Don’t you forget about me
Assuming it even were possible to forget about The Dickification of the Western Female, Rush Limbaugh and friends remind us:
CALLER: Let me tell you what it is. They got a couple on there, husband and wife, and they’re talking to a specialist, this woman, and every time the woman suggests something, the husband says, “It’s too hard. I can’t do it. I can’t do it. It’s too hard,” and the woman specialist says, “Oh, you can do it.” So finally at the end, the husband gives in, and says, “Honey, you were right. I was wrong.” I was thinking, you know, this commercial’s really emasculating. I feel like all these shows and these commercials are out to make men look like boobs!
I’m not a pussy, the commercial made me a pussy.
RUSH: The guy is made out to be a total buffoon, which is not uncommon in television advertising. Men have been buffoons, especially in beer commercials. If I see one more can of beer hit a guy in the groin, I mean, it’s not even funny anymore.
Beer can in the groin may not be funny anymore, but what about Football in the Groin? We thought the same thing when Kim Du Toit’s “essay” first appeared: WTF kind of man spends his time calling a radio show to complain about TV commercials that cause him to feel emasculated? JFC, go buy a power tool and do power tool stuff. Fortunately, Rush has picked up his caller’s emasculation and is running with it:
We mentioned the Brawny man. I said the last manly guy in advertising was Mr. Clean, as I said the Brawny man. Back in the seventies the icon for the Brawny man was a Paul Bunyan type, rough shaven, dark haired, plaid shirt. When did this happen? Early 2000s, they decided at this company, Brawny paper towels, they decided to change the icon and turn the guy into a metrosexual.
Yes — there’s no better proof of the feminization of American culture than a company’s decision to replace a “super cheesy” fellow from the 70s with a lumberjack — and that’s because:
WTF kind of man spends his time calling a radio show to complain about TV commercials that cause him to feel emasculated?
Nailed it in one. Good show.
Not funny? Not funny?
No, a shot to the balls will always be Funny .
Gosh. It’s almost as if the role of advertising was to foster anxieties and inadequacies in the audience, to encourage them as consumers.
“…these commercials are out to make men look like boobs”
Hugh Hewitt alert!
Isn’t talking about which commercials make you feel emasculated emasculating in of itself? I mean really, all this talk of feelings is NOT what real men do. We ahh, what do we do that is manly? Pop cialis and oxycotin?
Herr Doktor, once again I must say that I love you.
Oh, Rush! And I thought you were so rugged! *sob*
The Lumberjack Song roxx0rzz!!11!
WTF kind of man spends his time calling a radio show to complain about TV commercials that cause him to feel emasculated?
The answer, of course falls back on itself and creates a black hole. The answer: “an emasculated one”.
WTF kind of man spends his time calling a radio show to complain about TV commercials that cause him to feel emasculated?
The answer, of course falls back on itself and creates a black hole. The answer: “an emasculated one”.
Next: Why are the hot women in beer commericals so hot?
I am here to serve, D. Sidhe.
In this case, ‘serve’ = ‘spout facile sociobabble’.
Yes, we knew it was all over for Western Civilization when the virile, mustachioed paper towel icon apparently lovingly crafted by Tom of Finland was replaced by a drawing of Adam Corolla in a plaid shirt. We will quietly wait here for the Sapphic Harpy/Islamofascist overlords to induct us into gender-neutral dhimmitude.
I feel like all these shows and these commercials are out to make men look like boobs!
I often feel like the Rush Limbaugh show is out to make men look like boobs. except that I object to ‘boobs’ as an insult, so I’ll go with “pathetic, whiny losers.”
I dunno-the original Brawny guy looks like a gay porn star from the ’70’s.
Shameless self promotion: A couple of years ago, I wrote an essay that appeared in the “Salon-era” version of World O’Crap, in which I jokingly “outed” all the advertising mascots. I’m pretty sure that Brawney & Mr. Clean are lovers, and have been for 30 years. I don’t have the link memorized, but it appeared on June 13, 2005, for anybody who wants to find it. The title was “Cool guest blogger time”, though the “Cool” is probably an exaggeration. A warning: I can’t guarentee its freshness, or that it’s actually funny.
I also can’t guarantee I’ll write a lengthy post with no spelling errors. 🙂
I know that if it weren’t for Mr. Clean and the Brawny guy, I would be straight.
Ahh, jeez, these guys are…What? Fearful, uncertain, concerned that they can’t live up to an ideal that no one but them believes in. The world changed, and many of us embraced that change, again and again. A surprising number of American males have no idea how to deal with the world they find themselves in.
The depleted uranium stupidity is that rather than try to adapt, to thrive, they believe that somehow, someway, if they just do the right things and elect the right politicians they can force the world to undo all those scary changes that have made them feel so, well, emasculated.
I am a white male raised in the fifties and sixties. And I find their fear and existential self esteem crisis a great deal more than just hilarious. This is a much better world in many ways today, and those who think they have lost something in the growth of equality and social justice, to the extent it HAS grown, have lost nothing but the power to dominate and oppress, to live without trying.
My dad was a complete non participant in our lives growing up. He didn’t buy the presents, he couldn’t cook, he NEVER cleaned, he just showed up, ate food, got taken care of, and everybody had to be quiet and not bother or disturb him. How was that the best way to live? Why would you want that?
Hmmm, wonder why I never wanted kids…
mikey
this reminds me…I was listening to the Mike Church Show, which is a lot like Rush, but not as sophisticated. Anyhoo, a guy on a cell phone calls in and says he’s driving a semi hauling cattle and he wants to talk about the founding fathers and conservativism. It went about as I expected….
This is a much better world in many ways today, and those who think they have lost something in the growth of equality and social justice, to the extent it HAS grown, have lost nothing but the power to dominate and oppress, to live without trying.
So true, Mikey. Of course, “living without trying”, sitting on his arse, alternately stufifng his face and verbally abusing people who can’t fight back, is the Dittohead dream of heaven. That’s why Rush is their king.
The really sad thing is that so many of these men survived their own Leave-It-to-Bunker childhoods by dreaming about the happy day when they’d have an easy chair, a maritally contracted personal servant, and a couple of larvae of their own to shove around. And rather than consider the alternatives now available — like actually *interacting* with their wives and kids, or enjoying the enormous range of media, toys, and commestibles that weren’t available in 1965, or maybe even taking up a “sport” that didn’t consist mostly of sitting on their butts — they just sulk in the dark, sucking on their cigars / domestic beers / oxycontin, sullenly reinforcing each others’ sense of martyrdom.
I don’t remember which 1960s psychologist came up with the term “Injustice Collector” but that’s what Rush and his imitators have become — professionals in the ‘art’ of cataloging every real or (mostly) imagined slight to their self-esteem.
Eric Berne, I think, as part of TA.
Who can forget the shoot-out at the I’m-OK-You’re-OK Corral?
I was concerned when they changed that feminist bitch Betty Crocker, but now it’s the Brawny Man. Who’s next
Is “metrosexual” now the rightist term for “any male who, by appearances alone, is instantly more fuckable than myself” in much the same way that “politically correct” transformed into “anything I don’t happen to like”?
Yes, Vic, it’s exactly the right term, in exactly the same way.
I don’t have the link memorized, but it appeared on June 13, 2005, for anybody who wants to find it.
Found!
Why do you think they’re so bothered by seeing any sexuality at all on tv.? It brings up bad feelings.
Many thanx, J-.
Thank you, Bill S. That was funny.
In an interview in ArtForum (or the other one (Art in America?)) several years ago, John Waters said that Brawny was his favorite product packaging because it was paper towels in a wrapper you could jerk off to.
Who knew Rush and Waters had so much in common?
“I’m not a pu*ssy, the commercial made me a p*ssy.”
Not sure of the causality, but I couldn’t agree more.
Yeah, Rush Limbaugh talking about how manly the Brawny guy used to be, and how real men oughtta be more rugged, more manly, more warriorish.
This is completely not another example of weird right wing homo-eroticism.
I thought they changed the Brawny guy because the original character looked like a Village People audition finalist.
I do agree that there’s been a strong upturn of “men = stupid” in TV media, mostly in the past few years, doubly so on sitcoms. However, the difference is that I think it’s “stupid”, and not “oh god, my penis just shrunk, damn feminists!”.
But then, I don’t watch much TV anymore, so who cares?
But why didn’t Rush mention macho, macho Jack Bauer? He shoots everyone, orders everyone, and always saves the day.
Back in the seventies the icon for the Brawny man was a Paul Bunyan type, rough shaven, dark haired, plaid shirt.
yeah nothing sez manly Red Stater like a paper towel with a drawing ripped off from Tom of Finland
Boobaliscious Rush + his little blue pills + his prescription drug addiction=manliest manly man
Genital retraction syndrome used to be blamed on witchcraft. Now it’s the feminazis. Progress!
Just think of all the trees that died so Republican men could get wood admiring the Brawny Man.
Paper towel sales must have plummeted in red states.
I just can’t decide. Rush Limbaugh has drugs, pathos, stupidity, and hypocracy — all the makings of a hilarious Behind the Music. But “Fooball in the Groin” has a football in the groin….
What’s weird is that even five seconds looking at the two Brawny men makes it clear that Rush has no idea what he’s talking about. First off, the new Brawny man is dark-haired — I mean, he’s based off an Italian-American firefighter from New York — and he’s the one wearing a plaid shirt, not the old one. Second of all, they intentionally emphasized the new one’s chest and general bulk, because the old one was considered kind of wussy-looking by modern standards. There’s nothing of the stereotype of the ‘metrosexual’ about him, except maybe the fact that he has a cleaner haircut.
I mean, I knew that Rush was a half-wit and a slobbering, lying propagandist, but it’s pretty amazing to see him make a statement that is empirically, blatantly, trivially false about a product that a substantial number of his listeners are exposed to on a daily basis. Sure, he often makes blatantly false statements, but saying that the new Brawny man is less masculine than the old one is pretty much a direct inversion of the truth of similar obviousness to saying that trees grow out of the sky and fish swim in the Sahara.
Oh, and I don’t think we should ever let a mention of duToit “pussification” drivel without bringing up a link to Philosoraptor’s classic “The duToitification of the Western Conservative“.
haha agrippa, that was pure comedy gold
Vic said,
June 5, 2007 at 4:06
Is “metrosexual� now the rightist term for “any male who, by appearances alone, is instantly more fuckable than myself� in much the same way that “politically correct� transformed into “anything I don’t happen to like�?
you’re killing me over here.
In addition to looking like a 70’s era gay porn star, I always thought the original Brawny Man looked a little like…the Editors…
oops, no embedded imagery, eh? Fine — ahem, the Editors
1) A beer can, or whatever, to the balls quit being funny (if it ever was) about the 6,582nd time it was featured in a TV show, movie scene, or commercial.
2) You say “feminization” like it’s a bad thing.
3) When knobs want to call someone or something the absolute worst thing they can think of, why is what they think of the vagina (i.e., “pussy”)?
Ucnle Ben-Stealing my vote & my women?
1) A beer can, or whatever, to the balls quit being funny (if it ever was) about the 6,582nd time it was featured in a TV show, movie scene, or commercial.
This I disagree with.
Funny=C*(S*(1/W)*(1/A*H))
Where C is a shot to the crotch, W is the weight of the ball-crushing implement or person, A is Awareness of the offender and H Hostility.
You can see by this formulation that a nut-smack from a toddler is funnier than one from a teenager due to weight and awareness, and encounters with inanimate objects are automatically infinitely funny.
S is Surprise! Surprise!
One of the funniest lines I have read in a long time.
Paul Bunyan was French Canadian:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan
Rush Limbaugh is opining for the halcyon gender bending disco days of the 1970s when a cheese eating surrender monkey “bear” icon was seen as the epitome of masculinity?
Conservatism is fucked.
MzNicky:
Maybe you should ask Ace about that. Sounds like he’d have a better idea why.
John Waters said that Brawny was his favorite product packaging because it was paper towels in a wrapper you could jerk off to.
Just had to see that again.
Thank you ironicname. I love being quoted.
Except that he has his Brawny paper towel men backwards. The one on the right, the 1970’s porn star-looking guy who has been on there since the 1970’s, was replaced by the big, well, brawny, more “ethnic” looking guy in around 2000.