More On The Trib Brain Trust

You'd think they'd know how to read over there at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Or at least research more carefully.

From Sunday's "Whispers" column:

Rock 'n' roll delivering messages of conservatism?

It happens more than you might think, according to National Review.

The magazine's June 5 edition lists rock's 50 greatest conservative anthems. To make the grade, songs' lyrics had to convey a conservative idea or sentiment, such as skepticism of government or support for traditional values.

They even supply the url:

Space constraints prevent us from publishing the entire list, which can be found online at article.nationalreview.com/281095/rockin-the-right/john-j-miller.

But if you were to actually go to that page, you'd see this:

See the date?

May 26, 2006.

You'd think that with all the words flying around over there at the Trib, someone would have picked up the fact the "June 5 edition" it references is from 4 years ago. Not that that's the issue. The issue is how could a "news" organization get something so simple so wrong?

Now onto the list.

The Trib braintrust (and the folks at the National Review 4 years earlier) must not have paid too close attention to the "conservative" values on display on the list.

For instance "Bodies" by the Sex Pistols (they're conservatives??). The lyrics show that it's a song about a woman from Birmingham who'd just had an abortion. Are we led to believe that these lines sketch out the conservative position on abortion?

She was a no one who killed her baby
She sent her letters from the country
She was an animal
She was a bloody disgrace

Are they really sending that message - that a woman who's had an abortion is "a bloody disgrace"? Ok, thanks for letting us know what you really think.

Then there's Revolution (do I really need to tell you what band? c'mon). If anything the song isn't about Conservatism as much as it's about moderation:

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out

So when the tea-partiers talk about how the tree of liberty needs to be watered with the blood of tyrants, we can expect the Trib to shout them down, right?

And anyway, don't conservatives reject evolution? Some do, anyway. Just sayin'.

My favorite "conservative" song on the list is, of course, Sweet Home Alabama. The braintrust describes it thusly:

A tribute to the region of America that liberals love to loathe.

Let's not forget when the song was written (1973-4) and with that in mind, what do you think these lines from this "conservative" song about the "region of America liberals love to loathe" mean?

In Birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

And who was the governor of Alabama in 1974? That would be George Wallace, then a segregationist. And Watergate doesn't bother them?

Yea, that's a good conservative message. They should have done their homework better.

Written on June 8 2010.