Bronze-level articleL. Brent Bozell III

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Brent Bozell by Gage Skidmore

L. Brent Bozell III is a conservative Christian and self-styled media watchdog. The nephew of conservative icon William F. Buckley, He founded the Parents Television Council and the Media Research Center, which claims to have coined the term "media bias" (Not to be confused with liberal bias). His critics have dubbed him nicknames like "El Bent Bozo da Turd", "Bozo the Clown"[1] and "Redbeard." Most bloggers take no real notice of him, noting that he is a "right-wing conveyor belt of attacks on the press" that is "often loopy and fact-free... usually not worth rebutting in detail."[2]

Viewpoints

Bozell stated in 2004 that he is not a Republican.[3]

Bozell also has a tendency to get extremely angry when anyone says something even remotely critical of Catholicism. He has called The Da Vinci Code "viciously anti-Catholic", and any book, TV show, or movie that criticizes the Catholic Church or even makes even the mildest "politically incorrect" joke about it is enough to have Bozell screaming "anti-Catholic bigot!" He appears to be completely ignorant of the fact that, until Godless Soviet Russia emerged as America's new bogeyman, the sort of people who wished to protect "traditional American values" were very often some of the most anti-Catholic people around, claiming that it was a foreign cult that was plotting to destroy America and Protestantism.

He also complains that the media is overly cautious about Islamophobia while playing looser with Christanity.[4][5][6][7]

Bozell has been a frequent guest on Fox News and other media through the years commenting on culture and politics. In 2004, following a debate on Fox News program The O'Reilly Factor, Bozell angrily confronted liberal Paul Waldman in the green room. He opened by saying: "That was horseshit, you said!" regarding the debunking of John Kerry accusing Vietnam veterans of being war criminals.[8] Bozell once bailed out of an appearance on MSNBC's Scarborough Country just because there was going to be a liberal guest as his counterpoint.[9]

Bozell also writes columns for Creators Syndicate, one against about current movies and TV shows, the other blasting the American news media as overwhelmingly liberal. In one entry, he dissed many current movies, even though he openly admitted to not having seen them, while extolling the uplifting virtues of older movies like Gone With the Wind (slavery, bigotry, murder, marrying for money, marital rape, adultery, prostitutes with hearts of gold) and Doctor Zhivago (long-term adultery, out-of-wedlock birth).[10] Sounds just like his Republican heroes.

Bozell-isms

Some common linguistic patterns in his columns:

  • "[relatives] must be proud."[11][12]
  • "[Cultural element] gets ugly."[13][14]
  • Rhetorical questions[15]
  • "The [adjective] [object of cultural importance]"[16][17]
  • "[] vs. []"[18][19]
  • Alliterations[20][21][22][23]
  • Self-plagiarism?[24]
  • The year in review
  • On prom and dirty dancing: "If I were chaperoning one of these dances and a boy attempted to perform this kind of lewd activity on my teen-aged daughter, I’d have a solution. I wouldn’t ask him please not to simulate anal sex on her. I wouldn’t refer him to the contract he signed at school. I’d beat the stuffing out of him."[25]

Footnotes

  1. Example: "Brent Bozell and the PTC: Can the FCC Declare Them Obscene?" by Matt Littman, The Huffington Post, July 25, 2008
  2. Brent Bozell Unhinged
  3. "Music and Politics." Crossfire. CNN: August 5, 2004.
  4. A Year of Anti-Religious Bigotry. March 6, 2010.
  5. Jesus, Mohammed, and Comedy Central. May 15, 2010.
  6. Doritos and Pepsi Mock God. January 8, 2011. "...these businessmen know what they’re doing and obviously didn’t fear an ad that is offensive to Christians. Never in a million years would they ever countenance the idea of similarly insulting Muslims. As one wag joked on Twitter: “I'm sure any day now we'll see a commercial where Muslims turn their prayer mats to point at the new 2011 Lexus LS." Our national media, so exquisitely attuned to the monitors of “homophobia” and “Islamophobia” find no offense whatsoever in this online “Christophobia.” In fact, in the past, they have either ignored this sacrament-trashing...or enjoyed it."
  7. NPR's Religion Double Standard. October 26, 2010. Regarding the firing of Juan Williams of NPR for saying that he gets nervous when he sees people wearing Muslim garb on flights; points out that NPR has made jokes and commentary negatively toward Christianity before.
  8. Mad As Hell
  9. Johnson, Larry. "Brent Bozell, Chicken?" Booman Tribune: November 28, 2005.
  10. Bozell exemplifying how to diss movies without ever having seen them: "[Slim Cinema Pickings." October 20, 2008.
  11. "Porn-Rap Degrades Women" (July 22, 2005): Regarding the Ying Yang Twins: "Who puts out this filth for the amoral echo chambers at radio stations and BET and MTV? It’s TVT Records, one of the nation’s largest independent record labels, founded by Steve Gottlieb in his New York apartment in 1985. The label’s web site notes Gottlieb’s Yale and Harvard Law degrees and that “He is married and is the proud father of two children.” And they must be so proud of Dad, too."
  12. "Tila Tequila, MTV's Latest Poison" (November 30, 2007): Ends column by saying "Her parents must be so proud" after discussing Tila's immigrant parents and Tila's immoral porn career and MTV show.
  13. "Opie Gets Ugly" (April 30, 2009)
  14. "Beauty Pageants Get Ugly" (April 27, 2009): About Carrie Prejean, the controversial Miss USA winner who opposed gay marriage
  15. Endless examples: News columns and Entertainment columns
  16. "The Growing Anti-Porn Bookshelf" (September 22, 2005)
  17. "The Incomplete Anti-Imus Lobby" (April 12, 2007)
  18. "Congress vs. Gangsta Rap" (October 5, 2007)
  19. "Moms vs. Hip-Hop" (October 20, 2006)
  20. "Terrifying "Teen Choice" Champions" (August 19, 2005)
  21. "Breathtakingly Bold Barack?" (March 24, 2009)
  22. "World Wild Web" (December 18, 2008)
  23. "Colbert Shreds Sunday School" (December 1, 2008)
  24. He wrote two columns titled "Hillary vs. Hollywood", one in 2005 with a question mark in title and a revision two years later without the question mark.
  25. Nightmare on Prom Street. June 6, 2008.
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