rooney sparks outcry (among whom?) with gibson remark
bravo, mr rooney! i cheer you on indeed!andy rooney, the 60 Minutes curmudgeon said yesterday that he received 30,000 pieces of mail and e-mail in response to his 22 february commentary, in which he called the passion of the christ filmmaker mel gibson a «wacko». that's it? he didn't call him an ignorant idiot of limited intelligence? he didn't call gibson whatever deservedly horrible noun applies to any and all literal believers of the bible? c'mon, mates! in any case, this was the biggest viewer response ever to a segment on the CBS newsmagazine, which has been on the air since 1968, said a spokesman.
rooney also called reverend pat robertson a "wacko" for saying he had a conversation with god, but not many people noticed that, he said. most of his mail concerned gibson.
rooney said on his sunday 60 Minutes commentary that he thinks the mail was a good indication of how bitterly divided our country is presently, and hopes he's not contributing to it— even though he believes he's right and everyone else is wrong, and rightly so! :-)
rooney read some of the mail on the air, including one letter that called him an «asinine, bottom-dwelling, numb-skulled, low-life, slimy, sickening, gutless, spineless, ignorant, pot-licking, cowardly pathetic little weasel.» that takes the icing off the cake! someone, undoubtedly a theist, stupid and ridiculous enough to be offended by reality and truth gets to call the messenger an ignorant pathetic little weasel? the humanity! but then again i've never met a single believer, especially if christian who didn't suffer from complete and absolute reflection/introspection disorder! it always seems that it's the christians who can't go a day without doing the most "un-christian things". even worse is that someone felt entitled and comfortable writing and posting said words to a respected media personality.
you see, that's part of what the jerry springers, riki lakes and shock jocks of our airwaves promote and condone: they make it seem acceptable to be violent, offensive, disrespectful and vulgar, even in puiblic and as a means of resolving conflict.
well, it isn't so to me and i consider it my duty to shame anybody who actively or passively becomes an enabler or accomplice, be it by watching the shows or missing any opportunity to point out the damage inflicted on society as a result.
but i digress somewhat... finally, rooney, now 85, noted that many of his critics took shots at his age. even fox news channel's bill o'reilly (ugh and ugh) said he was too old.
via mlive.com.
