Now I'm rested, and think for awhile I might be amused again.
Posted on 05/04/2005 5:59:04 AM PDT by OESY
I'll get to First Lady Laura Bush's bawdy stand-up routine in a minute. But I want to highlight a related new book out about how young conservatives are shaking up the dominant liberal media culture. It's called "South Park Conservatives." My name is listed on the cover along with many other (mostly) right-leaning pundits, websites, and bloggers, but I must confess to having mixed feelings about the honor.
The best-selling book's author, Brian C. Anderson of the Manhattan Institute, writes a fun, breezy survey documenting the rise of talk radio, FOX News, the Internet, conservative publishing, and college Republican activism. Anderson's chapter on the success of conservative talk radio and the abysmal failure of liberal Air America to replicate it is incisive. Another chapter on the blogosphere (alone worth the price of the book) gives readers a useful history of the explosion of news, opinion, and political websites that have smashed the left-wing media monopoly.
But how did such a wide-ranging list of individuals and organizations -- Anderson's book cover includes the names of conservative-leaning Internet pioneer Matt Drudge and center-left journalist Mickey Kaus, the libertarian Tech Central Station, the culturally conservative WorldNetDaily, political upstart Arnold Schwarzenegger and political chameleon Andrew Sullivan, plus Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and myself, along with a feature blurb from Jonah Goldberg -- all get lumped under the umbrella term "South Park Conservatives"?
Anderson argues that Comedy Central's cartoon series "South Park" embodies the "fiercely anti-liberal comedic spirit" of the "new media" from Kaus to Coulter. The cartoon, he writes, reflects a "post-liberal counterculture" that is "particularly appealing to the young, however much it might offend older conservatives."
Well, I'm 34 and no fan of "South Park." I have many good friends who are indeed huge boosters of the show, but I find that the characters' foul language overwhelms any entertainment I might otherwise derive from the show's occasional, right-leaning iconoclastic themes.
"South Park" may be "politically incorrect." But "politically incorrect" is not always a synonym for "conservative."
My discomfort with "South Park's" increasingly mainstream vulgarity is not a matter of nitpicking. We're not just talking about a stray curse word here or there. As liberal New York Times columnist Frank Rich points out, "South Park" "holds the record for the largest number of bleeped-out repetitions (162) of a single four-letter expletive in a single television half-hour." That's probably about the same number of profanities uttered at John Kerry's infamous New York City celebrity fundraiser last summer, which Republicans rightly condemned for its excessive obscenities.
Rich is wrong about most things, but he's painfully on target in noting the incongruous pandering now taking place by some in the cool-kids clique on the Right. Conservatives criticize Hollywood relentlessly, but as Rich notes, "the embarrassing reality is that they want to be hip, too."
Which brings me to Mrs. Bush. She demonstrated at the celebrity-studded White House Correspondents' Dinner this weekend that you can entertain without being profane. Most of her humor was just right: Edgy but not over the edge. But her off-color stripper and horse jokes crossed the line. Can you blame Howard Stern for feeling peeved and perplexed? And let's face it: If Teresa ("I'm cheeky!") Heinz Kerry had delivered Mrs. Bush's First Lady Gone Mildly Wild routine, social conservative pundits would be up in arms over her bad taste and lack of dignity.
The First Lady resorting to horse masturbation jokes is not much better than Whoopi Goldberg trafficking in dumb puns on the Bush family name. It was wholly unnecessary.
Self-censorship is a conservative value. In a brilliant commencement speech at Hillsdale College last year, Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner called on his audience to resist the coarsened rhetoric of our time: "If we are to prevail as a free, self-governing people, we must first govern our tongues and our pens. Restoring civility to public discourse is not an option. It is a necessity."
Lighten up, you say? No thanks. I'd rather be a G-rated conservative who can only make my kids giggle than a "South Park"/"Desperate Housewives" conservative whose goal is getting Richard Gere and Jane Fonda to snicker. Giving the Hollyweird Left the last laugh is not my idea of success.
Your opinion based on what?
susie
I've only seen your side use words that are really unacceptable on this forum.
In fact, I think you had a post deleted yesterday, did you not, for using words I won't even repeat here.
But good try at pretending it's our side using bad language.
Now I'm rested, and think for awhile I might be amused again.
Actually, it doesn't have a point, other than to offer an insult at your opponents.
I think some people's reaction to it is way more telling than the joke itself. I think some people are reading way more into it than should be.
That seems point enough for half of you who are battling over this "issue".
Boy I remember crying laughing watching some of those episodes.
dirt, you'll just a little too invested in this story.
Not to mention the fact that Jane Fonda was a guest at this function. We have men and women dying in war and Jane, the traitor, is a guest.
Yeah, sure.
In fact, I think you had a post deleted yesterday, did you not, for using words I won't even repeat here.
I missed that post being deleted. But good work coordinating your ABUSE notifications to get it yanked, if it was yanked.
But good try at pretending it's our side using bad language.
Ah, so Howlin can say we just need to get l*** - but you're not using bad language. What a hoot.
I see we've moved into the "deep breathing" stage.
Yeah, the specific reason it's funny is because it's a mistake! I for one am glad that Laura is down to earth enough to laugh and joke, rather than being so tightly strung that she has to pretend to not think about such a thing.
Gee, I must have missed the thread where you polled your opponents as to their sex lives so you can make such a claim in good faith.
Absolutely. This is reminding me more and more of the big Kidd Rock dust up back in January. Prig Patrol!
I remember laughing watching those episodes too! Headbanger's Ball and Beavis & Butthead mini-marathons were a great way to spend a Saturday night. :)
You're jumping all over the place in your posts to me. Either you want to argue the fact that I think the holier-than-thou types are the most repressed and horniest, or you want to argue the fact that I can state an opinion and it makes a point.
You don't get to argue with me just because you want to feel cool.
Take it up with Jim Leher; she was sitting at the PBS table.
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