Posted on 06/10/2006 8:27:10 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
June 11, 2006
Save the Sharks By Kathleen Parker
The poor shark can get no rest these days. Everyone is jumping him.
For those whose shark metaphors stalled on "Jaws," "jumping the shark" refers to the moment when something, usually a dramatic production, runs - or strays from - its course. Coined by Jon Hein (jumptheshark.com), the phrase evolved from the episode of "Happy Days" where the show's writers, apparently out of ideas, had Fonzie literally jump a shark while water skiing.
It was so over-the-top that the show was deemed dead by those who monitor such things. People are said to jump the shark when, desperate for ratings or attention, they make over-the-top statements.
Of late, we seem to have armies of shark-jumpers, from Dr. James Dobson to Sen. Ted Kennedy to Ann Coulter to my hands-down fave, Sen. James Inhofe - all of whom have taken their own mantras a trope too far. Through them, hyperbole and hysteria have formed an uncivil union, casting national debate into a miasma of self-mockery.
Let me put it this way: Dobson and Inhofe, who seem to think that the devil made gay people, make me want to marry a lesbian transsexual; Coulter, who has attacked a group of 9/11 widows to make a political point, makes me want to wash Cindy Sheehan's feet and hug a war protester; while Kennedy, who has been baying "bigot" about anyone objecting to same-sex marriage on even rational grounds, makes one yearn for the comforting sound of a car alarm.
No wonder Americans can't stand politicians, or that our nation has become a quagmire of insult and ad hominem. Here's a sampling of what has passed for debate in recent days.
Commenting on the proposed constitutional amendment to declare marriage a union only between a man and a woman, Dobson said during a recent chapel service (later broadcast on radio) that "marriage is under vicious attack ... from the forces of hell itself."
Same-sex marriage has plenty of intelligent, knowledgeable supporters and critics, from clergy to laymen to legal scholars. However this issue gets resolved, whether as a federal or state issue, the process can't be helped by implications that gays (our friends, family and neighbors) are evil for wanting to marry.
Meanwhile, if Satan's crib is what stimulates the Republican base, Democrats may enjoy an embarrassment of riches come November as rational conservatives seek saner company.
Giving you-know-who his due, perhaps Dobson was just joshin'. And perhaps Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., was just braggin' during the marriage amendment debate when, in a memorable show-'n'-tell, he displayed a poster-sized photo of his extended family and said:
"As you see here, and I think this is maybe the most important prop we'll have during the entire debate, my wife and I have been married 47 years. We have 20 kids and grandkids. I'm really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we've never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship."
Quite likely, the operative words here are "recorded history." I'm pretty sure our family Bible doesn't reflect the sexual orientation of our gay cousins, either, but just the same, Inhofe might consider dusting off the family rabbit's foot and padlocking the closets.
Kennedy, whose self-caricature is helping put political cartoonists out of business, has declared that all opponents to same-sex marriage are bigots. Right. And all opponents of state-mandated seat belts are child abusers. And anyone who disagrees with me is a moron. Next.
Finally, Coulter may have jumped the shark with her unfortunate tirade against the 9/11 widows in her new book, "Godless." Which is too bad because Coulter had a point that got lost amid the inevitable outrage.
Her point was that debate becomes strained to impossible when one of the gladiators on the other side has recently suffered a grievous loss. No one wants to challenge a wife whose husband has been killed - or a mother whose son has perished in battle - even if they have become public political players.
The opposition will always look like insensitive bullies, as does Coulter, who undermined her own message more than her critics could. Calling the widows "witches" and saying they were enjoying their husbands' deaths was chum to the other side.
Rabble-rousing, fear-mongering and race-baiting may keep local constituents happy, but none of it gets us where we need to go - toward sane remedies for a united nation. And, yes, happier days.
In shark-free waters.
For the children.
While staying the course.
Because we love freedom, and they don't.
Glub, glub, glub.
kparker@orlandosentinel.com
Dobson and Coulter have jumped the shark??? Hardly, quite the opposite is true.
Just another example of cluelessness. I don't know enough about the writer to know if this is coming from the left or right.
-- Joe
Actually, I think Coulter raised the awareness of many people.
Even my wife, who knows Mindy Kleinberg from the same social circles said, "hmmm."
Kennedy, et al, jumed the shark many decades ago. The only reason he still sucks blood from the American government is due to a pack of braindead liberals in Massachusetts who keep putting that man-slaughtering reprobate back in Congress.
Yes, Coulter made a good point about the widows. It was an "excellent opportunity" for the radical left to spin it against her, but they do that to everything and everyone. And it is ALL they do TO America, not FOR it. It is a standard modus operandi that Coulter points out, like that village idiot Sheehan, who play off the deaths of loved ones, to carry forward twisted, spun political agendas. This twisted agenda of the left is no different than Turbin Durbin or Marxist Murta standing up in Congress and demeaning our fighting military.
Expect ANYONE who puts forth the truth about the left in clear and strong terms, to be attacked as some kind of warped heretic. Remember...the left ALWAYS accuses the right of doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO. Without fail.
I'd say it's Kathleen Parker who has jumped the shark. Probably years ago, but I just didn't notice at the time.
No offense Parker, but please don't lump my lovely Ann in with jackasses like Kennedy. Otherwise I got a shark YOU can jump! Right heeeeeeeere!
(shorter Kathleen Parker)Note to social cons. Vote for us but then shut up. We have no intention of supporting you or your causes, and will call you idiots for standing true to your beliefs. Just don't forget to vote for us.
I believe James Dobson is getting the foundation of his ideas from the Bible, which isn't being updated for weekly entertainment, that is, unless you are a homosexual looking to somehow sidestep the first chapter of the book of Romans.
So, if one wants to say that "jumping the shark" means sticking to a belief system in a holy God and His word, then yeah, go ahead and put me down as being a shark jumper, too.
Kathleen doesn't always hit on all of her cylinders.
Funny how all of these people who don't have numerous best-sellers are so critical of those who do.
Apparently this author has never taken the time to read some of the Abolitionist newspapers from 150 years ago. She's apparently ignorant of the caning of Charles Sumner in the Senate, or the duel between political enemies Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Then there was Andy Jackson, who regularly shot dead folks who disagreed with him.
Coarse political rhetoric isn't anything new, and Dobson's suggestion that the Devil may be writing the homosexual agenda is perfectly valid in his worldview. As to Ann Coulter, if she called the profiteering 9/11 widows "witches," I suspect it was simply a typo. I'd have used a word with only one letter different.
And by the way, wasn't it the Left who for months took great pride in labeling George Bush "Hitler," a "Nazi," and a "coward"? How about Ward Churchill's "little Eichmann" remark? Does that do a lot to advance a civilized discourse? "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat, Idiot" according to Al Franken. Does that sound like a well-reasoned platform from which to launch an ideological exchange?
The only reason anyone is feigning chagrin at the course the debate is taking is because the Right is finally having its voice heard, often using the same tactics as its dubious enemies.
And, as in so many other things, we're better at it.
44 years of uninterrupted, severe and savage damage to the Republic.
Miss Parker and the rest of the loony left jumped the shark years ago when they decided that killing unborn babies was a good thing.
(copy of email I sent Kathleen Parker)
Dear Ms Parker,
I'm sorry to say that reading your column "Save the Sharks", has only forcibly reminded me of the growing problem that Republicans and their "intellectuals" are having with their base.
Whether you intended it or not, you column seemed to boil down to a lecture to social conservative to "Please shut up and stop embarrassing us. Be sure and vote for us in Nov. but then please go away. We aren't interested in you when you actually stating your beliefs and will mock you for doing so."
And Republicans wonder why their base is not turning out? You seem to let yourself slip into the very mindset (and the wrong side of the divide that seperates Reps from their base) that the social conservatives have found so appalling and arrogant in the Republican Party lately.
Please give your column a second look and truly think about the message you just sent out.
Thank you.
Daniel H.
Parker has obviously no understanding of the writings the
Christians use as their basis of understanding the
world.
To justify "gay" behaviour because some intellectuals, or activists,
or legal and theological scholars don't object, or because
"gays" live next to you appeals to the lowest order
of rhetoric and logic.
Ms. Parker, think hard now, if your best friend told you to
jump off of the top of a 5 story building onto a concrete
slab, would you?
Great example of how the Wussy Right thinks.
well said
But Ann Coulter didn't "attack 9/11 widows". She pointed out that four(4) 9/11 women were using their newly found wealth and popularity to make controversial political statements, immune from criticism by their status as widows.
As to Dobson and Inhofe and Kennedy -- what's their excuse?
But, alas, I am waiting...some Republican will find it necessary to apologize for Ann's remarks.
This isn't a matter of jumping/not jumping the shark. What Coulter, Kennedy, and Dobson have in common (I don't quite know enough Inholfe to add him to this list) is that they appeal only to the choir.
That is, those who agree with them will be fired up by them and those on the other side will be outraged. However, they are not going to change to change too many minds. If any of them ever did have the ability to change minds, they "Jumped the shark" when they lost it -- and that was some time ago.
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