I realized that when I was talking about rules the other day, it was more a question of thinking for myself than it was of being a "rebel" of any sort. Believe me. I ain't no rebel.
It's just that I am not genetically inclined to follow along down any path that has loud-mouthed cheerleader banging a drum and waving a flag in front of me. I don't know why. That's just not me.
Which is probably why when I go over to the Facebook I feel approximately the same way as I do if I happen to land on a radio station spouting Rush or Glenn or one of those loudmouth cheerleaders banging a big drum and waving a flag.
I am just perverse, I guess.
But godDAMN, there are a lot of cheerleaders banging drums and waving big flags on Facebook. They may not be AMERICAN flags, but they are still flags. Everyone has their own little agenda, you know? And I may agree with many of them but I just get so annoyed. Some people post so many links to liberal articles on Facebook that I can't imagine they have time to do anything in the world except read liberal articles and post the links on Facebook. Some people link articles about organic eating and gardening. Some people post links to articles about women's rights or gay rights or kids' rights or, hell, I don't know. These are all things I believe in deeply but somehow, all of that posturing just annoys the shit out of me and really makes me wonder if any of these things influence anybody in any way. Since we're dealing with our "friends" aren't we sort of singing to the choir here?
Then there are the people who post those cute quotes or those self-affirming quotes or whatever quotes and they sort of make me want to throw up.
Really? Are we adults here?
What I like about Facebook are pictures of people's kids (I'm not kidding you) and information about where bands will be playing and how your surgery went. That pretty much sums it up for me. I like the conversational aspect of it, not the preachy aspect.
And here's another thing. Yesterday I got (because somehow I am on Moveon.org's mailing list) an invitation to sign a petition to send to Clear Channel to get Rush Limbaugh off the air. And now it's all over Facebook.
Okay. No.
Isn't Clear Channel a privately owned corporation? Now, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think my tax dollars pay for it. Having said that, if I don't want to listen to the spewers of hate and filth and misinformation, I don't have to and therefore, it ain't my business what they host on their stations, right?
Again, correct me if I am wrong.
So how in hell do I have a right to tell a private business they need to get rid of one of their radio programs? I think that in the Rush case, the thing that's going to ultimately get him off the air is his own fat mouth and the rush of his advertisers to abandon him. And the court system if someone successfully sues him for slander or whatever and if I were Sandra Fluke, I would sue the motherfucking shit out of him.
But it is not my right to try and shut his fat mouth up. This is America, dammit, and we have freedom of speech here, even if the speech is that of a humongous toad-like creature with a brain the size of a low-dose drop of LSD. (And I personally think that Rush should DO some LSD but that's another topic and not what I came here to discuss.)
Let's face it- there are people who not only agree with Rush but who worship him because he manages to get away with spewing his invective ON THE AIR and if we make a martyr out of this toad, it's not going to be pretty.
In this case, I say let the market place decide.
The man went over the edge and said something so foul and so blatantly misogynistic and just plain nasty that only the most ignorant and hateful of people could possibly agree with him. This led to many of his advertisers pulling off of his show and two radio stations (so far) dropping him from their line-up so I would say the system is working pretty well.
Look- I'm not defending Rush Limbaugh. I just know that as a thinking human being I have the choice to listen to his shit or not and I have chosen not to and that's good enough for me. I am not the woman he slandered, although I realize that as a woman and as a mother of women, I do have some dog in this hunt but he's so obviously being ridiculous and intentionally inflammatory that it just doesn't make sense to get all worked up about it.
He's a shithead. Yeah. We knew that. Shitheads say shithead things.
This is America. You can be a shithead and you can say shithead things.
Hey! I'm not in jail yet!
So no. I will not be signing that petition unless one of y'all straighten me out here on the subject and give me some information I'm missing.
And yes, dammit, I will continue to check out the Facebook now and then because sometimes in the middle of all the dreck there will always be a nugget of goodness that I laugh about or cherish. Maybe. But don't lecture me, okay? And don't PREACH to me. If I wanted to be preached to, I would go to church.
I'd rather just think for myself.
Which is why I listen to NPR and not the Rush or Glenn show. I mean- Jesus. It's so easy.
And let's not make a martyr out of a gasbag. Those people already want us to believe in their paranoid fantasies. Let's not make them real for god's sake.
All right. That's what I have to say today. Agree with me if you want, click away if you don't. I ain't got no advertisers and I ain't got no flag. Unless maybe it's a freak flag. I'm not a cheerleader and I don't have a drum. Owen does. He beats the hell out of it and then he says, "Too loud," and he covers his ears and then he beats on it again, just as loud as before.
But he's two-and-a-half.
He'll grow out of that.
Rush obviously never did but thankfully, I don't have to let him into my living room. If some people want to, that's their right. And we all have to remember that, I think. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech and if I believe in anything, it's that.
Well, and a lot of other stuff, too if you get right down to it, but that's a big one.
Rush isn't a politician and he's not making any rules. Well, none that I have to follow. He's an entertainer and he doesn't entertain me so I don't listen to him.
I think that about sums it up for me.
Yours truly...Ms. Moon
Here, here!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking a lot about the balance between free speech and hate speech. Does Rush L have the right to spout whatever hate filled bull he wants? Yes. Do I like it. No. Do I think he's a dangerous nut-job who should stop taking so many prescription drugs? YES. Did he shout "death to the slut"? No. Therefore, I think he has the right to say what he wants and we have the right to tell him he's the biggest asshole in the entire nation right now. Congratulations Rush.
ReplyDeleteI was sort of thinking about this earlier. I would never sign a petition just to get him off the air (for one thing, that would never ever work). On the other hand, I certainly would let advertisers know that I can't support them if they are supporting that kind of hate speech.
ReplyDeleteHey, there's not a way for me to mark that I want to follow replies anymore.
that's the trouble with free speech........ people get to speak freely!!!
ReplyDeleteI like that he's on the radio because it makes it easier for me to profile the idiots. I changed insurance agents when I heard my agent listening to Rush in his office.
ReplyDeletePlus, as a historian, I appreciate that the bullshit is documented so that when folks look back and wonder what the hell went wrong-there is evidence.
Free speech is fundamental in our society.
As is education... this is the real issue- the same folks that love Rush like to cut education to keep the country stupid.
I am SO with you on the facebook thing. I am friends with people who have extremely varied beliefs. I know my own beliefs and I do not need to see all these links and quotes and crap. Same as you, I want to see pictures of your family and hear about the daily goings-on.
ReplyDeleteAmen and Amen.
ReplyDeleteSay what you want, and say it nicely, and we may listen to each other and discuss and end up friends even if we disagree. Say it nastily, and i will change the channel.
Hmmm, I think the entire republican party could use a dose of LSD....or a chill pill at the least.
ReplyDeleteThey should remove Rush and give YOU a talk show - we would all be so much better off and happier too!! I'm just so glad you are able to speak your mind so well and that it is such a beautiful mind :)
Did the beast come out last night??
I like the crazy mix of topics on fb -- even the links to political discussions. Of course, we are usually preaching to the choir, and thanks okay. If I read an interesting article that I think my fb friends would appreciate, I link to it. They can read it or not. I put up plenty of photos of the grandson to balance the whole thing out.
ReplyDeleteUGH. I hear you, Ms. Moon.
ReplyDeleteToad is right. The more I hear from this brigade of self serving loonies, the greater a sense of disquiet I feel. Even though I'm so far away, the scale of wrongness seems far reaching and grand.
ReplyDeleteWe have plenty of conservative stupid people in power here, but it's a far smaller scale of influence, so it doesn't seem as scary - more irritating. But I'm as alarmed at the thought of these people being in control of me and my daughter as I would be of a Muslim regime taking over.
One woman commenter, in response to the news of Obama's phone call to Sandra Fluke to tell her her was proud of her, said she feared for Obama's daughters. !! I fear for them too - I fear that one of the legion of crazy bigots who don't understand how humanity is meant to work will decide to assassinate those girls' loving, intelligent father, and they will lose him. That's what I fear.
I actually like all the links and articles and stuff on FB -- and I skim right over the boring stuff -- but in a larger sense I find it amazing how things go viral and how people from all over the world are privy to information (agreed that some of the "information" is pretty useless!). As for Rush, yes, I'm for free speech, but I have a more dire view of him than you might -- I feel like people like him are ultimately rewarded in our culture (he has a $400 million contract -- did you know that?) and, sadly, money is what "talks" in our country and when that money is tied to power/politics -- well, it's a lot more scary. I think signing a petition is free speech, too; after all, if you don't get enough names, you don't get what you want.
ReplyDeleteChrissy- Thanks for your support!
ReplyDeleteTerena- He's probably at least the biggest asshole with his own on-air presence.
DTG- I have no idea about the replies following thing. I didn't even realize there WAS one.
I agree- how could a petition like that one work? And yes- you have to hit where it hurts- his advertisers.
Young At Heart- Even the blowhards.
And boy, does he blow hard.
Magnum- I just love you. You're completely right about education.
Lora- And we can totally do that!
messymimi- And that's how it works.
liv- I saw no signs of the beast. None. Thanks, baby. And no talk show for me. But that would be interesting. For me.
Taradharma- We all use FB as we want. That, too, if our right.
Sometimes I just get so tired of being told what to think which is how these constant links make me feel.
Also, as if I too cannot read the Huff Post.
nicol- I am thinking of you. Wondering if you're getting any spring yet.
Jo- Well, Rush isn't in charge of anything. And the threat of assassination is always here with us and yes, there are many of us who have been deathly afraid of this ever since Obama got elected. I'm sorry the US is such a monster sometimes.
Elizabeth- I'm afraid I take a jaded eye to it. I know that there are probably people on Facebook who post links to articles which inflame the right and "inform" them too. Would the Birther thing ever gone anywhere without social media? I don't know. And of course you are right- Rush IS rewarded in our culture for his hatred. That's just the truth. Can I do anything about that? I can't see how. I hate it as much as you do but it's the way our culture operates and short of moving to another country where intelligence is perhaps more widely regarded and rewarded, I am not sure what I can do about it. I do speak out, as do you. I think in my case, though, I am merely mostly making myself feel better. YOU, however, do inform and enlighten your readers and I love you for that. And for about ten million other reasons.
Ah yes, freedom of speech is a fine thing.......but at what point does that freedom become a dangerous weapon?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could take Rush and his ilk as lightly as you do, Mary, but I can't. I worry about the harm he is able to do with his free speech.
I fear and dread his influence. Hate mongers do more than dispense hate, they stir their stupid followers to commit terrible deeds.
If you think that Rush and Glenn are just harmless creeps I must disagree......but then...... I had to live through Hitler.
Lo- Oh, I do not take those men's influence lightly at all. I do not think they are harmless creeps. I also don't think any of them have the nads to get up and do anything. As such, they are not Hitler-ish. Now- could and do they inflame people who could? I don't know. But it seems to me that THOSE crazies are quite capable of inflaming themselves. Just because an Oklahoma bomber listened to one or more of these guys (and I do not know at all if that's the truth), it doesn't mean that Rush or Glenn was the thing that made them do what they did. Fuel to the fire, perhaps, but can we point to it and say, "That was the match?" I don't know. I honestly do not know.
ReplyDeleteNor do I, Mary.....but I do feel that there are a gazillion dimwits out there who are full of hidden hate and perhaps feel that it may not be a good thing to hate.
ReplyDeleteThen along comes
Rush and he is given a soapbox, carte blanch to hate and a huge sphere of influence. If he is allowed to voice the hate so freely that they may feel a bit ashamed about, suddenly their hate is confirmed, given blessing and encouraged.
I dunno......I have often considering sacrificing my final years for the good of the many and figuring out a way to put poison in his soup.
Is anyone willing to encourage me?
Oh, I forgot one scary thing........those dimwits the Rushes and Glenns influence may even VOTE.
ReplyDeleteLo- NO! You cannot spend the rest of your life in jail. And I feel, sadly, that if Rush disappeared, another jerk-off would arise to take his place. And I think that anyone who would listen to Rush and his ilk are already not inclined to vote the Democratic party.
ReplyDeleteThe worst part about the right wing nuts is that they are so convincing for so many people. People actually believe what Rush says and that of others who spew their propaganda. It creates more and more polarization between people. I wonder if the chasm gets much bigger, what will happen? Will the red and blue states re-enact the Great Unpleasantness? The times are ripe for major civil unrest. And if the economy continues to slide and the flames of hatred are fanned, who knows what will happen?
ReplyDeleteRe FB--I don't care much about the intimate details of the lives of acquaintances. But if there is a good dialogue about something of importance, like what you wrote here, then I would like to read about it. FB just seems so lame to me.