Important to note, the source for this section is an article from slate, which also includes paragraphs such as: > During the blowback, Coughlin could still count on support from one corner. Nazi Germany characterized the efforts to rein in Coughlin as “a typical case of Jewish terrorism of American public opinion.” Coughlin agreed, portraying himself as a victim of Jewish-owned media. > It got worse. On Dec. 5, 1938, in Coughlin’s house organ Social Justice, under his own byline, he plagiarized a speech by Nazi Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels, originally delivered in 1935 at the Nazi Party Congress at Nuremberg. By then, quipsters were referring to Coughlin’s church as “the Shrine of the Little Führer.”[1] But I supposed this is spurious as well. [1] https://slate.com/technology/2021/01/father-coughlin-deplatf... |
|
| |
| ▲ | tomrod 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Correct, and that's more information and citation than you shared. |
|
|
|
|
|
| ▲ | dingnuts 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Hahaha this quote is fantastic! Bound to piss off all kinds of nut jobs and radicals! > In the late 1930s, he supported some of the policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The broadcasts have been described as "a variation of the Fascist agenda applied to American culture".[5] His chief topics were political and economic rather than religious, using the slogan "Social Justice". Thanks for sharing, I hadn't heard of this jackass |
