Posted by
Josh on Thursday, October 26, 2006 3:42:06 PM
As anyone with half a brain, the ability to read, and a connection to another physical human being has no doubt realized by now, America is no longer a safe place to make simplistic, non-political observations. And as you no doubt have noticed, since anyone who took the time to sign up, click the link, and start reading this obviously has all three of the aforementioned requisites, this is celebrated. I am of course reffering to the tidal wave of outrage over Rush Limbaugh's remarks towards the Michael J. Fox add supporting democratic senatorial candidate Claire McCaskill. Now lets be the bigger group and remove all biases and leanings for just a moment (not long, I promise) to examine the actual remarks that were made by Mr. Limbaugh on his radio program. I am personally a subscriber, so I was listening as he said these things. They didnt strike me as anything but observations of his appearance, but anyways, lets see if I can find a quote. Ahhh, here it is, prepare to be shocked;
"He was either of his medication, or he was acting. He is an actor, after all"
Which part of that is offensive, mocking in nature, or in any way derogatory or hurtful? I saw the ad, and Fox is (sadly) appearing to be almost entirely out of control. Mr. Limbaugh simply made a surface level observation, about the physical state of Michael J. Fox. Notice how no one has yet to come out in reponse to anything else that Rush has said, and he has said a lot, his primary beef is with the fact that the ad is misleading, not that Fox was showing symptoms.
I spent the last 30 minutes or so reading some of the left wing blogs, and I must say that I am absolutely stunned. Look at this quote from The Stranger,
"As Limbaugh knows little about Parkinson’s Disease (or laying off the meds), this is further proof that he should be forcibly restrained while his scrotum is punctured by the pointy sticks of laughing school children."
How is that a response to anything Rush stated? Even if you were to limit his words to the pre-apology segments, where he was talking about it seeming overblown, this is an entire differant world of reaction. Theres not even an inkling of rational thought put into this.
The responses, even after a brave conservative (or at least a fair-minded person) posted basically transcripts of Mr. Limbaugh's actual words, their responses were nonetheless vile, hurtful, and sometimes even lethal. One commentator went so far as to say that the only apology he would accept, would be suicide!
This isnt a defense of Rush Limbaugh (who did nothing wrong), though for the record, what he did was nothing compared to the words of George Clooney and his literal, repetitve attacks on Charleton Heston, who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. This is a pointing out that the bridge between left and right is now broken, there is literally no way to reach these people anymore.
Lets face the facts and realities, freedom of speech is only for liberals and S-P's. Their Clooneys can make fun of our Hestons, their Golbergs can make insanely disrespectful comments and comparisons about our Presidents, but if we make a non-political observation about the way someones physical state looks in a political ad, we deserve to have our scrotums punctured with the pointy sticks of laughing school children.
The appropriate response to any liberal or S-P I have now decided upon is this, "Mamoo dog-face Banana-patch". If they want to talk nonsense, Ill accomodate. When they want to talk about issues, Ill engage in real conversation.