On the way to work yesterday I was listening to NPR’s Fresh Air and the guy they were interviewing said something I had never heard before on the radio:
Blog.
Okay, so it’s not a big deal, and blog isn’t a household word, but the momentum is starting and one day the spell checker might even accept it. I don’t want to get too optimistic, but one day I may not have to explain it after getting another confused look with scrunched up eyebrows followed by, “A blog, what’s that?”
The show was about moveon.org, a liberal web site that recently held a “Bush in 30 seconds” contest and rightmarch.com, a conservative site that plans to launch campaigns criticizing moveon.org. They also released a country song called, Hey Hollywood, denouncing liberal actors who act as if they’re speaking for the US. The lyrics (as well as more discussion of the song) can be found at the Talon News.
There are so many things wrong with that song, I just don’t know where to begin. Oh, maybe with the fact that they’re acting as if they speak for everyone in their criticism of Hollywood actors who act as if they speak for everyone? Hello, hypocracy! Or maybe the awful grammar: Your instead of You’re. Or the insinuation that someone who disagrees with the current administration must hate our country. Utter crap in the lyrics department, although the tune itself isn’t all bad as far as contemporary country songs go.
Oh, and just so I’m not accused of being a looney liberal myself, I think the comparison of Bush to Hitler in the moveon.org ad is ridiculous and worthless as well. I don’t really see what the point of rebutting it is. It’s going to look like a blatant smear job to moderates and it’s not going to change the minds of either liberals or conservatives. It’s too bad the Republicans can’t just invoke Godwin’s Law and be done with it.
Watching the extremists duking it out, with lots of noise and fuss but no real effect, is kind of fun. Ah, the futility of it! They make all sorts of noise on the fringes, and then the vast majority votes based on what they hear on network TV and their mainstream newspapers/magazines of choice.
I agree, the lyrics weren’t that impressive but what I found even more distasteful is that instead of having their own agenda and platform, rightmarch is simply reacting to moveon.
I would much rather hear rightmarch’s opinions and views rather than their defensive posturing.
i forced myself to listen to the song after hearing william green of rightmarch.com extoll the humor he found in “hey hollywood” on fresh air..
I like all forms of music, to the chagrin of my children… but I have to say I found nothing orignal, or even interesting in the song. It could have been any of a thousand tracks on a cw karioka (sp?) cd… it will die of its own lack of any redeeming value… and it confirms my opinion that the far right has a pathetic ssense of humor…
jaj – columbus, ohio
Just cause somebody typed the lyrics incorrectly on Talon doesn’t mean the writers or singer didn’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re”. Give ’em a break on someone else’s typing and comment on the song alone. You’ve never made a typo??? Stick to the topic. Jeez.
Well, steve, that was one criticism out of many, and that’s not a typo, that’s a grammatical error. A typographical error is, by definition, an unintentional error of the operator resulting in a misspelling or misplacement of type. Using “your” in place of “you’re” is obviously a word usage error. Either the lyrics were published that way, or the Talon has a worthless excuse for an editor. If I had an editor, I wouldn’t have the embarrasing misspelling of “hypocrisy” on record here. Alas.
Anyway, would you care to address another one of the plethora of criticisms I gave of the song? There were quite a few, and attacking one doesn’t dispense with the rest. Make a real argument. Jeez.
By reading what most of you have to say, I take it that none of you left wing, slack jaw idiots have served in the military or should we say, combat. I think the lyrics are dead on! I think you left wingers need to stop your whining and get with the program of defending this nation. Hollywood wouldn’t be saying there ridiculous comments had 9-11 happened in Hollywood. You wouldn’t know reality if you tripped over it. While your spending all your time complaining and trying to justify your way of life, soldiers are overseas uncovering bodies of thousands of innocent victims. Of course, I am sure that means nothing to you.
Mr. A. P. American
Most of us here are Right-wing or Center. I don’t think any of us are really left-wing (at least the regulars aren’t). However, we take issue with extremists on either wing. Going to far in one direction nullifies their (not there) argument and gets nowhere.
So, just because I call this amateur right-wing propaganda song crap, as it is, I’m a left-wing slack-jaw idiot? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. And, ‘proud American’, you apparently have more false patriotism than you have brains or critical thinking skills. Asking people who disagree with you to leave (as the song, which you agree with, does) is not very patriotic.
I am proud of the ideal of America, the system of government that we have, and the freedoms that it protects and provides. This does not mean I have to be proud of every government official, of every government action, of every President, or of every war. In fact, I believe that true patriotism requires that we keep a close eye on our elected officials to ensure that they do not exercise power wrongly. The framers of the Constitution obviously agree, or they wouldn’t have built the government with the system of checks and balances they included. And ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the people to watch the government. That’s the nature of a democratic republic. Upholding those ideas is the nature of patriotism. Blindly following leaders and slandering patriots who disagree is NOT patriotism.
What’s so great about the “muddy middle”? At least the extremist on either side of the coin present some passion! That’s like the old saying “Why can’t we all just get along?” How about because some people in this world have the courage to stand up for what they believe in and should! And YES! That means somebody might feel nulified!