RUSH: Colin in London, England, it’s nice to have you on the program. Yes.
CALLER: It’s actually Paul in London, but it’s lovely to speak to you again.
RUSH: I’m sorry, Paul. It says “Colin” up here, but I’ll take the hit because I make the big bucks.
CALLER: It’s my hideous limey accent. Yeah. Well, firstly, most importantly, definitely “Fire” by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. I’ve got to agree with you on that one.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: Or if you can get Paul Shanklin to do “Eve of Destruction,” radically changing the lyrics of course away from those hideous ones they already have.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, that was a good one. It was by Barry McGuire.
CALLER: Barry McGuire, yeah. Listen, Rush, I agree with you on the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, but not on that Islamic school in London. I gotta say I agree with you on most things, but not that. You said it was a freedom of speech issue for them to be teaching Muslim kids that…
RUSH: Well, people may not have heard this.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: It was in the last hour. Here’s the story. It’s a UPI story: “An Islamic school in England has been accused of poisoning the minds of its pupils with textbooks that portray Jews as apes and Christians as pigs,” and they say that this school in Britain has been accused of “teaching hate” by virtue of portraying Jews as apes and Christians as pigs, and I said, “What’s hateful about that? It doesn’t strike me as particularly hateful.”
CALLER: Well, this is not being done in a kind of Sesame Street way. This kind of dehumanizing is endemic across the Arab world. It’s a motif. They always say Jews are pigs and Christians are apes or vice-versa. I forget. Let’s put it another way: if this was a secular school that suddenly decided to have a book that, in a nasty way, portrayed black people as monkeys or something as equally hideously racist, the law would come down on them like a ton of bricks.
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: But because of multiculturalism they’re left alone. The other point is you start with kids. You know, from acorns oak trees grow. At the very least they’re going to be Islamic supremacists when they get old older.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: I say “at the very least.” You know, I hate to think of the very worst, but if they think of us as being apes and pigs, then maybe they won’t mind killing us so easily.
RUSH: You know, you have given me an occasion here to do something that I seldom am able to do. You must be listening to the program on the Internet, right?
CALLER: I do, yes.
RUSH: All right, well, I’m going to take you off the air. The audience will still be able to hear me, but I’m going to take you off; you’ll still be on the Internet but you will not be out over the radio, because I have to tell you you’re laboring here under a misunderstanding. I can’t give the whole thing away to the whole audience, all right?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Well, I will be. They’re going to be hearing me, but let me just explain this to you. We have a phrase here and I’ve used it ever since — Mike, throw that switch so that this guy is not on the air; he can still be on the Internet.
CALLER: (nervous giggle)
RUSH: All right, is it done? Okay. Now, I have a phrase here to describe this program: “illustrating absurdity by being absurd.”
CALLER: Ah, I see.
RUSH: For almost 19 years here, I’ve been dealing with stories like this —
CALLER: Mmmm?
RUSH: — and being righteously indignant and apocalyptic. “We’re going to hell in a handbasket. How can this stuff be happening?” and so forth. I think, rather, that the best way to make the point of just how absurd it is, is to agree with it.
CALLER: Hmm. I should have thought this. Us Brits are always going on about irony and so this is actually…
RUSH: This is about getting you up to speed here on this. This is ridiculous. The thing is, in this country, Christians are the one group — the one religious group — you can totally make fun of and bash and destroy.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: Jewish people? There’s a new wave of anti-Semitism all over Europe, and the United Nations I consider to be the repository for anti-Semitism today.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: I’ll give you an example of how I do this. Are you familiar, Paul, with — how shall I say this? — the controversy in which I became entwined over comments made about the media; the way they reported on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb?
CALLER: Yes, I am.
RUSH: All right. Well, we just finished our Super Bowl here and the Chicago Bears quarterback, Rex Grossman, for the last three weeks has just been slimed by the sports media in this country. They just said that he was the worst quarterback to ever play in the Super Bowl. They have been treating this guy with no mercy whatsoever. They have been predicting doom and gloom; they’ve been hoping that he would have a rotten Super Bowl. They’re happily reporting that he did, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So yesterday, I said that I think the only reason that the media is down on Rex Grossman is because they have this “social desire” for the NFL to become modernized and so forth, get with it for the twenty-first century, and they just love trashing this guy because he’s a white quarterback and they don’t want him to do well.
CALLER: Oh, yeah.
RUSH: Now, I did that — I think it’s safe to admit it now — because I was trying to tweak the same media who went bonkers when I said the same thing about them and the way they treat Donovan McNabb. Twenty-four hours have gone by and they haven’t picked up on it, so either they knew I was joking and got the point or… Obviously they haven’t picked it up so they knew that I was tweaking them. It’s the same thing here: of course I don’t think it’s okay to call Jews apes and Christians pigs, but to simply ask, “What’s so hateful about that?” is my way of calling even more attention to how absurd it is.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: Just a new technique here to try to get people aroused and get them attentive to something that I do consider to be something that’s pretty bad.
CALLER: I totally understand.
RUSH: Hang on here just a second. Throw the switch and bring Paul back up on the air now.
CALLER: Oh, yeah, I totally get it. I’ve been listening for a year on the net, and I’m still learning. I’m still a Rush Baby.
RUSH: Well, I’m happy to be able to explain this to you. Times are serious now. It used to be that new audience members could get this show in six weeks. You had to listen for six weeks to understand the combination of serious discussion of issues with irreverent humor. The libs, after 18-1/2 years, still don’t get the “irreverent humor” aspect of it, and I didn’t want you laboring under a misconception here. It’s not often that I give away the so-called tricks of the trade here, but in your case you sounded so earnest and so serious, I couldn’t allow you to labor any further in a misunderstanding of my attempt here to make a point in a rather circuitous and unique way. I’m thrilled that you’re over there in London listening. I’m happy to have you as a member of the audience, and, Paul, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to make sure you didn’t finish the busy day scratching your head over what had happened to me. You should rest assured, be confident, that nothing has happened to me. I have never been better. Okay?
CALLER: Yes, Rush. Thank you.
RUSH: All right. What do you do for a living, Paul, by the way?
CALLER: Oh, don’t ask. You wouldn’t believe me. Could you take me off the air again?
RUSH: Yeah. Throw the switch and take him off the air.
CALLER: I work for the Drive-By Media.
RUSH: Wait, wait, Paul. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
CALLER: (Giggling.)
RUSH: Okay, now. I have 20 seconds.
CALLER: I work for the BBC.
RUSH: Reeeeeeally?
CALLER: Ha-ha-ha!
RUSH: Folks, it’s not that bad. Bring him back up. He works for the Drive-By Media. He works for the BBC. And you’re a Rush Baby?
CALLER: I am a novelty! I’ll probably get the sack now.
RUSH: You let us know if that happens and I’ll cancel an interview I’m doing with them next week. Seriously, I’m doing an interview with them next week. If you get canned, let me know and I’ll cancel.