rush and mcnabb

[rone]

Ralph Wiley speaks at length about the Limbaugh-McNabb hoopla. It is good reading and it goes beyond some of the thoughts i had.

Comments

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

This article was well-written.

I, along with Al Franken, think Rush is a big fat idiot. He was clearly the wrong guy on this one, too, lest anybody misread what I'm about to type as a defense of his opinion.

But when is this particular wrong opinion going to stop being regarded as so dangerous? If Rush had predicted the Eagles were going to lose, and they won instead, would he have had to resign in disgrace? No.

I don't like the idea that some ideas are so inherently wrong - or even so dangerous - that they must needs be shouted down. This particular debate is a dumb one, but did it have to be squashed? And did it have to end Rush's football-broadcasting career? Does holding one wrong idea make you unemployable? What if he came forward and apologized for being wrong? What if he maybe learned something, and in the process maybe some of his fans learned something too?

This happened to John Vanbiesbrouck not too long ago. The goalie-turned-coach repeatedly called one of his players a 'nigger' while berating them. Totally inappropriate behavior. He resigned, giving a public speech in which, crying, he said "It's an old wound with me.. I've been trying to get over it."

Jesus! What crime is this punishment fitting, exactly?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Tom Jackson immediately challenged Rush's assertion on the show in a cogent manner (which, if you've seen or read Tom Jackson's stuff, is amazing in itself). As i and others have said, if we fired or asked for the resignation of any sportscaster who said something mindbendingly stupid, we wouldn't have any (which might not be an entirely bad thing).

I think a big part of this is Rush's public perception as a right-wing dolt. I will admit that my immediate reaction was that his comment was racist; fortunately, some friends talked me down. It isn't a racist statement, but it's certainly a loaded statement because he's injecting race into the situation.

I also wonder if Rush's resignation was a bit of self-martyrization. He claimed that he did it because the other people on the show were being pressured about the whole thing, so he looks gallant by quitting: Let not my colleagues suffer on my behalf! I'm sure he can turn this event into another best-selling book.

[kodi]

No, this is what Rush's resignation was:

"All this has become the tempest that it is because I must have been right about something," Limbaugh said. "If I wasn't right, there wouldn't be this cacophony of outrage that has sprung up in the sports writer community."

If he argued about it, people could have argued back. Here, he closes his position in the debate entirely - which is precisely his style. Anyone who disagreed with him to begin with will still disagree, but the people who buy what he's selling will eat it up, and champion him for having proven once again how wrong-headedly liberal the media is.

("According to Arbitron's Spring 2003 survey, Rush was number one in eight of the top 10 radio markets." Damn that liberal media.)

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Liberal media or no, Rush gets the ratings. Stations would play fart sounds if that's what people listened to

[gallifreyan.livejournal.com]

Maybe the Beach Boys could do a reunion album.

[kodi]

Yeah, I'd just anticipate that at some point, the fart sounds would admit that they are the media.