York Daily Record, Pa., Mike Argento column
By Mike Argento, York Daily Record, Pa. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
It was the day after comic genius
It was idiotic. It was vile. It was, well, it made very little sense, and in that way, you would like to think that in some small way, Williams would have enjoyed it, being that he was among the best at riffing on nonsense and mining the absurd for humor.
Limbaugh told the rubes who listen to his show that Williams killed himself because of his "leftist worldview."
"What's the left's worldview in general? If you had at attach, not a philosophy, but an attitude to a leftist worldview, it's one of pessimism, and darkness, sadness. They're never happy, are they?"
You can almost hear Williams riffing on that.
"Well, we didn't get a single-payer health insurance system and any reasonable measure at gun control was dead before it had a chance to grow up and fail on its own so I might as well hang myself."
Limbaugh also thought it had something to do with something else entirely, quoting a
Can you spot the main thing wrong with that?
Yes, it is "quoting a
The report in question was based mostly on speculation and had few facts to back up its assertions, relying on the statements of unnamed sources, who merely speculated about what Williams' motivation may have been without presenting any facts to support their claims.
Limbaugh speculated that it was part of the liberal mindset, whatever that is. Liberals, he said, "are animated in large part by the false promises of America, because the promises of America aren't for everyone. He had it all, but he had nothing. Made everybody else laugh, but was miserable inside. It fits a certain picture or a certain image that the left has."
I'm not sure what that means. Williams would have loved it. Yes, it is a liberal view that makes people depressed. I think we've found the cure for depression, and it's mainlining the snake oil peddled by
<p>And yet, he wasn't the worst.
A pro-life website called LifeNews ran a story speculating that "an abortion in actor
How's that work?
Of course, that wasn't the case. Williams was quoted in his biography saying that when he was young, his girlfriend got pregnant, and because they were young, they decided to terminate the pregnancy. The writer on the website took that fact and a quote from a 2008 interview in which Williams openly discussed his struggles with substance abuse and talked about his regrets and recovery and melded the two together to make it seem that his girlfriend having an abortion 35 years ago led to his suicide.
Makes perfect sense if you've been deprived of oxygen for a prolonged period of time.
The post was even too much for LifeNews. The website pulled it not long after it appeared, but as anyone knows, once something escapes to the Internet, you have as much chance catching it as you do replicating Williams' rapid-fire, synapse-torching freestyle comedy.
And that, seriously, wasn't the worst example of making a political point from Williams tragic death.
And it was a tragic. There were numerous, nonpolitical people who took to the Internet to voice their displeasure with Williams choosing to end his own life. They all said a variety of the same thing: He had everything -- fame, wealth, success -- so why would he kill himself? Those trappings of fame, wealth and success have nothing to do with it. He suffered from a disease, one as insidious and dangerous as cancer, one that doesn't recognize fame or wealth or success, one that does not discriminate. Slate magazine's
Whether you believe the country would be better off with universal health care or that the wealthy should pay more taxes, or even whether you carry regrets for past mistakes, the disease doesn't care.
It does what it does.
Which now brings us to the worst political -- and most baffling -- point made in the wake of Williams' death.
It comes from
Dowd recalled an interview she had with Williams in which she mentioned her friend and fellow journalist
Dowd wrote that she played the recording of the bit for Kelly, who thought it was very funny.
And she wrote, "So when I think of Williams, I think of Kelly. And when I think of Kelly, I think of Hillary."
Wait a minute. What?
She continued, writing that Kelly was the first American reporter to die in the
OK.
Williams would have appreciated the sheer audacity to present such a glaring absurdity as something that she believes makes complete sense.
In a way, that was Williams' schtick.
She was, in essence, posthumously stealing his act.
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