Michael Savage deserved to be booted from MSNBC this week
for telling a homosexual caller that he should “get AIDS and die.”
His remarks were truly bigoted and hateful.
I’ve been listening to Dr. Savage’s radio program for almost
two years and I thoroughly enjoy listening to his witty commentary most
of the time. His assertive style and courage to speak his mind makes for
an intense few hours of spoken truth. Other times, he goes over the line
and the truth is hidden behind his rage. To ears more liberal than mine,
he is the epitome of the stereotypical hate talk jock.
Michael Savage’s last day on MSNBC is a great learning experience
for conservatives who need a few lessons about how not to market our message.
Rage and visible anger are best left out of the conservative demeanor.
Conservatives should remain calm, cool, and collected when presenting
our message about God, gays, guns, flag, family, freedom, and so on. After
all, the Left is watching closely. If you haven’t noticed yet, the
Left is taking full advantage of the opportunity to paint nasty labels
on conservatives everywhere as a result of the Savage flap last weekend.
It would be nice to say that the Left has no reason to paint conservatives
as Right wing bigots, homophobes, racists, and hate-mongers. Unfortunately,
the communications strategy of two or three spokesmen like Michael Savage
is occasionally becoming of the stereotype.
Conservatives must dare to break the bonds of expectations. We must work
hard as a movement to prove that we oppose the Leftist agenda with all
of our might while treating people with the civility they deserve to be
treated with as individuals made in the image of God.
That doesn’t mean we’re supposed to accommodate to the Log Cabin
Republicans, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights
Coalition, and Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The effort
to destroy the family is serious and well organized.
But we must fight back using the Boy Scout Law. Concepts like friendly,
courteous, kind, and cheerful go well with bravery, duty, and honor. We
must show that the Leftist worldview is incompatible with the preservation
of a free society while doing what we can to make our communities and
our nation a better and more civil place to live.
Before I recently graduated from high school, I did all I could to be
a conservative campus activist while extending every ounce of civility
I could to students and teachers. As president of the school Bible Club,
I tried to reach out to special education kids to give them a sense of
belonging. I founded a Sportsmanship Committee to address community concerns
about the deterioration of sportsmanship at school athletic events. I
became an active participant on the school civility committee. Three years
in a row, I organized the school’s Martin Luther King Day Assembly.
On one hand, I joined typically liberal groups to oppose the danger of
the Leftist agenda and on the other hand I worked hard to foster an atmosphere
of respect and dignity in a large suburban public high school.
Conservatives have allowed kindness and civility to be taken away from
our reputation in the culture war. Today, liberals speak of human rights
and dignity and tolerance and other warm and fuzzy things. Of course they’re
wrong.
We must prove that conservatives are the ones who really care about love,
hope, and grace. In the battle between right and wrong, the Right should
have the good sense to take up the fruits of the spirit from the Bible.
As for Michael Savage, I will continue listening to his radio show. But
we don’t need to be a more Savage Nation as he frequently reminds
his audience and the readers of his best-selling book. We need to be a
more civilized nation that champions goodness and lays perversity, malice,
and bigotry to rest.
That’s the only way we’ll prove the Left to be the opponents
of human rights, dignity, and tolerance that they really are.
Hans Zeiger is a Seattle Times columnist, activist, and student leader.
As an 18 year old Eagle Scout, Hans is the president of the Scout Honor
Coalition. He can be contacted at [email protected].