SALON

Tuesday, Dec 4, 2012 6:13 PM UTC

Why can Limbaugh speak, but not Costas?

Conservatives get outraged when a celebrity talks politics, as long as it's not one of their "expert" entertainers

By

Topics: Bob Costas, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Kanye West, Media Criticism, ,

Why can Limbaugh speak, but not Costas? (Credit: AP/Alex Brandon/Dima Gavrysh)

One way to understand Bob Costas’ comments about gun violence during halftime of NBC’s Sunday evening football game is to interpret them as yet another example of media self-absorption. And in fact, by turning a horrific story of domestic violence and suicide into a cheap story about the overwrought reaction to a professional commentator, the national press did proudly fulfill the timeless jeremiad of “Broadcast News” to “never forget (that) we’re the real story, not them.”

But as repulsive and predictable as that narcissism is, it did inadvertently spotlight a significant problem plaguing our civic discourse. Call it Shut Up and Sing Syndrome.

Named after a Laura Ingraham book and a 2006 documentary about the harsh reaction to the Dixie Chicks’ anti-Bush comments, this syndrome condemns many Americans to believe that actors, musicians and athletes — really, anyone not deemed political “experts” — have no right to use their platform to address issues considered “political” in nature. In this case, conservatives are insisting that Costas is not merely wrong on the substance of his gun-related comments, but also that, according to the New York Times, “it was inappropriate to use the platform of an NFL telecast to make arguments concerning a hot-button issue like gun control.”

The insinuation is that as a sportscaster, he has no standing to weigh in on a political issue. In other words, like critics of outspoken athletes who tell them to “shut up and play,” critics want Costas to simply “shut up and talk only about sports.”

For his part, Costas is refusing to be intimidated, pointing out that such whiners “would have thought (my comment) was fine if they agreed with what I was saying.” This is almost certainly true, once again reminding us that Shut Up and Sing Syndrome tends only to emerge on the right when a prominent figure says something that offends conservative sensibilities, but rarely emerges when a prominent figure says something that conservatives support.

Clearly, then, the syndrome is rooted less in principle than in ideology. And yet, even if the underlying principle was applied dispassionately and consistently, it is still problematic. In a democratic society, after all, every citizen is entitled to a voice, and they are entitled to that voice without having to first secure a “political expert” credential or label from a higher authority.

In concrete terms that means Costas is no less entitled to speak about public issues on the public airwaves than Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh — and that’s true even though the latter two are billed as “political” and Costas isn’t. To insist otherwise — to insist that Costas has no right while self-ordained “political experts” do — is to champion a hegemonic view of the public square. That is, a view implying that only certain pre-approved political elites have a right to make their voices heard.

The same goes for the manufactured outrage over the setting of Costas’ comment. Critics insist that an NFL broadcast is supposedly a sacrosanct and therefore apolitical space that must remain free of “hot-button issues.” But, then, in commenting on the Kansas City Chiefs’ murder-suicide, Costas was merely weighing in on the biggest NFL story of the day — which is exactly what he’s paid to do and what typically happens during an NFL halftime show.

Additionally, despite paeans to the supposedly apolitical nature of football media, there are plenty of highly charged political issues in the most mundane of NFL broadcasts, even if those issues seem invisible. Just this year, for instance, televised criticism of replacement refs provided a subtle political commentary on labor relations. Likewise, the Super Bowl has become one giant politicized ad for the military. And, of course, one could argue that the very decision to broadcast professional football games, and to specifically glorify the bone-crushing hits, is a controversial — and increasingly political — decision to continue uncritically promoting a game even as science discovers more about that game’s tragic human consequences.

None of this suggests you have to agree with Costas on the gun issue, or that the substance of his comments should be immune from criticism. It is only to suggest that (despite niche content branding to the contrary) there are no longer clear boundaries between sports, culture, entertainment and politics. Modern America is a place where an actor can become president, a pro wrestler can become a governor, a football player can become a congressman, and a comedian can become a U.S. senator. It is a place where a musician can make the single most memorable statement about the politics of a natural disaster, and where actors routinely craft political messages via their films.

It is a place, in short, where no one set of citizens has — or should have — an entitled monopoly on political opinion. All of us, including Bob Costas, have a right to try to make our voices heard, no matter how much the Shut Up and Sing crowd tells us to pipe down.

David Sirota

David Sirota is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and the best-selling author of the books "Hostile Takeover," "The Uprising" and "Back to Our Future." E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com, follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or visit his website at www.davidsirota.com. More David Sirota.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 73 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations