Sludge Rising

In the early 90s, I listened regularly to a short-wave radio station called WWCR (World Wide Christian Radio)—500,000 watts from Nashville. They carried programs like Radio Free America and The Hour of the Time, farragoes of black helicopter, FEMA, New World Order-fueled paranoia that managed to be hilarious and terrifying. But this was short wave, fringe broadcasting that few people ever heard. Now, I hear the same stuff on Fox News. It’s mainstreamed and even in some quarters acceptable. I once heard Chris Matthews mention “the wonderful Michael Savage” on Hardball. Now that’s scary, and it’s not hilarious any more.