The Year is 2008, and I Just Heard Limbaugh Play a Song Called, "Barack the Magic Negro"

[tritsofme]

To the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon"

I was in the car with a client who is a big Rush fan, and I couldn't believe such a song would be broadcast over our airways!

This is just ridiculous, how does he get away with something like this?

This seems like the type of thing that would have been taboo, even twenty years ago. It feels like we are going backwards sometimes.

[YOY]

1. Sounds like you need to let your client go

Hope you have plenty more...

[NashVegas]

6. Hehe ... I Agree

[niyad]

2. apparently he can do anything he wants, including calling for riots.

may he, and his supporters and enablers, get EVERYTHING they deserve.

[fascisthunter]

7. And Buy drugs Illegally

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

3. WTF

[Connie_Corleone]

4. He's played it several times before.

[islandmkl]

5. rush limballs...backwards....??

you have it all right there...

[redqueen]

8. We *are* going backwards. Thank the neo-cons and neo-libs. (nt)

[MonkeyFunk]

9. well

it's dumb and offensive, but why taboo? I believe Spike Lee popularized the term.

[tritsofme]

13. It just seems as though people are wearing their racism on their sleeve

and being out in the open about it a lot more in the past eight years than had been the case in the previous twenty.

When is the last time a figure of national importance went on national radio on a regular basis and called a black politician a Negro?

Its just despicable.

[Ronnie]

19. From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_negro

Examples of magical negroes as published by social commentators include:

Uncle Remus (James Baskett) in the film Song of the South (1946) <11>
Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) in the film The Defiant Ones (1958)<2><3>
The magical negro is a recurring archetype in novels by Stephen King:
Dick Hallorann in The Shining (1977), and in both the 1980 film adaptation (Scatman Crothers) and the 1997 TV miniseries (Melvin Van Peebles)<3>
Mother Abagail in The Stand (1978), and the 1994 TV adaptation (Ruby Dee)<3>
John Coffey in The Green Mile (1996), and the 1999 film adaptation (Michael Clarke Duncan)<2><3><6>
Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) in the film Ghost (1990)<2>
Moses the Clock Man (Bill Cobbs) in the film The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) <12>
Cash (Don Cheadle) in the film The Family Man (2000)<2><4><6>
Bagger Vance (Will Smith) in the film The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)<2><3><4><6><13>
Gloria Dump (Cicely Tyson) in the film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)<14>

The ones I'm familiar with were heroes who actually controlled what was going on.

[frickaline]

10. was he doped up and tripping at the time? damn hippie.

[mmonk]

11. America IS heading backwards.

I feel like I've been dropped in some neanderthal nightmare. I'm getting more uncomfortable living here everyday. I'm always angry and I actually have hatred in my heart now. I didn't need this to happen to me at my age. But I believe in nothing at the present.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Karma dictates that Rush will be reincarnated as a garden slug.

I'm 99.98% certain.

[niyad]

15. wait a minute. even garden slugs have their uses--at least as compost

[catnhatnh]

21. Yep....perched safely on a rock....

...set in the middle of a salt mine....that white enough for you,Rush???

[niyad]

14. I wonder if Peter, Paul and Mary know about this? do they have any legal standing to complain?

[tritsofme]

17. Probably not.

Probably qualifies under the fair use exception of parody/satire.

[undeterred]

16. I've stopped talking to and doing business with people who listen to Limbaugh

and I recommend this as a way of dealing with it. In my book, listening to Rush once you know what he is about is just as bad as being him.

[niyad]

22. I live in one of the reddest counties in the country--and I still refuse to have anything

to do with any rush supporters--or, indeed, any reichwingers. our progressive community is small, but at least I don't feel the need to hit a delousing chamber with them.

[tritsofme]

25. Especially in an economy like this, everybody's money is green.

I always do my best not to mix business with politics.

I can't afford not doing business with conservatives, especially in my industry.

[Yael]

18. Audio -- if you can stand it.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/04/27/breaking-limbaughs-barack-the-magic-negro-on-air-song-has-staffers-up-in-arms/

[xfm]

20. Rush...

isn't he a drug addict?

I already know he's a racist.

And of course it would be more taboo a generation ago. Today, there's a testing of the limits by the larger society mainly due to the laxness and "business as usual" attitude of the very community that would've made it clear it's unacceptable. But things are going to change. More people in that community are waking up to the reality that you have to stay on guard and not relax after progress is made in hostile society.

[PVnRT]

23. Amazing...there are people defending Rush Limbaugh in this thread

We need a term that goes farther for jumping the shark...

[NoodleyAppendage]

24. Guess who will be headlining tonight as the WORST person in the world. n/t

J

[DefenseLawyer]

26. It goes back to an L.A. Times piece by David Ehrenstein

last year in which he said Sen. Obama was playing the role of the "magic negro", a character device in which a wise and helpful black character wanders in and provides friendly assistance to the white protagonist. Rush gets by with his song because he can say he isn't calling Obama a negro, he is simply pointing out what the LA Times called him. Of course most people who hear his little ditty aren't going to know the back story, they will just here a racist song being played on the public airwaves and will either feel appalled, or for most of his listeners, validated.