I have to admit that I don’t know very much about what is going on in the world of political talk radio. College radio and cartoons compose the vast majority of my media intake.

I do know that Rush Limbaugh was hopped up on prescription drugs, and I have to say that I can’t blame him.

It is entirely possible that the talk show I heard this morning on AM radio is an anomaly. It is very reasonable to assume that not every political talk show on AM radio espouses fear and hatred. If they did, that would be horrific, right? If they did, that would be a social disservice worthy of a criminal mastermind.

With limited exposure to this genre of radio, what I heard shocked me. Is this the voice of the right? I hope not. This is the voice of fear, vitriol and ignorance. Through the radio, I heard groups marginalized, ideals blasted and lifestyles attacked in a way that I haven’t heard since I left the confines of schoolyard fascism.

The commentator was belligerent, unequivocal, prejudice, and, surprisingly, a woman. Every topic apparently called for the brutal unsympathetic, irrational attack of a zealot, but these were not religious fundamentalists. These were Republicans. (I’ve always considered Republicans people who would rather lower personal taxes and spend less on social programs. According to these people, Republicans are vicious barking dogs - foaming bigotry and xenophobia at the mouth.)

The program I heard covered quite a few issues of domestic policy: how the government intruded in the lives of poor people buy giving them welfare, how irresponsible it was to be poor, and how poor people choose poverty over wealth.

They also covered foreign affairs: According to this program, Europe opposed the war in Iraq because Europeans are frightened and womanish. That was the main point. The second point was that the frightened and womanish Europeans are too limp-wristed to fight in a war that might upset their Muslim minority - I never new that. I thought it had something to do with opposing preemptive strikes against countries that posed no imminent threat.

Beside that, I think America proved that it is far more dangerous to upset us than any religious minority. We proved that when we stonewalled Europe when it came to Iraqi development contracts, or, for that matter, when we took over Iraqi for looking at us sideways.

The commentator concluded the discussion of foreign policy with this statement of fact: “before the end of our lifetime, Europe will be a Muslim continent.” The subtext, of course, is that Europeans will finally be wearing dresses.

I jest, but this type of media is very frightening to me. This media is hate propaganda. In a single commute, I heard Europeans slandered, poor people insulted, and Muslims attacked. I also heard the Bush administration revered as the paragon of modern governance. I thought that we were all pretty set on the idea that the Bush administration lied to the world in order to take over a country that posed no real threat, and that they have a strange preoccupation with gays, so I was pretty surprised to hear them protected so fervently.

I get surprised a lot, like when Schwarzenegger was elected as Governor, or when we actually went to war with Iraq. These things surprise me because they are not the acts of a few nuts; they are the acts of a population. I never really understood it, but after this morning I suppose that I am closer to it.

Please people, don’t hate.