Are You Ready For Some Disunity?

 

A few days ago, Pseudodionysius posted a thread about my love of country music. Since then, I have been in something of a slow burn because of a certain comment that was posted there. The comment in question was posted by me, wherein I mentioned one Randall Hank Williams, better known to the world as country music legend Hank Williams, Jr.

From 1989 to 2011, a version of one of Williams’ hit songs – retitled “Are You Ready For Some Football?” – was featured by ABC (and later ESPN) as the introduction to “Monday Night Football.” Here is a clip from the early 1990s:

That all came to an end on October 3, 2011, when during an interview on Fox and Friends, Williams expressed dismay that a few months earlier, Barack Obama and Joe Biden had participated in a golf outing with two of their alleged political opponents: John Boehner and John Kasich.  Williams said that the get-together made about as much sense as Adolf Hitler meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu.

Within hours, the social justice warrior lynch mob went to work, and by the end of the day Williams’ iconic song had been pulled from “Monday Night Football,” and at week’s end he was fired outright. All for the “crime” of insulting Dear Leader Obama.

Of course, Williams’ employment by ABC/ESPN was at-will and they had the right to dismiss him for any reason or no reason at all. But does anyone really think Williams would have received the same treatment had he said the same thing about one of Obama’s Republican predecessors? To ask the question is to answer it.

Social justice warrior lynch mobs are becoming an all-too-frequent feature of contemporary American life, as seen with the recent uproar over the “murder” of Cecil the Lion and the disgraceful, Taliban-like pogrom against the St. Andrew’s Cross and other Confederate symbols. In his latest podcast, John Derbyshire likewise expresses disdain (starting at about the 31:50 mark), recalling how similar such events are to the child-abuse conspiracy insanity of the mid-1980s.  If you want to know how such nonsensical movements like National Socialism, Maoism, and the Khmer Rouge can gain social traction so quickly, the aforementioned are contemporary, textbook examples on a much smaller scale. Mass hysteria exists, no doubt about it.

Indeed, the America of 2015 bears little resemblance to the America I was born into forty years ago. On the day after Election Day in 2012, a cousin of mine with whom I am very close called me. She asked how an incompetent, America-hating Marxist like Obama could ever come to lead the United States. Here is what I told her: “The country that you and I knew as kids, the country that put a man on the moon and won the Cold War, no longer exists.”

It has been said that the past is a foreign country. For many of us, that is an apt description of the present. Adios, America.

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  1. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Kay of MT:

    Mike LaRoche: That all came to an end on October 3, 2011, when during an interview on Fox and Friends,

    Mike, I’m not into football and never watch it, so I had no idea Hank, Jr. opened Monday Night football like that. I thoroughly enjoyed it. So why didn’t all the millions of Monday Night football fans raise up in protest? I’ll bet if not a single fan watched the following Monday night, Hank Jr. would have been back. How many millions of viewer watch it? But then it seems ESPN has gone downhill for a time, that may be one reason.

    Good question, because it’s an old axiom of military strategy that you can’t win if you won’t fight.  The RINOs have never figured that out, and probably never will.  I hope that enough Americans do.

    • #31
  2. Douglas Inactive
    Douglas
    @Douglas

    EThompson:

    DocJay: It’s a rigged game.

    Until it’s not. I was sitting around my father’s country club one evening with the future governor of Florida and Jack Donahue in 2010 as they were discussing the senatorial primary race between Rubio and Crist. Chuckles were made by all accompanied by “It ain’t gonna happen.”

    And then Rubio, the great right-wing hope, the young Hispanic that was declared the future of the Republican Party, went to the Senate aaaannnnnd…. promptly joined the Gang of Eight to do an amnesty deal. The epitome of establishment **** You’s to the base.

    It’s a rigged game.

    • #32
  3. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    By Grabthar’s hammer, you shall be avenged!

    https://youtu.be/KJ3_u3lxr7c

    • #33
  4. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Mike LaRoche: There’s no pitchfork like a Texan pitchfork!

    Do they grow them bigger there?

    • #34
  5. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Arahant:

    Mike LaRoche: There’s no pitchfork like a Texan pitchfork!

    Do they grow them bigger there?

    Yep, just like the cheerleaders!

    • #35
  6. Dorothea Inactive
    Dorothea
    @Dorothea

    In retrospect, pulling the plug on Bocephus looks a bit like the rural purge:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge

    Otherwise popular programs pulled. Looking for future audiences. They could have weathered the criticism if they had wanted to.

    Free speech for little brat lefties, but not for a grownup like Mr.Williams.

    • #36
  7. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Dorothea: In retrospect, pulling the plug on Bocephus looks a bit like the rural purge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge

    I seem to be pretty clueless about this stuff, had no idea why most of my favorite shows were being dropped. Thought it was because viewers had dropped. However, by 1980 my watching TV was dramatically reduced, and now watch no TV at all. Some Netflix if I can find an old favorite. What a shame to replace wholesome and entertaining shows with filthy, progressive, clap trap.

    • #37
  8. Robert McReynolds Member
    Robert McReynolds
    @

    Kay of MT:

    RightAngles: As Greg Gutfeld said: “We think they’re wrong. They think we’re evil.”

    We know they are wrong and we know they are EVIL! Don’t anybody forget that.

    I take a different approach.  They ARE evil.  People who swallow in whole an ideology that seeks to control other people are evil.  There is another word for this I think.  Isn’t it called slavery?  My how the Democrats never change.

    • #38
  9. Dorothea Inactive
    Dorothea
    @Dorothea

    Kay of MT:

    Dorothea: In retrospect, pulling the plug on Bocephus looks a bit like the rural purge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge

    I seem to be pretty clueless about this stuff, had no idea why most of my favorite shows were being dropped. Thought it was because viewers had dropped. However, by 1980 my watching TV was dramatically reduced, and now watch no TV at all. Some Netflix if I can find an old favorite. What a shame to replace wholesome and entertaining shows with filthy, progressive, clap trap.

    I had not realized it either, Kay, until one of my friends (Lefty, BTW) mentioned it to me. There was a business decision to migrate to that they thought would appeal to future audiences. Some more urban-oriented shows, and then classics like All in the Family, etc. But, yeah, there was a business decision made to do a whole-scale drop of shows that were still very popular.

    It is fun to go back and watch some of that stuff –it’s like a time capsule.

    • #39
  10. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Robert McReynolds:

    Kay of MT:

    RightAngles: As Greg Gutfeld said: “We think they’re wrong. They think we’re evil.”

    We know they are wrong and we know they are EVIL! Don’t anybody forget that.

    I take a different approach. They ARE evil. People who swallow in whole an ideology that seeks to control other people are evil. There is another word for this I think. Isn’t it called slavery? My how the Democrats never change.

    So true. My Facebook feed is bloated with stupid memes dutifully shared from sites like Occupy Democrats, Americans Against the Republican Party, Black Lives Matter, etc. All with such patently absurd misinformation that it’s embarrassing, or should be. The sharers have zero idea that they’re the pawns of George Soros and worse. And all while decrying the Koch Bros.

    • #40
  11. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    RightAngles: My Facebook feed is bloated with stupid memes dutifully shared from sites like Occupy Democrats, Americans Against the Republican Party, Black Lives Matter, etc.

    Hopefully you set them straight or you delete the post.

    • #41
  12. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    Jeb is way down on my list, behind Fiorina, Rubio, Walker, Jindal, and Cruz, at the very least. But he is still orders of magnitude better than any of the Dems. If his name were not Bush he would not be vilified the way he is by people on his own side. He’s a smart, decent man with mostly conservative values. I could vote for him in the general without any qualms.

    • #42
  13. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Man With the Axe:Jeb is way down on my list… .  But he is still orders of magnitude better than any of the Dems.  … He’s a smart, decent man with mostly conservative values. I could vote for him in the general without any qualms.

    I agree.   He is not my first choice, but he is not a bad choice, and would make a good president.   I think he has a better grip on foreign policy issues than W had before 9-11, and he has the advantage of lessons learned from the Obama disasters in the Middle East.   Jeb! at least knows who are America’s friends and who are not.

    • #43
  14. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    Jeb! Will lose to almost anyone who isn’t a career criminal and even then he might lose. It’s not his qualifications that are the issue but two much greater items. 1) he is a poor candidate because of his name. This cannot be underestimated. 2) he’s a whore for Wall St.

    • #44
  15. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Mike LaRoche: Indeed, the America of 2015 bears little resemblance to the America I was born into forty years ago.

    Same here, just make mine sixty years.

    • #45
  16. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    Kay of MT:

    RightAngles: My Facebook feed is bloated with stupid memes dutifully shared from sites like Occupy Democrats, Americans Against the Republican Party, Black Lives Matter, etc.

    Hopefully you set them straight or you delete the post.

    I don’t dare express any political views on Facebook. I just don’t comment, and believe me at times I’ve had to clamp down on my right hand to keep from typing. But these memes are so nonstop that it has to be sinking in somewhere, and we should be counteracting it. The GOPs social media attempts are embarrassing. My millennial daughter, age 20, laughs her butt off at the Young GOP or whatever it’s called Twitter account. And my daughter is a Republican (thanks to me having to deprogram her every day after school for 18 years).

    • #46
  17. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Larry Koler:It’s not possible that Hank Williams Jr could dislike Obama’s policies — they are so obviously good — no, the ONLY explanation is that he’s racist.

    I’ve always enjoyed the left’s reductionism of all opposition of Obama to racism. Because we’d all just LOVE his policies if he was white, right?

    • #47
  18. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    RightAngles: I don’t dare express any political views on Facebook.

    That is just about all I express on my FB page, mine and others political views. Including some from England. I let religious views be posted as well as long as they are not antisemitic or anti Israel, except islam. I delete posts that claim, if you don’t believe in Jesus you will burn in hell forever. I scolded someone today for a post, and it turned out to be military satire, and I hadn’t recognized it as such. I need someone to clue me.

    • #48
  19. Cat III Member
    Cat III
    @CatIII

    When Hank Williams Jr. was sacked, I was a screaming lefty, and even I thought it was BS. Though, I was endeared by his calling Obama and Biden, “the three stooges”.

    It’s strange, to most leftists, “Adolf Hitler meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu” would just be Hitler meeting with his Jewish equivalent.

    On the subject of Hank Williamses, I prefer III. What other country artist would dedicate a ten minute song to GG Allin? (If he were born thirty years later, David Allan Coe might’ve.)

    • #49
  20. EThompson Member
    EThompson
    @

    Cat III:When Hank Williams Jr. was sacked, I was a screaming lefty, and even I thought it was BS. Though, I was endeared by his calling Obama and Biden, “the three stooges”.

    It’s strange, to most leftists, “Adolf Hitler meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu” would just be Hitler meeting with his Jewish equivalent.

    On the subject of Hank Williamses, I prefer III. What other country artist would dedicate a ten minute song to GG Allin? (If he were born thirty years later, David Allan Coe might’ve.)

    As the resident “bad ass capitalist heretic” on this site – I love making money and Donald Trump and dislike Muslims – I may ruin your reputation by commenting on the fact that I got a kick out of that cigarette you’re smoking on your avatar. :)

    • #50
  21. Cat III Member
    Cat III
    @CatIII

    EThompson:

    As the resident “bad ass capitalist heretic” on this site – I love making money and Donald Trump and dislike Muslims – I may ruin your reputation by commenting on the fact that I got a kick out of that cigarette you’re smoking on your avatar. :)

    Sorry, I don’t follow. How will any of that damage my reputation?

    • #51
  22. EThompson Member
    EThompson
    @

    Cat III:

    EThompson:

    As the resident “bad ass capitalist heretic” on this site – I love making money and Donald Trump and dislike Muslims – I may ruin your reputation by commenting on the fact that I got a kick out of that cigarette you’re smoking on your avatar. :)

    Sorry, I don’t follow. How will any of that damage my reputation?

    Good answer. :)

    • #52
  23. Dorothea Inactive
    Dorothea
    @Dorothea

    Cat III:On the subject of Hank Williamses, I prefer III. What other country artist would dedicate a ten minute song to GG Allin? (If he were born thirty years later, David Allan Coe might’ve.)

    I am partial to him, as well. “Punch!”

    • #53
  24. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    Cat III:

    EThompson:

    As the resident “bad ass capitalist heretic” on this site – I love making money and Donald Trump and dislike Muslims – I may ruin your reputation by commenting on the fact that I got a kick out of that cigarette you’re smoking on your avatar. :)

    Sorry, I don’t follow. How will any of that damage my reputation?

    If I’m not mistaken your avatar shows you when they tried to make you go to rehab.

    • #54
  25. Cat III Member
    Cat III
    @CatIII

    Man With the Axe:

    If I’m not mistaken your avatar shows you when they tried to make you go to rehab.

    Shhhhhhh.

    (Actually, I think it was before then, when I heard love is blind.)

    • #55
  26. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Cat III:When Hank Williams Jr. was sacked, I was a screaming lefty, and even I thought it was BS. Though, I was endeared by his calling Obama and Biden, “the three stooges”.

    It’s strange, to most leftists, “Adolf Hitler meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu” would just be Hitler meeting with his Jewish equivalent.

    On the subject of Hank Williamses, I prefer III. What other country artist would dedicate a ten minute song to GG Allin? (If he were born thirty years later, David Allan Coe might’ve.)

    I’m not all that familiar with Hank III’s music.  But given the almost universal rave reviews he gets, I should add him to my rotation.  Right now, though, I’m listening to my current country music crush, Québécoise songbird Véronique Labbé.

    • #56
  27. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    EThompson:

    Cat III:When Hank Williams Jr. was sacked, I was a screaming lefty, and even I thought it was BS. Though, I was endeared by his calling Obama and Biden, “the three stooges”.

    It’s strange, to most leftists, “Adolf Hitler meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu” would just be Hitler meeting with his Jewish equivalent.

    On the subject of Hank Williamses, I prefer III. What other country artist would dedicate a ten minute song to GG Allin? (If he were born thirty years later, David Allan Coe might’ve.)

    As the resident “bad ass capitalist heretic” on this site – I love making money and Donald Trump and dislike Muslims – I may ruin your reputation by commenting on the fact that I got a kick out of that cigarette you’re smoking on your avatar. :)

    We are Ricochet’s version of country music’s Outlaws.

    • #57
  28. Cat III Member
    Cat III
    @CatIII

    Mike LaRoche:

    I’m not all that familiar with Hank III’s music. But given the almost universal rave reviews, he gets, I should add him to my rotation. Right now, though, I’m listening to my current country music crush, Québécoise songbird Véronique Labbé.

    Just make sure it’s one of his country albums and not a punk or metal one (unless you like that sort of thing). Damn Right, Rebel Proud wouldn’t be a bad start.

    I’ll have to check out Labbe. For more great Canadian country, listen to Lindi Ortega and Corb Lund (if you haven’t already).

    • #58
  29. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    That ash needs to be flicked.

    • #59
  30. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Cat III:When Hank Williams Jr. was sacked, I was a screaming lefty, and even I thought it was BS. Though, I was endeared by his calling Obama and Biden, “the three stooges”.

    It’s strange, to most leftists, “Adolf Hitler meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu” would just be Hitler meeting with his Jewish equivalent.

    On the subject of Hank Williamses, I prefer III. What other country artist would dedicate a ten minute song to GG Allin? (If he were born thirty years later, David Allan Coe might’ve.)

    Not to mention that voice wise, III sounds a lot like his grandfather.

    • #60
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