In a post two days ago, I expressed puzzlement about why some were so cruel towards transgender people, harassing them unmercifully. I suggested that they may have felt somehow threatened by them, though I could not see why. Now from the mouth of the odious Rush Limbaugh commenting on Caitlyn Jenner, we get a further clue.
Limbaugh is disturbed by the fact that Jenner identifies as a Republican and that that may cause members of his party getting suckered by that into accepting her. As far as I can tell. he seems to think that accepting Jenner for who she is would take them down the slippery slope towards mushy liberal values, and the whole thing was part of some grand plan to disrupt the natural order of things where everything was clearly black or white. In the process, he perpetuates this curious belief that liberals are willing to accept anything, as long as it annoys conservatives.
After the [Jenner] interview, Limbaugh said that liberals were pleased because they support “anything to upset these damn conservatives and Republicans that believe in their precious social issues.”
During the segment, Limbaugh expressed his belief that being transgender is “a mental illness,” citing the research of a Johns Hopkins professor.
Lionizing Jenner, Limbaugh said at the time and reiterated Tuesday, was a media tactic in a political battle between liberals and conservatives on social issues.
“This fits everything the media wants to do in terms of turning the culture upside down, redefining what ‘normal’ is, getting revenge against the majority for all of these decades of discrimination and mockery and disapproval and all these religious fanatics judging other people simply because of, quote, ‘who they love,’ unquote.”
“Everybody in the drive-by media promoting this, approving of it, celebrating it, it’s all political, because everything is,” he added.
The whole argument is rather confused but what can you expect, since there is no rational reason for the rejection of Jenner.
Jon Stewart had an excellent take on the reaction to Jenner’s transition, that while it was a good sign that much of the public reaction was so welcoming, she will now experience first hand what being a woman in America is like and it is not going to be all pleasant when the objectification and ageism kick in.
(This clip aired on June 2, 2015. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Nightly Show outside the US, please see this earlier post. If the videos autoplay, please see here for a diagnosis and possible solutions.)
Larry Wilmore also made some good comments about Jenner and Mike Huckabee’s reaction to the news.
rietpluim says
Since anything conservatives believe in is so stupid, this might just be true.
Numenaster says
They’ve mistaken the result for the cause. (Most) liberals are willing to accept anything for which there is evidence, and truth annoys conservatives. Other than that tiny subset of truth that supports their ideas, I mean. Since the vast majority of reality doesn’t comport with quaint conservative attitudes about cause and effect, most of reality annoys them and liberals are just part of that vast reality.
Works for me.
thewhollynone says
I’m amazed at the number of intelligent and supposedly educated people who don’t understand show biz. In show biz rule #1 is GET ATTENTION. Rule #2 is SEE RULE#1.