![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
luzribeiro.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticshttp://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/02/rush-limbaugh-vs-the-pope/
"But Limbaugh, whose program is estimated to reach 15 million listeners, called the Pope's comments "sad" and "unbelievable." "It's sad because this pope makes it very clear he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to capitalism and socialism and so forth.""
Oh how worked up the Pope has made some guys! Suddenly the pontiff stops being so infallible, eh? He just doesn't understand what Jesus is whispering in his ear, and he needs someone to explain it to him. Someone who knows more about capitalism and socialism "and so forth".
Someone like a Fox "news" commentator, perhaps?
"I go to church to save my soul," said Fox News' Stuart Varney, who is an Episcopalian. "It's got nothing to do with my vote. Pope Francis has linked the two. He has offered direct criticism of a specific political system. He has characterized negatively that system. I think he wants to influence my politics."
So... capitalism is a political system, now? When did that happen, pray tell? (pununintended) When did capitalism stop being an economic and social system using markets to distribute goods and services, and suddenly become a political system? I thought capitalism was a tool? Does this, highly competent and infinitely infallible pundit, by any chance, happen to be mixing up capitalism with democracy? As if speaking with a British accent would magically make him look smarter, eh? But what do I know. I'm not on Fox "news", therefore I don't know shit about these things "and so forth".
See, the very notion of capitalism being an imperfect tool and this possibly warranting criticism thereof, must be such a scary prospect to a certain segment of society. The very notion that without regulation, capitalist markets tend to fail to account for all costs ("externalities", as the PC term goes, like pollution for example), or to meet the needs and interests of society in an adequate way (like preventing child labor) - that's such a blasphemy to the worshipers of King Dollar. Anathema!
In a way, right-wing conservatives like the two guys cited above have raised Capitalism (capital C) to a pedestal, and it sits even higher than their precious Jesus, whose name they so eagerly and shamelessly use as a war-flag at any given opportunity. They've turned pure, hardcore, unbridled capitalism into an ideal, not a tool. An end by itself, rather than a means to an end.
Which is exactly why they'd now cringe almost like a Pavlov-dog reflex, and hysterically cry a river of tears with a face reddened like a tomato, even at the remotest hint of criticism of their actual god. Somehow, reminding people that capitalism is just a tool, a relatively efficient and useful tool for allocating goods and services to a maximum number of people, but still a tool with its own flaws that need addressing - is now viewed among those circles as if it were some kind of Marxist crazy-talk. Well, I say stay classy, right-wingers. Kneeling before Mammon - you're doing it well.
Really, why would it matter that the Pope criticizing capitalism in its current form =/= advocating forcing people to give up their property and redistribute it to everyone else (i.e. Marxism)? All that matters is that Rush and his listeners and supporters are so, so utterly SHOCKED to see the dogma of their true religion, Capitalism, being challenged. And they can now share their shock with each other, and raise their trembling voices of righteous indignation into a choir of weeping and wailing, tears in the eyes and face reddened like a tomato. And that'd help them feel more accomplished, validated, more significant than they are, removing all insecurity, silencing all complexes. All they need to do is shut their ears, wave their hands, and keep repeating the mantras that their selected preacher has deigned upon them.
I bet if Rush & Co. ever met Jesus in person without suspecting of his identity, they'd label him a Marxist outright, and drown him in rivers of spittle after exchanging just a couple of sentences with the guy. All he need say is, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God"; and: "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven".
But yeah, I get it, he's just a "comedian", right? He likes to emphasize on his points by using comedic effect? They all do that, right? Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity... That's always been my fave disclaimer. And also this one: "See, he's just saying whatever would help him gain more audience, and ultimately, sell his product to the public better". So the really sad thing here is not that he's a hypocrite, twisting and using the Gospel to his personal benefit, and to push an agenda that runs directly counter to anything said Gospel preaches - no, it's the fact that he has "an estimated 15 million listeners", who follow every word he says, then regurgitate it in society, and ultimately, pick a considerably significant portion of the leaders of that society, to then go and craft policies that would eventually affect everyone.
Let's stop pretending that these guys are not calling the shots within a considerably significant segment of society, shall we?
"But Limbaugh, whose program is estimated to reach 15 million listeners, called the Pope's comments "sad" and "unbelievable." "It's sad because this pope makes it very clear he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to capitalism and socialism and so forth.""
Oh how worked up the Pope has made some guys! Suddenly the pontiff stops being so infallible, eh? He just doesn't understand what Jesus is whispering in his ear, and he needs someone to explain it to him. Someone who knows more about capitalism and socialism "and so forth".
Someone like a Fox "news" commentator, perhaps?
"I go to church to save my soul," said Fox News' Stuart Varney, who is an Episcopalian. "It's got nothing to do with my vote. Pope Francis has linked the two. He has offered direct criticism of a specific political system. He has characterized negatively that system. I think he wants to influence my politics."
So... capitalism is a political system, now? When did that happen, pray tell? (pun
See, the very notion of capitalism being an imperfect tool and this possibly warranting criticism thereof, must be such a scary prospect to a certain segment of society. The very notion that without regulation, capitalist markets tend to fail to account for all costs ("externalities", as the PC term goes, like pollution for example), or to meet the needs and interests of society in an adequate way (like preventing child labor) - that's such a blasphemy to the worshipers of King Dollar. Anathema!
In a way, right-wing conservatives like the two guys cited above have raised Capitalism (capital C) to a pedestal, and it sits even higher than their precious Jesus, whose name they so eagerly and shamelessly use as a war-flag at any given opportunity. They've turned pure, hardcore, unbridled capitalism into an ideal, not a tool. An end by itself, rather than a means to an end.
Which is exactly why they'd now cringe almost like a Pavlov-dog reflex, and hysterically cry a river of tears with a face reddened like a tomato, even at the remotest hint of criticism of their actual god. Somehow, reminding people that capitalism is just a tool, a relatively efficient and useful tool for allocating goods and services to a maximum number of people, but still a tool with its own flaws that need addressing - is now viewed among those circles as if it were some kind of Marxist crazy-talk. Well, I say stay classy, right-wingers. Kneeling before Mammon - you're doing it well.
Really, why would it matter that the Pope criticizing capitalism in its current form =/= advocating forcing people to give up their property and redistribute it to everyone else (i.e. Marxism)? All that matters is that Rush and his listeners and supporters are so, so utterly SHOCKED to see the dogma of their true religion, Capitalism, being challenged. And they can now share their shock with each other, and raise their trembling voices of righteous indignation into a choir of weeping and wailing, tears in the eyes and face reddened like a tomato. And that'd help them feel more accomplished, validated, more significant than they are, removing all insecurity, silencing all complexes. All they need to do is shut their ears, wave their hands, and keep repeating the mantras that their selected preacher has deigned upon them.
I bet if Rush & Co. ever met Jesus in person without suspecting of his identity, they'd label him a Marxist outright, and drown him in rivers of spittle after exchanging just a couple of sentences with the guy. All he need say is, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God"; and: "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven".
But yeah, I get it, he's just a "comedian", right? He likes to emphasize on his points by using comedic effect? They all do that, right? Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity... That's always been my fave disclaimer. And also this one: "See, he's just saying whatever would help him gain more audience, and ultimately, sell his product to the public better". So the really sad thing here is not that he's a hypocrite, twisting and using the Gospel to his personal benefit, and to push an agenda that runs directly counter to anything said Gospel preaches - no, it's the fact that he has "an estimated 15 million listeners", who follow every word he says, then regurgitate it in society, and ultimately, pick a considerably significant portion of the leaders of that society, to then go and craft policies that would eventually affect everyone.
Let's stop pretending that these guys are not calling the shots within a considerably significant segment of society, shall we?
(no subject)
Date: 8/12/13 20:15 (UTC)When did capitalism stop being an economic and social system using markets to distribute goods and services, and suddenly become a political system?
That's the joke! All economic theories are, in essence, at their core, political systems! Think about it. Economic theories dictate who should keep money, what money is, how it should be created and circulated, how/if it should be exchanged for value . . . everything necessary to determine who keeps that value and who produces it!
In fact, back when Adam Smith was scribbling furiously in the late 18th century, he was quilling what was then called "political economy," and if you wanted to study it formally the place to go was a university or college that had course in the same. The first major university that had a simple "Economics" department was the University of Chicago, which is a hotbed of the kind of economics Rush "out on a" Limbaugh espouses. Weird, right?
It gets better! As you note, these guys use the following excuse:
Ah, but wait! All commercially-controlled media outlets do this! Why? Because they are supported by Capitalists, who demand that the media outlets they support also support capitalism!!!
Ever wonder why no telly outfit ever broadcast a non-polemical scholarly program outlining what Karl Marx actually wrote about economics? Ever wonder why the only mention of Marx and his "followers" is dismissive? Ever wonder—going to the heart of the established "economics is a science", despite all evidence that it truly is not—why no one on telly notes that Alfred Nobel gave not two shits about economics and most certainly did not endow a prize to award advances in it, let alone give those prizes along with the prizes he did endow?
No, no program would, not if they are supported by the system asking such questions might undermine!