(good post, thanks)
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.
To what end? If you want to find a summation or transcript, I encourage you to search the Internet. I won't offer you ammunition to say Nancy or Laura are nasty, dirty people. Both instances were humorous jabs at their husbands and Presidents, and both were done in an appropriate setting.
(good post, thanks)
Perhaps I'm prejudging it, but it just seems like another Hollywood desecration of a classic cinematic/literary work.
The torturous redefinition of Zaphod, the fact that Mos Def was cast in the lead role, and to put the icing on the cake, a horribly cuddly, antiseptic version of my favorite paranoid android, Marvin.
:(
All they need to do is stage a big budget remake of Citizen Kane, and maybe turn Ralph Ellison's seminal psychological novel into a schmaltzy, incoherent film directed by Spike Lee in order to put the final nail in the coffin of this country's film industry.
If you have that much of a problem, I'd adivse you to turn off the TV, turn off the computer, and come out of your compound and into the real world.
Having off-color comments during what amounts to a "roast" is not only OK, it's not (as some posters here would have us all believe) anti-Christian.
Best post EVER!! in regard to this issue. Why is it not okay for the First Lady to tell an off the cuff joke? Just because we see her and the President as a face of change from the previous administration doesn't mean that we are required to deny her of any sense of humor if even some people find it repulsive.
I guess the dirtiest joke we should be telling is "The horse jumped in the mud." Oh wait, is that too offensive? Does that imply any sexual innuendos?
You need to use your disclaimer as a tag line.
Very Witty.
I can give you the specs and advice etc. And things I would do differently (like wire on the INSIDE instead of the outside). The expense isn't as awful as one would think--- just a little more than a screened porch would be.
The materials are different--untreated lumber, heavy gauge ungalvanized/coated wire and a clear corrugated clear poly top.
Puh-leeze. You raised the subject of a skit Nancy did. Not me. I would be curious to see what she said back then, twenty-some odd years ago, and how it compares to what Laura said.
LOL!
She reembles an Umbrella Cockatoo in the second image.
One specifically named 'Patches'.
Patches would hop straight up and down on his perch, and laugh maniacally.
When told he was making a fool of himself, the bird would reply with 'Yup!' and continue his antics.
He'd also reach out of his cage with one foot and try to grab a hold of passers by, he wanted the top of his head scritched.
*chuckle*
The look reminded me of him.
Pretty bird, I can see why your boy is protective of her.
"ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE OF HUMOR...lighten up, Michelle."
Agreed. Her citing of the "$hit" episode of "South Park"..and then complaining that it had too much vulgarity saddens me (as I like Malkin), because it shows that she's utterly clueless of the show's intentions and simply, blindly overreacted to the script.
That particular episode was to MAKE FUN of and SATIRIZE shows that curse, not to simply be another show that's also cursing.
The last thing I need is the Michelle Malkins of the world trying to dictate what is and is not allowed to be humorous.
Suggestion for Michelle: TURN THE CHANNEL at 10 pm Wednesdays.
Where? This "Taliban" wing conservative, as your side has dubbed me, would like to read it myself.
If you are curious enough, you have the ability to find out more about it if you choose. I've given you my estimate of how it compares.
I wouldn't neccessarily say that it is older Conservatives who are unaccepting..Some of our older FReepers can get QUITE rowdy.
There are some younger ones here who have a severe "holier-than-thou" problem.
I gotta think it's Convert Syndrome
Queen Victoria's prudishness didn't really kick in until after Albert died. Before that, she was quite high-spirited.
Much of 19th century Victorianism was more form than practice and mostly acknowledged as such at the time.
I think Michelle Malkin takes herself too seriously and has never really struck me as someone with a very healthy sense of humor. Lighten up, Michelle! Also I've never heard Matt Stone or Trey Parker say they are necessarily conservatives. In general they are equal opportunity with who they light into. And I happen to agree. I don't think anyone should be immune. But liberals need a real roasting.
So I have nothing to evaluate for myself how it compares, even though you raise it as your own point, eh? You are familiary with the skit and possible keywords, but I have to Google it.
Nevermind.
It was either my grandfather or great-grandfather who, around 1900, was smart enough to change the family name from Lipschitz. I'm not sure it was so much Victorian prudence as practicality, however.
He has some strange reason for his nonesense.
Mine does some of the same things! This figure-8 "Ray Charles" head swing when she's happy, or she faces towards the outside and just bounces, bounces and bounces! She follows the dogs around the house like she's one of them.
Oh, and you know you can cross Umbrellas with Moluccans to get "Mobrellas"?(I kid you not!)
Eh? Are you not capable of doing a search on the Internet? Try Reagan, "Second Hand Clothes".
Actually, it was pretty true to the books.
And Alan Rickman has the PERFECT voice for Marvin.
(Except these days I think of Mr. Rickman as Professor Snape, LOL!)
I don't know who Mos Def is, but he protrayed Zaphod as the thoughtless selfish jerk that he is.
I guess for me, i would say that unless you HAVE read the books, you aren't going to get the movie.
Too many "in-jokes"
I wouldn't pay full price, but I DID do a matinee and liked it well enough.
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