"Shut up and sing!" Conservatives Stifle Patriotism and Disregard Our Bill
of Rights
By Nick Paccione
Created Oct 5 2006 - 9:19am

"Shut up and sing" is a conservative's acerbic advice to liberal
entertainers who dare to speak about their political convictions. It's a
phrase that's been directed at Barbra Streisand and the Dixie Chicks. I
heard it with my own ears when someone in the audience at an L.A. concert
yelled it to Linda Ronstadt when she praised Michael Moore's film
"Fahrenheit 9/11." Laura Ingraham, a bubble-headed Anne Coulter wannabe and
rightie talk show host, went so far as to write a hypocritically one-sided,
critically-lambasted book titled "Shut Up and Sing" rebuking public figures
who disagree with her political views.

When Dick Cheney had a disagreement with Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy on
the house floor, Cheney hollered, "Go f*#k yourself." (It makes you wonder
if the country's number one censor, Mrs. Lynn Cheney, slapped an
"expletives" warning label on her hubby's forehead when he got home.) As
childish and crass as it may sound, "go f*#k yourself," is actually more
palatable and democratic than "shut up and sing." "Go f*#k yourself" is a
simple directive that basically means I don't like you or what you've said
or done. "Shut up and sing" implies that you are good at one thing and you
should be silent about everything else especially when it comes to promoting
liberal politics. Even though you are an American citizen, conservatives are
saying you have no right to share your viewpoint because you are just a
singer, just an actor or just a plumber for that matter.

It must be noted that conservatives have been historically petrified of
artists expressing their opinions because they potentially have a huge
following and a gigantic canvas for expressing themselves. In the
documentary "The U.S. Verses John Lennon" we get a good look at the measures
that conservatives will take to silence folks with influence from the
artistic community including phone tapping, various forms of FBI spying and
proceedings for deportation.

Because conservatives are the masters of public-opinion manipulation, the
"shut up and sing" perspective does trickle down. Everyday folks say "I like
George Clooney as an actor but what qualifies him to speak about affairs of
state?" Before answering this with my own touchy-feely explanation, let's
take that very question and substitute the names of your favorite
conservative talking heads for "George Clooney."

"I like Bill O'Reilly but what qualifies him to speak about affairs of
state?" Well the reality is that O'Reilly's resume has nothing about it that
qualifies him as an expert on politics and even less that would please a
conservative with functioning brain waves. He has a B.A. in History from
Marist College in Poughkeepsie. He played semi-professional baseball for the
Brooklyn Monarchs and followed that with an unsuccessful tryout for the New
York Mets. He then worked for two years as a high school teacher and next
inexplicably tried his hand as an entertainment writer and movie critic. He
was a weatherman at WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania before rattling around
as an investigative reporter in Denver, Portland, Hartford and Boston. In
1998 he wrote the sexually-explicit Those Who Trespass: A Novel of
Television and Murder, depicting a television reporter who commits a series
of graphically described ritualistic murders.

Ultimately, O'Reilly became famous as the host of "Inside Edition"--a
gossipy tabloid television show akin to the National Enquirer. O'Reilly was
most recently humiliated by charges that he was soliciting phone sex from a
producer of his hit show "The O'Reilly Factor." He settled the case out of
court amidst probable evidence that the victim of his harassment had audio
tapes of O'Reilly's shenanigans. Instead of recoiling in shame, O'Reilly has
put on a braver, more untenable face and knighted himself the great defender
of traditional values with stepped up attacks on the ACLU and secular
Americans who may or may not be into phone sex. You might agree with every
word the man utters. He's fairly articulate and pretty well informed but he
has far less experience in politics than talk-show host Jerry Springer (the
former mayor of Cincinnati) and no more or less right to speak about his
political opinions than any other citizen from Hollywood to Kalamazoo.

How about Rush Limbaugh's qualifications? If he interviewed for his job as
host of his own show it might have gone like this:

"Nice to meet you Mr. Limbaugh. As you know we're looking for a radio
talk-show host who can sell the conservative agenda to listeners that will
come to be known as ditto heads. We need them to worship you and believe
your every word. Let's take a look at your qualifications for this position.
Ah yes, I see you attended Southeast Missouri State University. And in what
subject did you get your degree?"

"I took two speech courses."

Before earning your degree in political science?

"Well no I just took two speech courses and then I dropped out."

"I see."

"That would have made you eligible for the draft back in those days. And
I'll bet that's how you learned so much about politics when you fought in
Vietnam."

"I'd rather not talk about my medical condition but, uh, it kept me out of
the draft and the military."

"Well, let's see--it says here you became a top 40 disc jockey in
Pittsburgh. Good market. You weren't there long. Why is that?"

"Well, I got fired."

"And then you changed your name to Jeff Christie? And let's see, you worked
at KQV in Pittsburgh, KUDL, KFIX and KBZ in Kansas City. You were spinning
the hits but you sure moved around a lot."

"Fired, fired, fired and then fired again."

"So music radio wasn't your forte."

"Yes, but then I got an excellent job in promotions for the Kansas City
Royals."

"Mom, baseball and apple pie! And that must be how you became an expert on
American politics?"

"I learned a lot about spinning stuff when I spun those hits records."

"And for whom did you cast your first vote when you turned 21?"

"Actually I've never voted. I'm not registered."

"Well the Federal Communications Commission just repealed the Fairness
Doctrine so basically if you get this job as political commentator you can
say anything you want and we don't have to worry about airing an opposing
view. But frankly Mr. Limbaugh you have absolutely nothing in your resume
that qualifies you to be a spokesperson for conservative values. As a matter
of fact, your proclivity for job switching and irresponsibility paints a
picture of someone who will more than likely be prone to illegal drug use
and multiple divorces. You're hired." And the rest is ditto head history.

Sean Hannity has similar credentials to Rush--college dropout, no political
experience, religious provocateur, fiercely opinionated, arrogant, shameless
self promoter and fired from previous jobs. There's nothing in his resume
that qualifies him as an expert on anything but if people choose to listen
to him for their news or information--hey, that's America.

Tucker Carlson is the son of Richard W. Carlson, who was president and CEO
of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from 1992 to 1997 and former U.S.
Ambassador to the Seychelles. His stepmother, Patricia Carlson, is heiress
to the Swanson frozen-food fortune. Silver spoon in mouth, little Tucker
didn't have any reason to stay in college with parents who could pull all
the strings he'd ever need. He has no degree and has absolutely no
qualifications that make his opinion on politics any more relevant than
Paris Hilton's.

Quite ironically, the most qualified of all the conservative pundits is none
other than flamethrower Ann Coulter. Her resume is packed with great
substance including a top notch education and scads of excellent political
experience albeit all extreme right wing, born again fundi stuff. If
anything disqualifies her from being a credible voice it might be that
teensy-weensy little feeling in almost everyone's gut that Coulter is
probably certifiably insane as she regularly expresses her disdain for
American ideals of equality and honest dissent through some of the nastiest
attacks in recent memory.

USA Today hired her and then refused to print her article covering the
Democratic National Convention because of its vile content. She was
terminated from the "National Review Online" with this quote from her
ultra-conservative editor Jonah Goldberg: "We did not 'fire' Ann for what
she wrote ... we ended the relationship because she behaved with a total
lack of professionalism, friendship, and loyalty." Scores of problems have
swirled around Coulter. Her nasty, shrill brand of journalism has been
rejected by large numbers of U.S. newspapers due to complaints of plagiarism
and reader revulsion. Anti-Ann mania reached its peak after she stated that
a group of New Jersey widows whose husbands perished in the World Trade
Center "act as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them." She added,
"I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

In a nutshell, it would make just as much sense to tell the conservative
talking heads to abide by their own slogan. "Shut up and write an obscene
novel" to O'Reilly; or "shut up and take your Viagra and sign your divorce
papers" to Rush; or "shut up and go eat a Swanson's chicken pot pie" to
Carlson; or "shut up and go howl at the other clawing cats in the alley" to
Coulter. But I would never tell them to shut up. I am a firm believer in the
maxim "if you give'm enough rope, they'll hang themselves." Yes, liberals
are good at this too but it's never as fun and juicy as Coulter all but
admitting that she's a nut through her commentary; or O'Reilly threatening
police intervention to adversary callers to his radio show that move
stealthily past his screeners; or Sean Hannity acting like a hormone-flooded
school girl by camping in front of the hospital where Terri Schiavo lay
dying; or Bill Frist diagnosing Ms. Schiavo via a video-tape and then
denying it after the autopsy revealed that he was 100%% wrong; or, Jerry
Fallwell proclaiming that the purple teletubbie is gay; or Pat Robertson
calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez; etc. etc. ad nauseam. You get
the point. I say, sing out you conservatives, so reasonable people can see
and hear who you really are.

There's the predictable conservative hypocrisy that needs to be a
cornerstone of this discussion. Conservatives only shout "shut up and sing"
at Democrats. In other words Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, The Dixie
Chicks, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, George Clooney and other liberal voices
must be trampled and ridiculed for speaking up. But Charlie Daniels,
Patricia Heaton, Bo Derek, Mel Gibson, Toby Keith, Pat Boone, Ted Nugent and
Dennis Miller are heroes when they spew their conservative values in public
forums. And if there's a chance that you can use your Hollywood celebrity
status to become an electable Republican then for God's sake, get out
there--sing, dance, act, or whatever it takes. Conservatives welcomed
candidates Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sonny Bono
and Fred Thompson with open arms in a recurring Republican climate where
winning is more important than principle or consistency.

Conservative talking heads would love Americans to accept that liberal
entertainers have no credentials for speaking out about the war in Iraq,
immigration, torture or wire tapping. They try to convince you that
entertainers only take a position for the publicity but that makes little or
no sense. Acting and recording artists live like kings and queens on
salaries that could put a man on Pluto. Why would they decide to put the
source of their income at risk by stating a political opinion that's more
than likely to offend at least half of their fan base? Are they all Coulter
cuckoo? No. In most cases, they passionately believe they can make a
difference by shedding some light on an issue. And in most cases, they run a
high risk of hurting sales of their music or films. Ask The Dixie Chicks
about profits from their latest tour through the "red states." And their
fans have every right to approve or disapprove of the Chicks' comments about
Bush by attending or not attending a concert. That is radically more
American than telling them to "shut up and sing."

George Clooney is a self-proclaimed liberal who has frequently woven his
political opinions into his work. Most recently he's been active in
advocating a resolution for the Darfur conflict. When asked why he went to
Darfur he pragmatically replied that the paparazzi is always following him
everywhere so he decided to use them to bring some much-needed exposure to
the ethnic cleansing in the region that has resulted in 400,000 deaths
(according to the Coalition for International Justice). He went to Darfur
and the media followed him. His involvement is definitely making a
difference.

It's healthy for America to hear an artist's point of view. Sure sometimes
that opinion might sound like it's lacking in common sense but that's
because it's usually a heartfelt and passionate position that left-brained
business-only types can't fully understand or tolerate. It's not like
Clooney or Springsteen is going to become the ultimate decision maker. They
don't have all the answers. Who does? But if they were in charge would we be
any worse off than where we are today after letting the CEOs and corporate
oil men have all the influence on American policy?

A little heart can't hurt. That brings us to this touchy-feely conclusion.
Right wing politics have never been embraced by artists with the kind of
extraordinary talent that powers a Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Jack
Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Bruce
Springsteen or Barbra Streisand. Their passion and inability to shut up in
the face of injustice is at the core of who they are as human beings. I know
that these are words that are easily mocked but it's an artist's capacity to
empathize and feel the pain of others that is the key that lets them excel
at their craft. If you take that away you have no artist and you are left
with Republican performers like Anita Bryant, Chuck Norris, Paris Hilton and
Brittney Spears. You might as well forget about artistic revelation of any
kind and spend your time wandering through a gallery of repetitive paintings
by Thomas Kinkade. True artistry is rarely, if ever, present without
compassion and empathy and that almost always comes with a liberal point of
view and vice versa. Conservatives will try to claim Sinatra and Ronald
Reagan but in their hey-day as artists both were outspoken liberals.

Finally, there's the best reason for America and conservatives to graciously
listen when liberal entertainers have something to say. It's a great
opportunity to show genuine patriotism and reverence for this great country
and our Bill of Rights. As American citizens, we should respect the other
person's right to speak out anytime with as much gusto and conviction as
Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter and their rag-tag team of prospective clones. If
you hate what he or she is saying and you lose your composure then just take
a page from big Dick's hymnal and say "go f*#k yourself." Repulsive? Yes!
But it's so much more patriotic than "shut up and sing."

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are
suffering deeply in spirit,
and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have
patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake."
-Thomas Jefferson