I went on a camping trip to a ranch this weekend and in front of my wife and friends, told my son, "Don't be turd dude!"
He was whining about wanting to go and hang out in the trailer, which he and my daughter has already put into a complete state of disarray and broken the door handle off. He didn't want to hang around outside enjoying the fresh air, playing in the hay and with the dogs.
The word turd was on my mind after reading a favorite quote of a friend on FaceBook which read... "If you're going to be a turd, go lie on the lawn"
Anyway, my use of the word garnered much hilarity amongst the friends... My accent is mostly South African, with a hint of Kiwi, and some Utahn sprinkled in for good measure.
Apparently when I say Turd, it sounds very 'proper'.
But that's not the point of this post. Following some heated discussion with a reader following my last post, he pointed me toward an article. He also send me some Glenn Beck audio.
I should add that although this reader and I differ more often than not, and are both likely the cause for heads being banged against computer desks in in both our homes, it's always an informative debate and I don't think I've had a discussion with him where I haven't learned anything.
Let hit Glenn first.
Dammit Glenn! You're a funny guy and you have an excellent way of putting things. I think you could be a real influence for good on this country... That said though... Being a TURD and saying dumb stuff like I mentioned in the previous post make it really hard to listen to you. Even after I lost faith in Bush, the Republicans, Hannity and Rush, I still liked to listen to you everyday on the way home from work, but then it got to the point where every time I turned on, it was the end of the world, and the Apocalypse was coming and all of that crap. I suspect I may have had bad timing, and perhaps by turning on at the same time as I left work every day, I was just hitting right at the point in your show when you planned to do that stuff. I just couldn't listen to it, and still arrive home 30 minutes later, not wanting to find a cliff to drive off.
It's a great pity! Glenn you could be so much more. Get off the political stuff and come back to normal fun stuff. A little less gloom and doom and a little more 109.5 The Frog and Moron Trivia. I swear I'll come back if you do! I'll even subscribe to the newsletter that it took me 6 months to get unsubscribed from. Perhaps I'll even back order the 2007 copies of Fusion magazine which I put in the trash last week. A little more fusion between entertainment and enlightment and a little less bidding to your conservative masters.
Now lets hit the article. It made a lot of sense and pointed out some very real problems. If I may quote...
With the Republican party leaderless and in backbiting disarray following its destruction by the ideologically incoherent George W. Bush, Democrats are apparently eager to join the hara-kiri brigade. What looked like smooth coasting to the 2010 election has now become a nail-biter. Both major parties have become a rats' nest of hypocrisy and incompetence. That, combined with our stratospheric, near-criminal indebtedness to China (which could destroy the dollar overnight), should raise signal flags. Are we like late Rome, infatuated with past glories, ruled by a complacent, greedy elite, and hopelessly powerless to respond to changing conditions?
To all those TURDS in Washington... Seriously guys, what the hell is wrong with you.
The article is here. I would highly recommend it and a huge thanks to Mr. D. Sirmize for the find.
Camille Paglia is one of my favorite columnists.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Glenn Beck has strayed far from his original appeal to me, which was humor. He's a funny, funny dude. I agree with most of his political view, but the doom and gloom has definitely dominated the show in recent years.
In that audio I sent you yesterday, you may have heard the voice of Pat Gray. Pat is Glenn's best friend, with whom he worked as a DJ way back when. Up until a few weeks ago, Pat had his own talk show in the Houston market.
Glenn actually hired Pat and moved him to NYC as sort of a counterbalance and to reintroduce humor to the show. So Glenn realizes this too. Pat is Glenn's attempt to return to his roots.
By the way, speaking of Keith Olbermann a few comment threads back, Olbermann the other day endorsed Glenn Beck's 9/12 project.
And for a bit of talk radio trivia, it isn't all kum-bay-ya in the land of talk radio. Glenn and Hannity hate each other's guts. Both have other talker friends that have polarized too. It's kinda like east coast vs. west coast rap. There's a definite rivalry there, even though it rarely surfaces on the air.
Like I've said before, I think you and I agree on 95% of the issues, and we're not too far off on the others... Well maybe social policies, but I think the intent is likely the same, while the methods would be the difference.
ReplyDeleteI heard Pat - and was wondering if he had replaced Stu, so that explains that. And then I heard Stu later, and figured I'd gotten confused...
And I did hear Keith comment on the 9/12 project - it's actually in the clip I included on the post.
I think everyone is looking for some civility now - perhaps that was a big draw for Obama. From what I saw, if you take away all the issues and just compared Obama and McCain on just the point of being willing to speak with and treat the other side with civility, I think Obama would have won that hands down. I think McCain tried towards the end, but in my opinion, the introduction of Palin, and whomever started email campaigns attacking Obama (the Extremist terrorist and Racist ones), probably cost McCain the election.
But with that said, I think our civilization and our culture almost requires an enemy. It's the old dichotomy of good vs. evil, light vs. dark and us vs. them.
I blogged on it a few years ago, and I think it may have been one of the posts that got my parents all pissed with me, but it's true. Even the 9/12 idea, is based in the attitude after 9/12 where we all banded together and were willing to cooperate against the enemy. I really like the idea of cooperation, but I just wish it could happen without a having a force against which we need to battle.
A common enemy is a powerful force, but I don't think we need it. I think it's something which has been introduced to our culture, and almost causes more harm than good.
My 2 cents at least!