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Date:      Mon, 05 Jan 2004 01:53:38 -0800
From:      rob_spellberg <emailrob@emailrob.com>
To:        Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@freebsd.org>, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Personal patches
Message-ID:  <3FF93422.2050006@emailrob.com>
References:  <200401020525.i025PM2W004726@dungeon.home> <20040102053610.GP78263@wantadilla.lemis.com>

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i object.

having read all of the messages so far posted,
   i choose to quote this one because greg is striving toward the right attitude.

i've been listening to rush's show
   since i learned of it's existence in september of 1992.
therefore, i think i'm in a position to opine [ of course, i could be wrong ].

[ for the record, most of my family are new_deal_democrats,
   originally arriving from the ukraine during 1921.
my late father left in the mid-1960's.
i transitioned away between 1972 and 1987 as i came to realize that
   socialism doesn't help the oppressed and downtrodden as is widely propagandized.
it keeps the o&d
   in the state of being o&d
   for the benefit of the ruling class of the day, whomever they may be.
don't just take my word for it,
   see 'the road to serfdom' by friedrich august von hayek. ]

being human, he has his occasional off days,
   as do lefties like david letterman or bill maher.
let's face it, al franken hasn't been funny since his famous
   'weekend update' opinion piece about the 1980's being 'the me decade'
   because it was about "me --- al franken",
   maybe twenty years ago now.

i'll have to look at the material in question
   to see if it's representative of his best stuff,
   i --am-- pleased that someone had the wisdom to include it,
   but it's important to remember that rush is a philosopher, not a comedian.
in fact, imho, he's the best motivational speaker in recent memory;
   aficionadoes will recall, e. g., dan's bake sale, fort collins, 1994.

his use of humor is generally to aid him in making a more important point.
one of his most important points is this [ this theme has many variations ]:
   if there is something you want very badly,
     you will get it a lot sooner if you go out and get a job,
       earn the money and buy it for yourself,
     rather than by
       a]  waiting for a politician seeking re_election to
             hand it to you in exchange for your vote, or
       b]  asking mommy and/or daddy to buy it for you, or
       c]  standing at the side of the road with a sign in your hands saying
             'will work for food'
             when you know damn well you just want the money
             [ thanks to the late 'mick from the high mountains of new mexico' ].

i say keep both the left_wing --and-- the right_wing humor.
let the individual be free to make the choice for themselves,
   even when it is 'obvious' to all 'reasonable' people that
   the individual in question is making the 'wrong' choice.

the correct course of action is to solicit political humor of all kinds
   from everyone who cares to contribute and expand the database mightily.
some of the stuff still in there i first saw at uic twenty years ago.
it needs freshening.

perhaps, the words to guide us are those of the young prince hal,
   as related by the bard himself:

     i'll so offend to make offense a skill,
       redeeming time when men think least i will.

rob


Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> On Friday,  2 January 2004 at 15:25:22 +1000, Stephen McKay wrote:
> 
>>I've finally had to edit the fortunes file to remove stuff that is so bad
>>that I physically cringe whenever I see it.  No matter how I try, I just
>>can't see the funny side of it.  Yes, it's in the "potentially obscene"
>>section, alongside the funniest stuff in the fortunes database.  But there
>>are limits.
>>
>>Anyway, today I added a new patch to my list of essential FreeBSD fixes:
>>I deleted everything by Rush Limbaugh.  That guy just can't do humour.  It
>>doesn't work as satire, or even parody.  It's just awful.
>>
>>Would anybody object if I commited this one?
> 
> 
> I think the answer would have to be "yes".  Though I personally agree
> with you about its usefulness, the whole thing about the potentially
> offensive fortunes is, of course, that they might offend.  Somebody
> else might like them.  I don't think that anybody should play censor
> here.
> 
> Greg
> --
> See complete headers for address and phone numbers.



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