Proposed: Hollywood Follow NFL’s Limbaugh Example

Principled action prevented the divisive and arguably racist Rush Limbaugh from becoming part owner of an NFL team. That welcome turn of events is owed in no small part to the courageous stand taken by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who said this about the prospect of Limbaugh’s ownership:

We're all held to a high standard here and divisive comments are not what the NFL's all about…I would not want to see those kind of comments from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL...

That is standing foursquare for high standards in this time of expedient compromise!

There is unresolved dispute about whether Limbaugh did or didn’t make certain statements attributed to him praising aspects of slavery or wishing that the assassin of Martin Luther King be awarded a Medal of Honor. No one seems to be able to substantiate the quotes but neither has Limbaugh been able prove he didn’t say them! However, there is no doubt about other despicable Limbaugh statements and show antics such as Barack the Magic Negro, pro football players looking like the Crips and Bloods, white kids being beaten by black kids in Obama’s America or Limbaugh giving his own mother a can opener as a gift so she can eat dog food! There are many more that made Limbaugh worthy of being sacked by the NFL!

Yet, Hollywood is about to pay an artistic tribute to a man just as horrid as Limbaugh!

The man Hollywood is about to posthumously honor is Jonathan Swift, the author of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’. A movie of that title is to be released late in 2010, based on Swift’s novel! While that piece of literature may be an entertaining read, it does not absolve Swift for other things he has written. Making a movie of his work will only serve to legitimize his other works!

In 1729, the bigoted, sexist and infanticide advocating Swift produced a horrible piece of work entitled A Modest Proposal. In it, Swift proposed that rather than let Catholic Irish infants starve or grow up into poverty and crime, they should be fattened up, sold as a commodity suited for the tables of the well-to-do and eaten!!! Here are some quotes and none are in dispute!

Swift on eating infants:

… a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked…

…instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish…they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.

… may, at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table.

…butchers we may be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.

Swift the misogynist and enemy of woman’s rights wrote:

… another great advantage in my scheme, that it will prevent those voluntary abortions…

Swift the anti-Catholic bigot wrote:

Infant's flesh will be…more plentiful in March, and a little before and after; for we are told…that fish being a prolific diet, there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after Lent than at any other season…because the number of popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom…it will have one other collateral advantage, by lessening the number of papists among us.

There is much more where that came from but those are sufficient to establish the flavor!

The moral imperative involved here is of the utmost importance, but it is not without merit to consider the political and practical if in doing so we deprive the immoral haters of ammunition! Those on the right, most certainly including Limbaugh, will try to use this movie to embarrass and smear President Obama by association! They will connect Swift to those in the movie who are known Obama supporters to establish some kind of linkage in the public mind! Actor Jack Black, who plays Gulliver, performed with his band at an Obama benefit during the campaign! Cast member Jason Segel has publicly stated that he would like a “man date” with the President and actor James Corden was quoted saying about Obama:

I love him! I almost get aroused when I’m watching him!

While on its face such an attempt at linkage may seem absurd, for the intellectually challenged targets such connections will be taken as proof of something more substantial and sinister!

This movie, based on the work of a truly vile person, should not be made or released lest it honor him! Swift’s words, like Limbaugh’s must be taken seriously and dealt with accordingly!