Two Roads Diverge...

For a long while there, Howard Stern's audience was considered 'the fringe element'. He had a radio show in NYC, and some very rabid fans. His content was considered over-the-top. Lesbian Dating Game, strippers, ambush interviews, prank phone calls, racial stereotypes, practical jokes, offensive language. The list goes on.

Over time, he began syndicating the program to other, usually large, hip cities. Then he got a couple of TV shows on the E! cable channel, pay-per-view specials, DVDs, wrote and published a couple of books, and even put out a movie. He could go on Letterman or Leno whenever he wanted to promote something.

Then came the mainstream imitation. Each of those 'bits' described above has become a TV show of its own. Not by Stern, but by other people. Then came the next generation of 'shock jocks', who grew up listening to him. Of course, they try do do the same stuff he did.

So, Howard Stern's sensibility has become part of the mainstream, for better or worse. Where once his fans were at the far end tail of the Normal Distribution Curve, now they sit comfortably within the sweet spot. Not everybody was happy when it was happening, and many people don't like the results. But, he did it fair and square, with the help of a profit-making enterprise to support him.

Something similar is happening in our political world today. Fox News caters (panders?) to an audience that believes the President is a Socialist, was not born in the US, a recent survey shows that 1/3 of this demographic in New Jersey believes he may be the anti-Christ, they cheer a guy who heckles the President, and the here-to-fore politically incorrect notion that a Black person can't lead our country is no longer whispered behind closed doors. It's talked about openly, in code.

ABC News estimated that 60,000 to 70,000 people showed up in DC to protest something. Supposedly taxation and big government. Yeah, right. Posters of Obama with Hitler mustaches were common. There was a lot of offensive stuff.

But, these guys aren't playing fair and square. Unlike Stern, who had a clear motive and sponsor, those pulling the strings here are hidden from view. They are preying on the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD, in biz parlance) of the citizenry. Led by an advocacy group that dresses up like a cable news channel, anything goes with these puppet masters.

So, these citizens are the 'fringe element' today, but before too long, if we're not careful, their techniques and beliefs will spread, and these people's beliefs will become part of the mainstream, right there in the sweet spot of that same Normal Distribution Curve. And that would be a shame.