Posted on 02/07/2003 12:38:34 PM PST by county sheriff
Most of those who disagree with Neal and Rush are sent into such paroxysms by listening to them that their responses tend toward, "big fat idiot," "billious pig-faced bigot," and the like. Neal and Rush are extremely effective and powerful communicators. They change the way people think. They deserve real criticism.
Neal and Rush are guilty of a monstrous sin of omission. They tell a whole lot of truth, and, contrary to the knee-jerk critics, they tell it with a high degree of accuracy. The problem is that they tell selective truths. And, while appealing to the best in people with one hand, they appeal to the worst in us all with the other.
Neal and Rush know that most people are capable of making choices about their own destinies. And they know that free will is often mitigated by forces which the individual cannot control. They are intelligent adults and they have enough sense to know that many people are too sick and too broken to be able to choose their own destinies. It is wrong for Neal and Rush to teach only the truths which imply, over and over and over again, that these least ones among us are to be disregarded, and even disdained, for having made poor choices.
Neal and Rush tell a lot of truth about the ways liberal economic policies make things worse for everyone, including the poor. Yes, they offer cogent economic teachings and exhortations to individual perseverance and achievement. But from the other side of their mouths Rush refers to the homeless as "human debris;" and Neal refers to homeless persons frozen to death on winter nights as "bumsicles."
Yes, Neal, you are right-there are at least a few people in Atlanta who are homeless because they have failed to use their able minds and bodies to good ends. But Neal, what do you think becomes of the chronically mentally ill in America? Does the fact that they drink in the midst of their abandonment and degradation make them responsible for the genetics of their brain chemistry? Does the fact that they stink and grovel in the midst of their hopelessness make them responsible for the vicious cycle in which abuse is heaped upon the broken by the strong? Does the fact that somewhere you may be able to find a guy who froze to death out of laziness make it okay to laugh at all of the men and women who froze to death as the culmination of a life in which they never knew a moment's peace?
For an intelligent, mature adult to refer to the corpse of a schizophrenic as a bumsicle is evidence of pathological confusion.
Neal and Rush feel quite safe from criticisms of their "bumsicle," and "human debris", terminology. They cloak themselves in the righteousness of their cause of rugged individualism. Neal, Rush, just how rugged is it to induce in yourself and others a perverse state of blindness to so much of the human experience? Would not a truly rugged individual become strong enough to face the face of despair in our midst and make the tough choices about when, how, and whom to help?
Neither Rush nor Neal nor anyone else has ever achieved anything without receiving a lot of help along the way. Do they fail to see that such help is not distributed equally in this world?
The bizarre irony is that even though they do not care about the disenfranchised, they are often right about the failings in the economic policies of those who do care. Neal and Rush are correct about the inherent corruption found in the institutions and individuals who promise to redistribute the wealth.
But the masses of people, who do care in their guts about what happens to the needy, can't be expected to grasp the awesome irony of the fact that selfish, greedy capitalists like Neal and Rush are often right about what economic policies are best for the poor. The masses will listen, and reject what they hear on the basis of the essential absence of compassion. And Neal and Rush will continue to be bewildered as to why so many people can't grasp the basic truths in what they teach.
Neal, Rush, listen up--America doesn't care if you have your facts right--as long as what you promulgate is premised in selfishness, then it simply won't satisfy, and most of America will look elsewhere.
Admin Moderator ======>weapon of fast destruction.
Methinks you're right, BigB
It is wrong for Neal and Rush to teach only the truths which imply, over and over and over again, that these least ones among us are to be disregarded, and even disdained, for having made poor choices.
Both Neal and Rush have spent many hour and dollars helping non-governmental charities that VOLUNTARILY help people with genuine needs. Both Neal and Rush do not want the Imperial Federal Govt of the US to hold a gun to people's head, forcibly take their money, and give it to other citizens for votes. Makes sense to me.
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