(Though the reverse is true.)<\/p>\n
Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat, idiot. To coin a phrase.<\/p>\n
I have about a five minute tolerance for listing to Rush on the radio. He’s clever and witty and all that, but usually after about five minutes, the safety valve on my blood pressure starts hissing madly, and I need to change to another station.<\/p>\n
I have minimal interest in pro sports, and when I heard that Limbaugh was doing a stint on ESPN football coverage, I scratched my head at the bizarre juxtaposition, then forgot about it.<\/p>\n
Until, of course, the contretemps <\/i>as to his comments<\/a>. And now he’s resigned <\/a>under fire.<\/p>\n The irony is that he was roundly blasted for “racist” remarks, when his remarks were not, so far as I can see, racist at all — except, insofar, as they (a) referred to race, and (b) referred to folks making decisions based on race. <\/p>\n What Limbaugh said that got him in trouble was the following, about Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, who happens to be black: <\/p>\n I don’t think he’s been that good from the get-go. I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well; I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team, that he really didn’t deserve.<\/p>\n I don’t know that I’ve ever seen McNabb play. I don’t usually follow the Eagles (I barely follow the Broncos). <\/p>\n But I do know that there’s been a lot of criticism of the NFL in the past over the dearth of black QBs and coaches (which is exactly what Limbaugh noted). Indeed, the NFL <\/i>has been called racist over that shortage, and anyone who has explicitly defended it (say, Jimmy the Greek) has been branded racist as well.<\/p>\n So Limbaugh speculates, offers his opinion, that McNabb is (a) not all that great of a QB, and (b) is getting favorable treatment from the NFL because of his skin color.<\/p>\n He didn’t say that McNabb was a bad QB because <\/i>he was black. He said he was getting a pass (so to speak) by the NFL because of his color.<\/p>\n Which, when it’s couched in terms of hiring quotas and affirmative action and so forth, anywhere but in the NFL, is defended as being a Good Thing, benefiting society, righting past wrongs, pursuing social justice. But, evidently, if it’s what’s being done in the NFL — excuse me, if it’s what someone opines <\/i>that is being done in the NFL — then that opinion is racism.<\/p>\n Huh?<\/p>\n Was Limbaugh’s assessment of McNabb’s quality as a QB wrong? I have no idea. Certainly sports commentators express their opinions about who’s a great athlete, and who isn’t, every day, without getting in trouble. If Limbaugh had only said, “I don’t think he’s been that good from the get-go. He got a lot of credit for the performance of his team, that he really didn’t deserve,” folks could and would debate what he had to say, but nobody would call for his firing. Criticizing a sportsman’s performance is not racist, unless, one would think, the criticism is ascribed to his race.<\/p>\n Were Limbaugh’s statements impolitic? Obviously. But that’s not racism.<\/p>\n Were Limbaugh’s comments about the NFL, or the Eagles, wrong? Hard to say. I doubt there’s a memo in someone’s file that says, “Hire this guy, it will make the league look better.” And it seems that a team, at least, would hardly start a QB that was marginal, only because of his color. On the other hand, what’s said around conference tables or on the phone is a different matter, and certainly I suspect that there were those in the league who were pleased at another starting QB who was black — to deflect that racism charge, if for no other reason.<\/p>\n But whether Limbaugh was wrong or right about it, there’s nothing racist about his comments. They’re ascribing social or political agendas to the media and to the league, effectively calling them <\/i>racist. It’s ironic that folks can accuse the NFL of being racist for having too few black QBs and not draw any any criticism, but that calling them racist for coddling a black QB is branded as racism in and of itself.<\/p>\n Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat idiot, and he may well be racist; I don’t listen enough to his show to say. But anyone who applies that label to these specific remarks is ascribing a quality to them that is just not there, and is therefore playing politics with the language. They are diluting the perniciousness of racism itself, turning it into something that means, “Anything that criticizes the job of someone who isn’t white.” Which is kind of idiotic itself. And <\/i>racist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Though the reverse is true.) Rush Limbaugh is a big, fat, idiot. To coin a phrase. I have about a five minute tolerance for listing to Rush on the radio….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130789,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/03\/rush-limbaugh-is-charitably-disingenuous.html","url_meta":{"origin":4275,"position":0},"title":"Rush Limbaugh is … charitably, disingenuous","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 3-Jun-16 4:05am","format":false,"excerpt":"I am giving Rush the benefit of the doubt here, because while I think his espoused views tend to be loathsome, I've never thought he was actually stupid, just fiendishly clever in trying to gin up a conservative audience.So when he starts making facile arguments about evolution, complaining about a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27308,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/02\/rush-limbaugh-concerned-about-the-black-community.html","url_meta":{"origin":4275,"position":1},"title":"Rush Limbaugh: Concerned about the Black Community","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 2-Apr-12 9:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Black Community, when Rush expresses concern over the harm of something, he's quite probably actually concerned, but not for your sake. #ddtb Embedded Link Limbaugh On Trayvon Martin: \u2018This Story Is Doing More Harm To The Black Community Than Anything Else\u2019 This afternoon, right-wing radio host Rush Limabugh said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2Frally-300x177.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12456,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/28\/maybe_hes_on_his_meds_aga.html","url_meta":{"origin":4275,"position":2},"title":"Maybe he’s on his “meds” again …","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Apr-08 3:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot. Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments that appear to call for riots in Denver during...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/rush.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":134561,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/06\/rush-limbaugh-dolt-great-big-wind-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":4275,"position":3},"title":"Rush Limbaugh is a Dolt (Great Big Wind Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Sep-17 10:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, I know. We all thought Rush was gone. Yet he keeps bobbing back up like a bad penny. Or ... something large and fatty that keeps bobbing back up. Anyway, in this bit of blather, Rush manages to convey all of the following points viz the impending Hurricane Irma:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Rush-Hurricane-Irma.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Rush-Hurricane-Irma.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Rush-Hurricane-Irma.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23826,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/11\/17\/what-we-all-wouldnt-give-for-a-rush-limbaugh-intimidated-into-craven.html","url_meta":{"origin":4275,"position":4},"title":"What we all wouldn't give for a Rush Limbaugh "intimidated into craven …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 17-Nov-11 11:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"What we all wouldn't give for a Rush Limbaugh \"intimidated into craven silence\"Of course, to believe that, we'd have to live inside of Bryan Fischer's brain, and not even a silent Rush Limbaugh is worth that. #ddtb Embedded Link Fischer: Rush Limbaugh Has Been \"Intimidated\" And \"Compromised\" By The Homosexual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27027,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/10\/bill-maher-i-can-defend-free-speech-without-listening-to-every-nut-on-the-stree.html","url_meta":{"origin":4275,"position":5},"title":"Bill Maher, I can defend free speech without listening to every nut on the stree…","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Mar-12 12:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill Maher, I can defend free speech without listening to every nut on the streetI think I see where Maher is coming from here: it's a good thing to listen to folks who we disagree with, the echo chamber is a dangerous place to be, a free society includes freedom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}