Brutally Honest Rant - 12/05/07

Brutally Honest Audio Rant: Updates on Past Issues
Audio Transcripts
12/05/07

[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.

For those of who you don’t yet know, next week will be the last audio rant for 2007. Hopefully by then I should have something memorable to announce, but if not, I’ll still have something good to wrap up the year. This coming Sunday will also be the last Brutally Honest column for the year. Again, this just a little something that I do every year to wrap things up.

Anyway, tonight I’ve got some updates on some of the things that I’ve talked about over the past year. Two of the things are recent, but this first one is something that was brought up back in April and has just come back into the spotlight in the past week or so. Matter of fact, you may have heard about it…

That’s right… DON IMUS is back on the air.

Or… at least a radio personality that LOOKS like Don Imus, and has a voice that SOUNDS like Don Imus, but is it REALLY Don Imus?

There are some folks who say that it isn’t. Or at least not the Don Imus that inspired future shock jocks like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, and the Regular Guys.

Now, for those of you who don’t really remember what I was talking about… Don Imus was railroaded out of a job by a cabal of liberal moralists led by the self-righteous Al Sharpton. Sharpton heard Imus echo a comment by his producer describing the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team as “nappy-headed ho’s”. He didn’t like that description, so he got his moralist war machine fired up and he FORCED MSNBC to drop the video simulcast of Imus in the Morning. Then he turned to CBS and FORCED them to cancel his show in a blatant violation of the contract they signed with him. Imus apologized profusely for the comment that he himself didn’t even create, he just echoed from his producer! But that wasn’t enough for Sharpton. Sharpton and his liberal moralist war machine wanted BLOOD… preferably that of Imus or of his career. And it was only AFTER Imus was fired from CBS… again in BLATANT VIOLATION of his contract… did Sharpton consider the apology sufficient.

Now… since Sharpton set the bar on Imus, I wonder if HE would be willing to be held to the SAME STANDARD. Probably not. Most moralists consider themselves to be above reproach anyway. But I digress.

Anyway, Imus sued CBS... and rightly so… then they settled and he got invited to go back on the air. But with some changes of course. A few new diverse people on on-air staff, and of course a softer, kindler, gentler Imus… and with a 30-second censor delay JUST in case the OLD Imus comes back.

Now, I haven’t heard the “new” Imus, and I never really was into hearing the OLD Imus, but in truth, I’m really not surprised that this milquetoast pretender is on the airwaves!

I’ve seen this before! Many of the people who were INSPIRED by the old Imus… Opie and Anthony, the Regular Guys… they ALL faced the wrath of the moralist censors, and when they were ALLOWED back on the air, they were effectively CASTRATED. They were neutered! They SUCKED!

You see, THIS is what happens to free speech when it is put in the hands of moralists. It gets CASTRATED! It gets diluted. And when you have someone who makes his or her career saying things that OFFEND people and SHOCKS them and you take all that away in the name of “decency” or “family values”, you get a very BLAND and BORING program!

Now if Don Imus wants to spend his last remaining years being more or less a cheap carbon copy of Paul Harvey, then that’s his choice. But CBS not only did Imus a disservice when they violated the terms of their contract, but they also did their own LISTENERS a disservice by not backing Imus and by not taking ON the moralists and fighting them as they were OBLIGATED by that contract to do. THEY MADE Imus into radio milquetoast, which of course is what the big radio conglomerates want in the first place. Bland, neutral, plain… BORING.

Listen, free speech is MEANT to offend! It’s MEANT to shock and be obscene and piss people off! That is what it is FOR! It is not for mainstream pabulum. Pabulum doesn’t need protection.

Over on ShockNetRadio.com, my good friend RJ Evans has a certain sound clip that he LOVES to use on his radio show. It is the sound of someone puking their guts out, and it is not a quick sound clip either. And every time he uses it, it pisses off some of his listeners. But what they really don’t understand is that every time THEY get pissed off by it, it just encourages him to use it more and more!

You see, as long as you get OFFENDED by something, you give that thought or that word POWER. This is the power that moralists tap into to control you and to control others! But if you CHOOSE to not get OFFENDED, then you take that power AWAY from the word, and thus you take that power AWAY from the moralists. You want to shut down people like Al Sharpton? THAT’S how you do it!

(Quick Pause)

Okay, next up…

We have an update on the MySpace manipulator. This was from the “Cyberspace Destroyers” rant back on my birthday.

Quick recap: 13-year old Megan Meier suffered from some severe social problems. ADD, depression, a victim of bullying so severe that she was forced to change schools. She meets what she believes to be a male teen friend who really gushes about her and builds up her confidence for about a month or so. Then, suddenly, he turns on her and starts insulting her and degrading her and telling her the world would be better if she wasn’t in it anymore. Public comments get posted about her. Other people start ganging up on her. Shortly after that exchange, she hung herself.

Parents wanted to know who this cruel young man was, but it turned out it was actually the creation of a neighbor’s sick mind. A FEMALE neighbor who created the fictional identity because she wanted to know what Megan was saying about her own daughter.

Well the county prosecutor was ready to wash their hands clean of this, as did everyone else in government, until Megan’s parents went public; then suddenly they wanted to reconsider, especially after the news of this sick, disgusting hoax reached the Internet and bloggers discovered who this neighbor was and started giving HER a taste of her own medicine. Turns out, though, that was just a little delaying tactic. The county prosecutors have once again washed their hands clean of this matter, but not before getting a few more key elements out in the open.

According to the neighbor herself, she didn’t create the fictional profile. She got her 18-year old employee to do that! Yes, that’s right, she didn’t act on her own! She had OTHER PEOPLE doing her bidding!

Oh, and the 18-year old employee in question? Well, he wasn’t available for the prosecutors to provide any kind of information on this matter because he’s being treated for psychological problems caused BY it.

Well isn’t that just CONVENIENT! Blame the manipulated suicide of a young girl with personal problems on someone who conveniently develops psychological problems of his own.

All of this is SUPPOSED to exonerate the woman in question. But in truth what this little revelation does is it further exposes the depths of EVIL surrounding this woman!

Prior to this little nugget of information coming out, it could be easily argued that this woman was simply acting as just another hyperactive and terribly flawed parental caretaker whose zealotry for family protection exceeded common sense. But in truth, what this exposes is a cruel, cold, and calculated master manipulator. A mastermind, to use the City of Villains terminology. Someone who uses other people to do their bidding so that they can come out innocent.

And what a viscous circle was woven here! A whole bunch of people who conspire to bring down a fragile teenager, with the one person connected to all of them somehow guilt-free. Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this picture?

I sincerely hope that Megan Meier’s parents sue that woman in civil court for wrongful death, and go after EVERYONE connected to it, including the company she works for, including the employee she manipulated into doing her bidding, and including everyone else in the area associated with it. I’m sure that once all of the pieces of this puzzle are laid out and all of the players are exposed that the civil court will show to Megan’s parents the kind of justice they have been so far denied by the legal system.

By the way, I got some pretty good feedback from folks who were somewhat surprised by my own admission of similar problems when I was a teenager. Bear in mind that back then I wasn’t the six-foot-three behemoth that I am today. And people suffering from personal problems, never mind depression, don’t usually come out and admit to it. That is especially true when you’re a teenager, and even more so when you’ve been tormented by others long enough to know that even the tiniest flaw can be blown up and magnified into something it isn’t.

(Quick pause)

Okay, finally tonight a follow-up to last week’s rant about the HOLIDAY season.

You know, I rag on the neo-cons about their obsession over the religious aspects of this time of the year, but they didn’t start this so-called “culture war” on their own. Sure they’re arrogant, ego-driven, self-righteous, self-centered, and quick to shove their beliefs down our collective gullets on a whim and for a quick buck. But most of them – with the obvious exception to the Fox News contingent – are not that way normally. Most of the people I talk to that are quick to start impersonating a bible-thumping minister over what is supposedly “THE REASON” for this HOLIDAY season are otherwise NORMAL people. But someone or something pushed their buttons.

Let’s get brutally honest here… we are ALL guilty of seeing this HOLIDAY season through our own exclusive filters, and for many of us, those filters are based on our religious beliefs. If you’re a Christian, you will probably only see Christmas. That’s it! And that’s all some Christians ever WANT to see at this time of the year.

Tonight, as I’m speaking, is the first night of Chanukah, the Jewish celebration of this HOLIDAY season. Of course it doesn’t keep the same date every year… just like a few certain CHRISTIAN celebrations that will go unmentioned… *AHEM* EASTER!… because it’s based on the JEWISH calendar, not on the Anglo-Saxon CHRISTIAN calendar. Yet another reason why this is called the HOLIDAY season. But for bigoted Christians, they will NEVER EVER see this as a part of THEIR celebrations! They’ll fight for the Ten Commandments, but they won’t recognize Chanukah as part of the whole HOLIDAY season. It’s Christmas or NOTHING!

And yeah, neo-cons and other conservatives are guilty of pushing our buttons on this. But they’re not the only ones doing so!

Liberals are also guilty of pushing our Yuletide buttons, and sometimes for no good reason whatsoever!

For instance, okay, keeping the Nativity scene out of Town Hall is a good fight. Practicing the separation of Church and State instead of talking about it is a noble cause. But banning all references to Christmas itself? Barring ALL Christmas carols, even the secular ones? Shutting down Santa and Rudolph and Frosty too? No, that’s not a good cause!

Listen, there has been a very delicate balance built up with Christmas making it both secular AND religious. The LAST thing that liberals need right now is to get rid of the baby along with the bathwater. You’re not going to win trying to get rid of all things Christmas. That just pisses off way too many people.

Let people enjoy Christmas. Keep it secular in the government realm, but otherwise let the people enjoy it amongst themselves within their own religious filters.

Oh, and by the way, LAY OFF THE “HO HO HO” THING! Liberals in Australia told Santas that they couldn’t say “Ho Ho Ho” because it was deemed OFFENSEIVE! For whom? Farmers? The Jolly Green Giant?

Look, let me spell it out for you so that even a certain former Texas governor can understand it… you fight for and keep the secular celebration of Christmas going and you keep many of the masses on your side. Not all of them, but certainly enough to keep the neo-cons in line. But the minute you start going after Christmas in and of itself, then those masses will go RUNNING IN DROVES over to the neo-cons. And then good luck ever getting the support of the masses for anything else you need.

Remember, the name of the game here is BALANCE.

(Computer – some stuff)
(Fade Music In – “Mythodea” by Vangelis)

By the way, something for you to think about… did it ever occur you why Chanukah has gone on pretty much unobserved compared to Christmas?

Think about it! Christmas has all of these songs and images and celebrations and TV specials… and Chanukah has an Adam Sadler movie and only one song. And a rather cheesy song to boot!

Now imagine how the Jewish faith would have looked if they didn’t spend a few hundred years getting persecuted at every turn. They probably would have had the courage to be creative as well and come up with more songs and more celebrations and made it more festive instead of having to keep things amongst themselves.

If they weren’t being hounded out and hunted down and forced to keep their faith secret, they probably could have turned Chanukah into something just as festive as Christmas. And it probably would have been more commercialized as well. After all, Christmas only comes once. Chanukah has eight days of gift-buying.

That, in and of itself, probably would have eliminated the need for the stores to practice Christmas Creep.

(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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