Fairness Doctorine Amusement

Kevin Drum discusses the conservative belief that liberals are just itchin' to reimpose the Fairness Doctrine, obessing about it far and wide despite the current apparent utter lack of interest on the part of liberals in doing it.  FCC formally laid that to rest on Monday, axing this and other "outdated" rules.

But first, let's look at what Wikipedia says the Fairness Doctrine (in use 1948-1987) means:

The Fairness Doctrine had two basic elements: It required broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters. Stations were given wide latitude as to how to provide contrasting views: It could be done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials. The doctrine did not require equal time for opposing views but required that contrasting viewpoints be presented.

Kevin Drum points to Google image search results on the topic of Fairness Doctrine.  Many are from conservative political cartoonists.  I was highly amused that the Fairness Doctrine, which required that contrasting views be presented, was interpreted repeatedly as meaning that conservative voices would be silenced, that they would be gagged.  Go take a look for yourself.

In case Google search results change eventually, here's a few examples.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Either they don't understand the Fairness Doctrine-which would be odd considering how long right-wingers have howled about it-or they truly believe that the presence of dissenting voices is the same as silencing their own voices.  What that says about their beliefs or ideals, I don't know-that it's so weak?