fair enough! I will research it right now and make my decision. okay here's the link I used for my "point of reference". Obama awarded 123 of them over his two term tenure. Reagan awarded 102. A lot of arts & entertainment people on the list! Like Rush or hate him, he was indeed a pioneer in his field and proved himself very influential and inspirational over the decades since. Thus I do believed Rush was rightfully awarded the medal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom_recipients
So, you don't find the following quotes racist? “Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.” “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.” “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” “I think 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.”
Agree to disagree on that. But, thanks for outing yourself. So, in your opinion, should someone who said those things be awarded the Medal of Freedom?
good question. The only way to answer that would be to investigate the backgrounds of the other prior recipients (and any statements they made that could be considered bigoted) and do a comparison, to see if these statements are worth of disqualification.
according to this list by snopes he did indeed tell a listener he couldn't understand to "take the bone out of their nose" very early in his career, before the Rush Limbaugh show - that statement was bigoted and insensitive, no doubt about it. If you have time to kill perhaps you can go through the entire list of prior recipients and research anything controversial in their past.
But, in your opinion, not racist? So, the litmus test for worthiness now had some kind of dependency on what other recipients have said in the past? You are okay with judging present recipients based upon the actions of past ones?
Take a side? Or maybe I could not enable the tribalism over every single thing. I'm looking at it logically and here are my opinions on this particular subject: 1) Rush is a fine American and should be proud of his achievements 2) Rush has said bigoted things during the course of his radio broadcasting career 3) Rush could presently be a bigot but unless we are a 24/7 fly on the wall who really knows? 4) According to the purpose of & meaning behind the medal, Rush definitely meets the qualifications 5) If you don't want to further enable his career, or want to protest him getting the medal, change the station
So, a bigot (your own words) is a fine American ? And yet he's still a "fine American" ? In the absence of proof to the contrary, such as an apology or a statement contradicting past bigoted statements, isn't it more logical to conclude that he still is? Citation needed.... So, saying nothing is a better form of protest than saying something?
whatever if anybody wants to get all wrapped around the axle and/or waste time over Rush Limbaugh be my guest! You can have your opinion and I'll have mine. If you are truly outraged over it organize an actual protest or something. You hate Rush, that's your choice, it's a free country. It's not my job to try to change your mind and there are far more interesting threads on wordforge. That's my final statement in this thread.
But, that's the thing. I'm trying to understand your opinion. So far, the best I can get is that you think Rush is a fine American yet is also a bigot. I'm trying to understand how you think a bigot can be a fine American. Yeah, you've dug a deep enough hole as it is.
Yet ends another day of @oldfella1962 showing his racist ass to the world. Tune in on any other day ending in y for the continuation of oldfella is a motherfucking racist.
You're asking OF to engage in self-reflection and nuanced thinking. Do you see the problem with that?
The Donovan McNabb statement was spot on. He was a very solid qb who the league tried to turn into Joe Montana. Wasn't gonna happen.
Hey, @oldfella1962 Can you provide more examples of fine americans who are also bigots? David Duke? Chris Cantwell?
When it's Rush Limbaugh's racist bullshit, it's "whatever ". When Rachel Maddow cries there's a link to 50 shitty conservative think-pieces.
Nope. Sorry. Hey, how much you bet when he does go, the mainstream media polishes the turd like they did for Bush Senior? Hearing them turn that war criminal into Mister Rogers made me want to puke. Or, maybe it was because I was in a hospital waiting room on 2 hours of sleep. One or the other.
Hey @spot261 in case you still had any doubts that Oldfella isn't a completely worthless cretin and still don't get why @Tererun chewed your ass out for defending the guy, here's exhibits A through Z for who he is.
so don't defend me spot! I wouldn't want you to get in hot water with the kewl kids of leftforge. I honestly don't give a shit what people who haven't spent one second with me in real life think about me. I have enough admiration, respect & accolades to last me for the rest of my natural life. I'm sure Shitforbrayns and Tererunt are the better judges of character and moral compass bearers than I am anyway.
To be clear: I respect Spot for investigating things for himself, no matter how furious it made me for having sat through your garbage for the last 15 years. And his foolheadedness in supporting you came from a good place. You OTOH are complete trash. Just say you don't have any problems with racism and go.
So good to see I'm the ball to your bats but the sad truth is I tend not to go out of my way to please anyone per se, as you may have noticed recently @oldfella1962. I'll defend or attack people on the basis of the available information (regardless of how popular or unpopular that makes me) but I try to be even handed and honest and at the very least err on the side of seeing the best in people. That's probably no coincidence, I've personally known serial killers with some admirable personality traits so finding something constructive to work with people in here is small change. Oldfella is a mixed bag in my book, as in their own way most people can be, myself included, but in fairness I'm yet to find anything to object to in @Shirogayne . So in the spirit of that honesty I will confess again what I mentioned up thread. I have little idea about who Rush Limbaugh is beyond a cursory google prompted by this very thread. On the basis of that limited information I doubt very much I'd listen to his show or admire the man in any way, shape or form and since we'll likely never cross paths that's enough to be going on. I still wouldn't wish the suffering that goes with cancer on anyone, nor would I wish that moment when you're sat in the doctor's office and they use the word. It's one of the worst moments of your life and one personally I rarely talk about. I may tend towards what many would perceive as being left wing, but I don't categorise myself as being a "liberal" or anything else because I've no desire to be boxed off as a member of any tribe when I can think for myself and find it a little disheartening that something like a terminal illness could become a point of political point scoring, whether it's done by a shock jock radio host or anyone else.
Ah but you see, OF can't be arsed to think about nuances and the shades of gray that goes with critical thinking. Just classify someone, put them in the box and hey presto! All done!
The McNabb statement was an example of what makes ESPN unbearable at times. Trying to create a controversy or hot topic that can be “debated” for weeks on end. Limbaugh was wrong, the league just cares about making money, not whether a black quarterback is successful or not.
ESPN is a shit show that hardly anyone watches anymore. They're the CNN of sports networks. The NFL on the other hand, sure is all about the $$$. But having a successful black qb certainly wasn't going to hurt them and they definitely made him out to be better than he was.
Yeah, you would not want to be seen as being against racism, sexism, and prejudice in general by giving it a place in pleasant conversation. That would be wrong. Please allow the shitting on black and other people and be nice to the people doing it because that way you are open minded to shitting on people for no reason. You would not want to be judgmental on racism at all.