Yesterday I was driving down some back roads of central Texas where the radio reception is not very good, so I thought I might try to find Rush Limbaugh to see what his take on the Iraq prisoner/torture thing was. It didn’t take long to find a station carrying Rush, nor did it take long before he got into the topic of the photographs. According to Limbaugh these pictures “are no different from what you’ll see on any given night at a Britney Spears concert.”
Wow! Really? ‘Cause, y’know, I’m an old guy and I don’t get out much; certainly not to Brittney Spears concerts, so I was wondering if some of you younger Dopers can help me out here.
At what point in her concert does Britney strap electrodes to some guy’s testicles? What song is being performed at that point? Is it more like a ballad or is it an upbeat little dancey thing?
What about the part where she points to a naked guy’s penis and laughs? I’m just not familiar enough with her music to come up with any lyrics that relate to that.
Do the naked guys wear hoods on stage or was that just artistic license?
Back to the electrodes to the genitals part of the show, does she use the same member of her dance troupe every night or does she pick someone out of the audience at random? If so, do they get paid? How much?
Could Rush have confused Britney Spears with Madonna, ‘cause I can sorta see Madonna strapping some guy’s balls to a battery, but Britney?
Is this more appropriate for Café Society?
Thanks in advance for cluing me in on any of this, ‘cause I feel like I’m really getting out of touch with American culture these days.
Does she still do that bit where she pisses on some guy with a sack on his head?
Perhaps Rush is thinking of a Rush concert. It’s quite a statement to make. Perhaps things like that do happen at Britney concerts, but only in Limbaugh’s head. Seems like a scary place to be. In touch with the kids and popular culture! Who put you in charge of anything?
Hey, now, watch it, pally! There are no water sports at Rush concerts. Nor nudity, torture or naked guys in hoods. The only thing that comes close is when the guy a couple seats down from me at the Power Windows tour concert vomited on the floor, and I stepped in the edge of it.
So I pointed at his genitals and laughed. Oh wait…
I swear that anytime someone starts a story about listening to Rush Limbaugh, it always begins with some sort of justification- “I could only get reception on one station and Rush Limbaugh happened to be on…”, “I was walking by the stereo and my elbow brushed the radio dial…”, “I was vacuuming at night when my nightgown accidentally opened and my penis got caught in the vacuum cleaner…” (different excuse but you get my drift). Just an observation.
Personally I’d rather have my penis stuck in a vacuuum cleaner than listen to Limbaugh.
Mr. Limbaugh is merely Beta-testing a Party Line Version 1.3: that all these pictures really show is good-natured rough-housing, a bit of hazing and harmless buffoonery, if those sacks weren’t on thier heads you could see them smiling and joshing in an “I’m a good sport, please don’t kill me” manner.
As we speak, I see creeping into the news the uncomfortable matter of a few corpses, exact count uncertain, somewhere between 2 and 25. The matter is being investigated, and we are assured that stern reprimands will be placed in the Permanent Records of those found culpable.
Too right. Back when I worked for the railroad, I received a stern reprimand, copied to my permanent record, for making errors of subtraction not once but three times whilst weighing carloads of government ore. Those unforgivable transgressions haunt me to this day, so one can only imagine the humilating burden on those those reprimanded for actually killing somebody.
In any event, it sounds to me like there will indeed be some criminal prosecutions, of scapegoats or otherwise, coming out of all this.
Rush Transcript: Babes Doing The Torture In Iraq
In this transcript, Limbaugh makes these points:
[ul][li]The pictures may not be legitimate[/li][li]A lot of people make up news stories, so really this isn’t too bad[/li][li]John Kerry did not immediately report atrocities he witnessed in Vietnam, so this really isn’t a big deal[/li][li]Predicted Marv Albert comment on pictures: “Hey, that doesn’t look so bad.”[/li][li]You might be able to get an NEA grant for something like this[/ul][/li]
Rush Transcript: It’s Not About Us; This Is War!
In which we learn:
[ul][li]Everybody is overreacting[/li][li]Investigating these incidents is a bad idea, because nobody will stop hijackings anymore[/li][li]These are “Madonna torture photos”[/li][li]This kind of thing happens all the time at skull and bones initiation ceremonies[/li][li]The torturers were just having a good time[/li][li]It’s just emotional release[/li][li]Prison torture is just blowing off steam. Who cares?[/ul][/li]
I have to agree with Rush on this one. How are we supposed to keep troop morale up if the guys aren’t even allowed to electrocute prisoners? What are they gonna do for fun then? Huh? Huh?