> "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."
>
>
>
> --
> NOTICE: This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not
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> political, human rights, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues.
> I
> believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as
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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
>
>
>