If you’re like me–and why wouldn’t you be(?)–then you find that the best political humor is of the unintentional variety. Lately, a national conversation on gun control has been taking place in the good ol’ US of A, and many opinions have been expressed. Much hyperbole has been thrown around as well, and mostly importantly there are the staple of ridiculous Nazi analogies flying around like bats after a gorged mosquito(?).
Recently, Tony Bennett, singer and jazz legend, speaking along with a group calling for tougher gun laws, said the following:
“It’s the kind of turn that happened to the great country of Germany, when Nazis came over and created tragic things, and they had to be told off. And if we continue this kind of violence and accept it in our country, the rest of the world’s going to really take care of us, in a very bad way. We should learn that we’re the greatest country, because we’re all different nationalities and all different religions. And we should show the rest of the world how to behave.”
Now, this little excerpt from his remarks at a D.C. press conference, would be tremendously funny all by itself, however there were (of course) some equally bizarre reactions to it. One might expect an 86-year-old celebrity to be less than stellar in expressing complex ideas especially as his mental sharpness is likely on the wane. One can’t help(?) but laugh at such bizarre exhibitions, mostly because it keeps one from crying. But to be outraged?
Thomas Lifson, a right-wing blogger of some renown(?), who is both young enough and old enough not to have any excuses for a bizarre utterance, had this to say about Mr. Bennett’s speech and the politics of it:
“My colleague Rick Moran thinks it is ‘sad’ that the 86 year old Bennett has embarrassed himself. But will Bennett receive enough scorn to learn anything. Ridicule, [Saul] Alinsky teaches us, is powerful. The dominant entertainment/news culture will leave him alone, so it is up to the [political] right to generate funny and compelling enough ridicule to break through the [L]iberal bubble. . . . Unless it hurts to make a fool of yourself in an emotional appeal, celebrities will keep on enlisting as soldiers in the progressive [sic] struggles and ignoring fact and logic.”
It’s difficult to believe that anyone would advocate this kind of strategy. The idea that coming up with devestating put-downs to fire at an inarticulate old man as a means to ingratiating yourself and your agenda to the larger public is beyond laughable. As in: Yes, let’s ridicule the elderly and finally everyone will love us. And if you’re like me–(???)–it makes you wonder:
Will the terrible ideas never cease?
QUOTE SOURCES:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/02/apparently_tony_bennett_also_left_his_brain_in_san_francisco.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/02/06/tony_bennett_without_gun_control_us_may_turn_into_nazi_germany.html
The Box Ajar 