"Ax" Murderers

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My post on a recent instance of what I view as "Rush Limbaugh's disgusting race-baiting" has incurred the ire of Ann Althouse, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin who is also a prominent blogger.

Rush Limbaugh takes a trip to Washington, 03/03/09. (photo: Saul Loeb/Getty/AFP)

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-14 # Guest 2010-03-03 21:19

A very lame, incoherent, rambling blog if I ever read one1

+4 # brantwood 2010-03-03 22:16

How GOOD it is that blogs are with us - it is such a pleasure to see this argument "in print" knowing that under no set of normal circumstances could it appear on the actual pages of a magazine on such a tight budget as the New Yorker's,

Bravo newyorker.com; Bravissimo H.H.

+5 # Guest 2010-03-03 23:18

Whenever anyone gets het up about "aks" I love to point out that Chaucer used "aks". Hello?! Language shifts. Calm down. African American Vernacular English has been a priceless gift. Its imaginative contributions to what we call American English are vast, varied and unequivocally marvelous. Why, if it weren't for Africa period we simply wouldn't be what we are. African music, food and language – let alone African "blood, sweat and tears" - have been the essential ingredient in making America AMERICA. And I am happy to point that, painfully lily-white Euro-American that I am.

0 # Guest 2010-03-16 10:23

[quote name="nurmi husa"]Whenever anyone gets het up about "aks" I love to point out that Chaucer used "aks". Hello?! Language shifts.

nurmi husa is right about Chaucer's pronunciation. That pronunciation is also used by an overwhelming number of people in New Orleans. People of all demographic descriptions except people who arrived very recently.

+8 # Guest 2010-03-03 23:31

"he panders to the racism of his audience, and that he does it intentionally and repeatedly."

Well, that's what racism is -- using skin color and ethnicity as a means to divide (through appeals to bigotry), and thereby maintain a power structure and achieve social control.

-6 # Guest 2010-03-04 00:02

I'd say that most of Obama's supporters are racists too, since they place huge emphasis on the color of his skin.

How many times haven't we heard a progressive or liberal praising the fact that we finally have a black president? The mere acknowledgment of the color of his skin - as it would be a defining factor for the policies he would like to pursue - is racist in and of itself.

PS. Before anyone start accusing me of being a conservative Limbaugh nut, let me assure I'm nothing of the sort. I'm a socialist far to the left of Obama, and I'm not the least surprised that the promised "change" was nothing but hot air.

+2 # Guest 2010-03-04 09:26

Hey Nick......If you are not a conservative, you sure are hiding in the closet, claiming to be a far left liberal...you need to come out of the closet.

0 # Guest 2010-03-04 23:27

Nope, I'm not a "far left liberal". I'm a socialist. I think liberalism is a pipe dream. Like everything's going to work out fine if we just hold hands and sing "We are the world".

But it's funny to see how similar supporters of both Bush and Obama are. Like two peas in a pod.

+9 # Guest 2010-03-04 00:13

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"

I would add that I don't care about Rush Limbaugh's real sentiment. Whether he believes his own bs doesn't matter. What matters is that he is a demagogue. Good call, Hendrik.

+1 # Guest 2010-03-04 06:14

Yes, I believe the proper description is "racist demagogue" even if Limbaugh is not a racist.

-3 # Guest 2010-03-04 03:53

I can understand your wanting to defend yourself, but this is pretty convoluted and extended for a typical Limbaugh remark. Normally he would just make fun of the use of the word "ax" and leave it at that. That he would ask his audience to believe that Obama said that intentionally is just part of the process of Limbaugh hanging himself by showing how stupid he is, or how stupid his audience thinks he is. I like to think that much of his audience knows he's a disingenuous idiot, and enjoys him for other reasons, for being the happy warrior or whatever, even though he's long gone stale.

0 # JayMagoo 2010-03-04 06:16

To me it's a useless exercise to parse all of the evil and stupidity that comes from Rush Limbaugh. I will not dignify his existance by opening any of his utterances to examination. Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, and a few others of that ilk are extremely dangerous to America and to America's democratic values, and as an early opponent of Richard M. Nixon once observed of that despicable figure, they are "beneath contempt."

+4 # Guest 2010-03-04 06:28

I speak several languages. When "I turn" on German no one thinks of it as negative, but turning on Black English Vernacular is definitely seen as negative. Why wouldn't Obama be bi-lingual?

+1 # Guest 2010-03-04 07:09

No Nick, "racism" is the belief that groups of people fall within a hierarchy determined by inherited physical or cultural traits (or, most often, some combination of the two). Limbaugh may or may not believe in such a hierarchy, but he certainly uses racially coded language to communicate ideas about his opponents to his listeners. He and his listeners (and you and I) know these cues, but they mean different things to different people--including to the folks out there who continue to hold a racist worldview. To simply acknowledge that the idea of "race" exists is not racist--indeed, it would be impossible to recognize and oppose true racism without doing so. Unfortunately, our understanding of what race and racism mean have become muddled over time--in part because of deliberate attempts by racists (and their political allies, like Limbaugh) to turn the label against their opponents.

+7 # Guest 2010-03-04 07:10

In her response, Althouse seems to be offended that you referred to her as Ann Althouse, "Ax" murderer. Somehow she can see the satire of Limbaugh's comments about Obama's race, but can't see the word play here. This is about par for the right wing.

-4 # Guest 2010-03-04 08:03

Talk about mountains out of molehills!

+2 # Guest 2010-03-04 10:08

Answer me this one: How is someone who panders to the racism of a community NOT a racist? Is it possible that Limbaugh can do what he does with whipping up the stench of bigotry and still hold progressive, or even neutral views about race personally? Can anyone?
I think not. The personal is the political, is the public persona.

+1 # Guest 2010-03-04 10:40

I'm not a linguist or a language maven, but in my experience a lot of southerners, not necessarily black, pronounce "ask" as "aks" and "asked" as "aksed." I have some very close (white) friends of 45 years who hailed from Montgomery AL. We were Peace Corps English teachers together in Turkey. This pronunciation difference came up in discussions of teaching our students how to pronounce words. They had been unaware of how they said "ask" and "asked."
Limbaugh is a demagogue. The whole country is race-obsessed.

+1 # Guest 2010-03-04 11:23

Thanks Mr. Hertzberg -- you are 'right' (and 'The Right', almost 100% of the time, is 'wrong'). The most interesting thing is Althouse's felt need to defend Limbaugh. Using the Palin 'satirical' argument puts Althouse in the same 'league' as Palin. I truly feel sorry for the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for having such a 'politically' and 'spiritually twisted' person on its faculty. Of course Limbaugh uses coded language to keep racism alive (for whatever are his reasons for doing so). To state the contrary is 'beyond stupidity' (and even comprehension).

0 # Guest 2010-03-04 11:39

I have read that Joe Biden has a reputation for verbal misfires sometimes. But he never has struck me as an out-and-out jerk, so the "clean" quote seemed curious at the time. My immediate reaction, and I may be way off, was that he was saying that Obama was clean despite the fact he was a politician from Chicago. (No offense meant to those from the Windy City.) does anybody know what he really meant?

+3 # Guest 2010-03-04 11:55

I was an army Officer and spent some time in the army Security Agency & Miltary Intelligence (before becoming an army Pilot), particularly in defense against brain-washing propaganda such as that broadcast by Tokyo Rose and Hanoi Hattie, and propaganda used by unfriendly states with intent to compromise the personal intelligence and integrity of U.S. Soldiers working with top secret or security-sensitive material. It is beyond me why Social Psychologists and Academia has not recognized and / or exposed that rush lembaugh and his fellow reich-wing talking heads speak in concert from propaganda scripts fraught with well known, very high tech brain-washing techniques that target certain highly vulnerable human natures of Ego, and gives psychological license to not only believe but revel in the worst of human natures.

+2 # JayMagoo 2010-03-04 13:41

After reading what Nada Chance wrote, I take back what I wrote before. It would be useful to parse the hateful, evil, and stupid comments of Linbaugh et al if it would lead to better understanding of the propaganda scripts they all read from, the brain-washing techniques targeting vulnerable human natures, with the goal of exposing these neo-Nazi talking heads and their goals and the sources of their material and their backing. Let's have at it. If Nada Chance would provide us with sources I would on my own start to research the field.

+1 # Guest 2010-03-07 04:04

For efficiency; The best source of the most & best resources I know of: http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vf01.cfm?folder=64&outfit=pmt . And it's homepage: http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/index.cfm?outfit=pmt . I suggest starting by searching out the history then techniques of Brainwashing, Propaganda, Psychological Operations and Social Psychology in that order. Take notice of: (1) The ego-stroking of vulnerable human natures of self importance, self image, biggotry, fear, etc. ...and self inclusion in & identifying with a perceived superior group. (2) The addictive natures of brain chemistry, and obsessive compulsion, when Ego / Self is given unlimited license, particularly when fed evermore propaganda for that purpose. (3) Most humans are eager for outside sources to rationalize beliefs and behaviors they desire, which would otherwise be deemed ill. (4) Soldiers are prime examples of brainwashing. (5) The well matured and common use of media for Psychological Operations propaganda.

0 # Guest 2010-03-04 15:48

It is strange to me that all of the commentors here rail against Rush for his supposedly racist views, calling him all sorts of names. So what I find strange is that all of these commentors seem to listen to his program. That in itself is amazing, and no wonder he can get big bucks for having a huge audience when all his haters are hanging on his every word. There are probably a lot more important things to be doing in this world than listening to Rush. Maybe if you have a lot of time on your hands join a volunteer group and help some people, white and black.

0 # Guest 2010-03-07 02:59

I would trust that most intelligent people examine "both sides of a coin", if not know the importance of "know thy enemy". How can a reasonably dedicated Patriot know the battlefield if they don't study it? And I trust that most dedicated Patriots know that 'battlefield' is not a misnomer.

+1 # Guest 2010-03-04 17:29

Biden & others have noted the lack of a Negro dialect in Obama's speech's yet they mention "aks" as being a part of his English. I attended an all Black Elementary school in Chicago-Wendell Phillips-and the teachers accepted only "ask" and the proper conjugation of the verb "to be", and no contractions. We were taught the proper usage of the English language which I still adhere to today and I have instilled my training in my children. I cringe when a Black person
of means uses the improper phonics in their speech. My mother taught us to read and print before we attended kindergarten and she also taught us that wealth does not breed intelligence. GOD BLESS.

0 # JayMagoo 2010-03-09 07:36

I agree, and that applies to all cultures. I am first generation Irish-American, and we lived in a working class neighborhood of mixed ethnicities. My parents were careful about our speech, the word "ain't" was common in the neighborhood, but not allowed in our house, ditto for racial and ethnic slurs. The principle was simply that to be successful in life, we were encouraged to speak like the most successful ones in our culture. It had nothing to do with snobbery or trying to be like anyone else. The goal was very practical, to keep doors to opportunity open as wide as we could.
I find Limbaugh's obsession with Obama's use of certain words at best, sick, and at worst, evil and mean-spirited, and much more revealing of Limbaugh than informative of Obama's motives.

+1 # Guest 2010-03-04 19:27

Althouse is a Palin supporter...nuff said.

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