Brutally Honest Rant - 10/11/06

Brutally Honest Audio Rant: Symbolism versus Substance
Audio Transcripts
10/11/06

[Start Program]

(Computer – Introduction)
(Music intro – "American Idiot Remix" – by Green Day and David Matthews 2)

Good evening, and welcome to this week’s Brutally Honest Rant. I’m David Matthews 2, writer of the weekly online column Brutally Honest.

Last week, I did a rant about Republicans and their weasel ways that really got my blood boiling. And what pissed me off was pretty much the hypocrisy from all of the conservatives who were SO busy trying to whitewash the whole matter with Mark Foley just so it won’t make their people look bad during an election season.

L. Brent Bozell in particular was quick to say "Oh, DEMOCRATS have nothing to cheer about over Mark Foley! They were JUST AS DIRTY, if not worse!"

And of ALL of the hypocrites in the bunch, you’d think that Bozell would know the difference between what HIS people do and what the liberals and Democrats in general did when they were in charge of things twelve years ago!

You see, people like Bozell write books. They go out on speaking tours. They do talk radio shows. They write columns in newspapers. And they get paid quite well for each of these things. You don’t see them working menial jobs like the rest of us have to.

But worst of all, people like Bozell play games with our government. They form special interest groups to bully the government to do their bidding, and then create so-called "research organizations" to validate and justify their thug tactics.

And what do they talk about? What is it that brings in the money for them? They don’t talk about the weather. They talk about VALUES and MORALS and how CONSERVATIVES are so frigging BETTER in both of those categories. They create the standards and then they use GOVERNMENT to IMPOSE those standards on us, and then they make it their mission in life to make sure that we OBEY those standards, whether we want to or not! They appoint themselves to be our judges, our juries, and then they use the government to be our executioners if we don’t obey THEIR rules.

So when they have to deal with the fact that one of their key allies and best friends in the government is an online PREDATOR, not to mention a confirmed hypocrite, there are two paths that people like L. Brent Bozell could take.

The first is to hold true to those standards and to openly condemn the government for their hypocrisy and their ineptitude. DEMAND that those that allow the hypocrisy to continue be removed from positions of power and authority and work to make sure that better safeguards are in place.

The second is to demagogue the issue. To try to negate the ineptitude by claiming that their critics have no right to complain simply because the Democrats were just as corrupt and inept when they were in power.

To which I say to L. Brent Bozell and to any of his ilk… BLOW ME!

Let’s get brutally honest here… if you build a pedestal for your ideas and then do everything in your power to FORCE people to worship those ideas, then you’re OBLIGATED even more than anyone else to live up to those ideas. You do not have the LUXURY of demagoguery when the pedestal that YOU BUILT falls apart, either through corruption or incompetence.

There are three little words that used to serve as the universal description of liberals ten years ago. Those three words are "Symbolism over Substance". Conservatives used to cry out that everything that the liberals did ten years ago was nothing but empty symbolism. It was all done for appearances. It was all done for looks.

Well guess what, folks? That’s where the conservatives are right now! They are doing the SAME THINGS that liberals did twelve years ago! They’re not providing anything of real substance anymore. It’s all about APPEARANCES!

Find a controversial issue that is going through Congress and you’ll find a small group of congressmen and/or senators that will supposedly "take a stand" against the Bush Imperium. They’ll supposedly "hold up" the passage of that bill, or at least threaten to, until some sort of agreement is made… some assurances that certain "safeguards" will be in place. Then they supposedly come up with an "agreement", pass the bill, it gets signed into law, and then the White House issues a "signing statement" that negates the whole agreement!

IT IS ALL A HOAX! It’s all done for appearances! It’s all done so that certain members of Congress can "appear" to be the voices of reason when they know full well that any compromise they reach will be negated by the White House with their so-called "signing statements".

Symbolism over substance.

The Bush Imperium TALKS about freedom and democracy, but when either of those two things interfere with what they want to do, they declare "we are at war" and "executive privilege" and "national security" and issue "signing statements". I have as much time accepting that as I do when anti-war protesters say they "support the troops", or when freedom-hating bible thumpers preach about "hate the sin but love the sinner".

Symbolism over substance.

How about the Taliban over in Afghanistan? Remember when they ruled that country with an iron fist? Do you know why the people there didn’t even bother to defend the Taliban when we invaded that country in 2001? Because they knew that the Taliban were just a bunch of hypocrites! Everything that the Taliban banned for the masses were things that they themselves enjoyed! They banned dancing, yet would have professional dancers show up at their functions. They’d ban music and then have parties where that same music would be played loudly for the masses to hear.

How the hell can you support a bunch of religious extremists who can’t even obey their own damned laws?

Symbolism over substance.

And here we have the Mark Foley problem, where House Speaker Dennis Hastert first says "the buck stops here" and then says that he won’t resign, and then says that ANYONE ELSE that knows about Mark Foley’s predatory ways should be fired. Apparently the buck really doesn’t stop AT his desk… it just stops a little bit BEFORE his desk. You know, it sorta kinda gets CLOSE to his desk… like the guest chair… but it just doesn’t actually REACH his desk, but dammit it’s close enough for him to quote Eisenhower!

Meanwhile the conservatives are busy trying to reconcile how they KNEW about a hypocritical predator in their midst, and not only encouraged him to continue to run for re-election, but to also throw out the accusation that this was just some hoax or a prank! Or, better yet, that it’s some GRAND CONSPIRACY cooked up by some billionaire who is losing his shirt over Air America Radio and a TV network owned by the Walt Disney Company.

Symbolism over substance.

The key to whatever it is that you’re trying to pitch – be it a social program, a religion, a political philosophy, or a commercial product – rests not with the pitch but with the pitchman himself! If you can’t serve as a credible representative of whatever it is that you’re trying to sell, then you’ve already lost your argument.

That’s why I get sick to my stomach anytime I hear certain conservatives talk about the "sanctity of marriage" when they have more divorces under their belt than Liz Taylor. They have no business talking about the "sanctity of marriage" when they clearly don’t hold it in high regard in their own lives.

Same thing when Bill Clinton started opening his mouth. How many people REALLY could take him at his word after the whole Lewinsky thing? He first wags his finger at the world, and then when he’s caught he apologizes for lying. How can anyone take him seriously the next time he wags his finger? Every time he wags his finger, I feel compelled to flip him one of my own.

And guess what? The feminist groups that backed Clinton lost any kind of credibility when they continued to support him after the allegations of infidelity and sexual harassment started to come out. Meanwhile, of course, they were saying "well, we gotta dance with the one who brought you"… which may be an old political saying but it further diminished their credibility in the eyes of the masses. Besides, aren’t feminists supposed to be all for BREAKING those kinds of old stereotypes anyway?

Well the same thing applies to the conservatives right now over this whole Mark Foley matter. If you want to talk about values and morals, then you had DAMN WELL better apply them with those whom you associate with, no matter WHO they are! Especially if you’re making your fortune off those things!

And if they don’t do that… if they believe that the symbolism of their cause is more important than substance behind it… then they need to be held accountable for it. They need to lose any kind of authority or credibility they have, because what they’re selling at that point is nothing more than just a bill of goods.

(Computer – some timely clips)
(Fade Music In – "Mythodea" by Vangelis)

The funny thing, of course, when talking about symbolism versus substance is that when we deal with moralism, it’s really ALL about symbolism for them. They talk about values, but all they’re really interested in is the APPEARANCE of values. That’s really why they’re obsessed with crosses and placards and flags and cute little sound-byte slogans. That’s why they get all upset and start acting like crazed terrorists when they see a bumper sticker they don’t like or a campaign sign for a political opponent. It’s not about values. It’s all about APPEARANCES. It’s about creating this façade that they call a world that is about as empty and as worthless as they are.

And when something comes along that contradicts their empty world, they can’t help but take it personally, because to them IT IS personal. After all, it’s THEIR world that is being threatened by reality.

That, my friends, is the dysfunction of the moralists. Unfortunately for us, though, WE are the ones that end up having to pay the price for it.

(Pause)

Brutally Honest is a Get Brutal production, all opinions expressed are those of the commentator, and may or may not be shared by the online provider. This is David Matthews 2 saying good night, and I’ll speak with you soon!

(Fade out)
(Computer – Ending/"End of Recording")

[End of program]
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