Limbaugh gets called out for nasty behavior. But what about everyone else?
As you know by now, syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh made a rather nasty comment on his nationally syndicated radio show last week calling Georgetown student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” after she testified in Congress on difficulty obtaining contraception and felt she needed public assistance.
As you can imagine, all hell broke loose.
As of this writing, nearly forty advertisers have pulled their advertising from the Limbaugh The Clown Show. He issued an “apology”, but he continued his assaults on Ms. Fluke, and stood defiant.
But here’s something to think about: if Rush Limbaugh – a racist, sexist, bigoted asshole if there ever was one… is any worse than the just-as-retarded idiots you see on cable reality TV shows?
It’s interesting to note that reality TV shows like Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, and any Kardashian show celebrates bad behavior as much as Limbaugh does and yet continues to enjoy strong advertiser support (and large female audiences) – and these shows demean women as much as Limbaugh does on his show.
It’s also interesting to note that many female columnists slam Limbaugh for his sexist comments, but give a free pass to NeNe Leakes & Co. and ignore whenever Snooki and J-Woww get on TV and slap each other around silly.
Welcome to this nice perk called “selective outrage”, where people – on the left AND right sides of the political spectrum – can select anything issue they want and complain about it. While what I am about to describe comes from a variety of political stances, they share one thing in common – they’re all hypocrites.
As noted, Limbaugh said those nasty comments about Ms. Fluke – but he’s said much worse – particularly about minorities. Where were the advertiser pullouts then? Is slamming a female more offensive than Limbaugh saying African-Americans shouldn’t be allowed to ride city buses?
And just a few weeks ago, the Rev. Michael Pflager blasted ABC’s The Bachelor over the show’s portrayal of women in what turned out to be a non-story (you know it is when the once-relevant Sun-Times had it up on as a top story on its website.) Excuse me, but isn’t Jersey Shore, Flavor Of Love, The Real Housewives of Atlanta or Basketball Wives portray women even worse, particularly African-Americans on the latter three shows? At least Bachelor’s contestants aren’t on the floor bitch-slapping one another.
And what about the equally-as-hypocritical Parents Television Council? While they have targeted the since-canceled Skins, they’ve never said anything about Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, or Real Housewives.
Yeah, let’s talk about Real Housewives of Atlanta and Basketball Wives for a minute. These two minstrel shows fuel so many racial stereotypes, it isn’t remotely funny. The women on these shows are just as mean, nasty, rude, and probably as racist as Limbaugh is. Heffers NeNe Leakes and Sheree Whitfield are a huge embarrassment for African-American women everywhere, wiping out any gains made. So tell me why does Rev. Pflager says nothing about Atlanta and Basketball Wives, who demean the African-American community? (In fact, where is the outrage in our community over these shows?) Is Pflager afraid to lose parishioners of his church if he says something the congregation doesn’t like?
Yes, I know television and radio programming and the entertainment industry shouldn’t be held to any high standard (and if you think it should be, please seek immediate medical attention.) But you wonder if the mediums are actually depowering women instead of empowering them (look at how many females came to R&B star Chris Brown’s defense after assaulting Rihanna a few years ago – and even she’s warming up to him again.) According to a recent column written by Laura Berman of The Detroit News regarding recent attacks on women in the suburb of Hamtramck (which borders Detroit on nearly all four sides), Mayor Karen Majewski saw a link to Limbaugh’s comments as she told Ms. Berman: “I thought of Rush Limbaugh, because those type of statements, left unchallenged, creates an atmosphere that devalues women.”
Unfortunately, this is ever so true. All you have to do is tune in to any local newscast in Chicago or log on to the Tribune’s website on any given hour on any given day, and you’ll hear (or read) about women getting sexually assaulted, raped, shot, and hurt – particularly here on the South Side and on the West Side – where these types of incidents make headlines for thirty seconds before they’re forgotten as the local news media moves on to the next crime.
As for Limabugh, many hope his latest dumb comments will drive him off the air. Yeah, keep dreaming – it won’t happen. And as I mentioned in a Think Tank after Don Imus was fired after the Rutgers women’s basketball controversy, there are plenty of others like him still out there on the airwaves if Limbaugh were to step down.
Yeah, Limbaugh does have the First Amendment right to make stupid statements and prejudiced comments, and to make an ass out of himself on a daily basis, yada, yada, yada. But sometimes, yours truly wishes this jerk doesn’t receive any more ammunition to further his hatred for humanity.