I never heard Rush Limbaugh say anything racist.

[MMMMMM]

Well I'll digress with you for a moment.

I think, generally speaking, that nonviolent offenders should not be sent to prison. Also, the conditions of many prisons is deplorable and they are dangerous places.

If a person is sentenced to do time as a punishment, then that is all they should be doing--the state has no moral right to also endanger their safety or their lives. Thus the state should not be sending anyone to jail without ensuring that the jails are not dangerous places--]i]especially[/i] with nonviolent offenders.

If on a jury, I would be unlikely to convict a nonviolent offender of a crime that could get him sent to prison. I don't believe the state has any moral right to send such people there even if guilty unless the environment is quite safe.

Also, I don't believe ANY "victimless crimes" should result in prison sentences.

[Kenrick]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Spike, if you're going to do that, let's complete the
education experience. You should tell them that they should
loot the theater, and then blow it up on their way out."
- after Spike Lee said black children should skip school to see the movie X.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hyoerbole or exaggeration to illustrate the point that Spike was wrong to tell those kids to skip school. A bit over-the-top indeed but again not entirely without a point.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's an obvious one there. Is Rush racist, or he is saying Spike Lee is a nutjob for telling kids to skip school which may help promote other similar behavior?

Cardcounter0, your post is hateful and is full of crap and I will now give another example why. People have already commented on the truth/hyperbole in most of these quotes, but I also wondered how many are taken out of context. So I looked up an easy one. Let's see what it says. You wrote:

"I don't give a hoot that [Columbus] gave some Indians a
disease that they didn't have immunity against" (Ought to Be, p. 45).

Now let's see what Rush actually said. After writing how he was fed up with people telling him the plight of the homeless is his fault, and that AIDS is his fault even though there's more money spent on it than ever before, he said the following:

"In this five-hundredth-anniversary year of Columbus's voyage, I'm tired of hearing him trashed. I don't give a hoot that he gave some Indians a disease that they didn't have any immunity against. We can't change that, we're here. We're the best country on earth and I'm sick and tired of people trying to change history so as to portray this country as an instrument of evil. It isn't true. I'm sick and tired of hearing Western culture constantly disparaged. "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Western culture's got to go," is the chant at Stanford University. What would Stanford be if the pioneers that are so reviled today as imperialists, racists, sexists, bigots, and homophobes hadn't fought their way across a continent to California?

...Working people are striving against the odds to make it in this country, and all the government can do is view them as a revenue target. While picking their pockets the government has the audacity to foist a guilt trip on them to boot. They're made to feel responsible for everything.

...Everything is the fault of the people who don't give enough. This despite the fact that charitable contributions during the "avaricious" eighties climbed at an astonishing rate. But that's not enough."

Rush wasn't being racist towards Indians. He was saying how some people will say anything to make the U.S. look evil. People HAVE to take Rush quotes out of context, otherwise they'd never have a chance at taking shots at him. I swear his biggest bashers are actually people who have never even listened to the show.

[bholdr]

Regardless of what the actual level of criminal activity is vs racial background, to insinuate that black people are more likely to be criminals because they are black is racist. there's no two ways about it- and rush's statements smack of that kind of racisim, though he's very subtle about it.

I would aggree with your supposition, however, but i believe that the reasons behind that disproportionate representation are predominatly social/ cultural. that is, blacks tend to get more/longer prison sentances than whites for committing the same crimes, the same is true of hispanics.

i wonder if anyone has a link to some good data on the subject?

[MMMMMM]

I don't know where Rush insinuated that blacks are more likely to be criminals because they are black.

Yes, blacks might get longer sentences on average, but that wouldn't explain a much higher rate of occurrence.

Yes, I agree it is cultural rather than racial.

Yes, a good data link would be helpful.

[Utah]

I am not going to comment specifically on them because I dont know if they are true or if they are being taken out of context. However, it is quite possible his comments were simply in bad taste.

I have listened to his show a lot (since it is the only thing on the radio at that time) and I have never once thought he came across as a racist. I have liked his comments of racism and I like it when he blasts the democrats on affirmative action - (to paraphrase) It is the democrats that are racists. They think you (blacks) are too stupid to fend or compete for yourselves and thus think you need special protection. Us conservatives simply view you as equals".

I have seen him make a lot of comments that were a bit of a nasty shot that made me cringe. Again, to me there is a big difference between being a racist and being in bad taste.

Let me ask - have you ever made or laughed at a sex joke about women? I bet almost 100% of guys have. Heck, look at some of the posts on the OOT. That doesnt mean that almost 100% of guys are sexist pigs who disrespect women. It is simply the way guys talk.

[lastchance]

[ QUOTE ]
Let me ask - have you ever made or laughed at a sex joke about women? I bet almost 100% of guys have. Heck, look at some of the posts on the OOT. That doesnt mean that almost 100% of guys are sexist pigs who disrespect women. It is simply the way guys talk.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I would dispute that. :P Almost 100% of guys are sexist pigs, whether they know it or not.

[andyfox]

"who happens to be Jewish."

The discussion usually goes south after the phrase "who happens to be ________."

[andyfox]

I can't say whether Limbaugh is racist or not because I haven't listened to his show often enough. The comments cited in the lead post of this thread shoud give one pause, however. Bad taste is often a reflection of bad thinking.

One can be for or against affirmative action without being racist. Being for affirmative action doesn't mean one thinks blacks are too stupid to make progress. It probably does mean one thinks whites are too stupid to make progress.

Yes, I have laughed at "women" jokes. I would say there is some degree of sexist pig in all men (at least all I've ever spoken to). We constantly, when they're not around, refer to women using either the b- word or the c- word. Indeed, it is the way guys talk, but it's not "simply" that. There's something behind it, as there is behind telling "jew" jokes.

I haven't thought too much about the subject of ethnic jokes though. Maybe it's the old man prudishness in me that make me more sensitive than most, I don't know.

[andyfox]

Thanks for providing the entire context of the Limbaugh quote about Indians and Columbus. It is an incredibly ignorant statement.

Columbus deserved to be trashed. He was a great mariner, but a horrible person. To hold up the schoolbook version of Columbus as an inspired individual, fighting against ignorance, is to ignore history. We can still admire his achievements while recognizing his shortcomings.

As for the disaese given to "some" Indians, disease was a holocaust for the inhabitants of the Western hemisphere. Perhaps Libaugh doesn't know the extent of the depopulation.

As for us being "the best country on earth," what has that got to do with Columbus, a Genoese trader sailing for Spain, who never set foot in the territory of the United States?

History is more complicated than Rush would like it to be. While I agree that we're the greatest country in the world, to ignore the dark side of our history is to condemn ourselves to repeat it. What purpose is served by denying that, in fighting our way across the country to Stanford, that there was imperialism and racism and sixism and bigotry and homophobia involved? Let's tell the whole story, not the sanitized (Hannitized?) version.

I find Limbaugh's comments in the original post incredibly hateful, not the original poster for citing them. And the full context you have provided confirms that perception for me. That he doesn't give a hoot that tens of millions of people died so that there could be a Stanford is evident.

[adios]

You may find this surprising but I really don't care for Limbaugh. His radio show is a constant bashing of Democrats and the left. Ditto Hannity's radio show which started here recently. Generally speaking I find the Hannity & Combs show to be entertaining but Hannity's radio show is totally different. I do know that the comments he made about McNabb in 2003 were tremendously hurtful to some. I also think Limbaugh's take regarding McNabb was totally wrong.