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Sarcasm or Misunderstanding Sarcasm?
http://www.diddlysquat.tv/theplot.htm
I’m not sure what to think of this. I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show today, and Rush mentioned, as he often does, his opinion audit by the Sullivan Group, which showed him to be “almost always right 99% of the time.” I always love comments like this; it’s part of the reason that I like Rush so much. I have a natural sarcastic bent (runs in the family), so I love the use of sarcasm that is done so seemlessly that it throws people into confusion. It often provokes an emotional response that brings out the truth of people’s feelings.
However, there are times that even I cannot quite tell if someone is being sarcastic or not. I did a quick Google search on Rush’s opinion audit, just to see what would come up, and I found the above link to a site called Diddly Squat, purporting to expose Rush’s errors and his plot to “dumb down dittoheads.” The whole “plot” focuses on the Sullivan Group opinion audits, and, in fact, on the phrase “almost always.” The site points out quite right that “almost always” is a meaningless phrase, but then totally gets wrong why that’s important. “Almost always” is purposefully chosen precisely because it points out the sarcasm in what Rush is saying.
What’s funny for me about this is that Leftists and others who can’t stand Rush often strike their foot on the sarcasm. They hate it when he says things like “talent on loan from God” or “serving humanity just by showing up.” It riles them up in a way that shows their lack of understanding. Now, it has to be admitted that there are plenty of Conservatives who also lack an understanding of sarcasm and have similar reactions to Leftist commentators, so I’m not suggesting this is just a problem with the Left. But it’s still funny.
My problem in looking at this site, however, is that I can’t decide if it’s actually serious or not. I’ve been looking for evidence that the whole thing is just a joke, but the barbs launched at both Rush and President George W. Bush suggest that it’s actually serious. This is hard for me to believe because I usually assume that people are smart, and the sarcasm, the poking fun at himself, is so obvious in Rush’s delivery that I just can’t see how people don’t get it. However, sometimes they don’t and some of them are just unhinged enough to create a site like this.
So I leave it to you to get a laugh out of this site for whatever reason you want. Personally, I’m laughing because I think the guy’s completely insane, and for some reason I think that’s funny.
Unfortunately I agree that the diddlysquat site is serious. I believe that there are people that are that stupid.
Now to the point of “almost always” right. Meaningless. Not quite. While technically true and definitely sarcastic, it can be accurate depending on the punctuation.
One example from Rush’s Web site:
“In the last week alone, my opinion auditing firm has shown that I’m up a tenth of a point again, documented to be almost always right 98.8% of the time, in the midst of dealing with this smear.”
In this example the phrase “almost always” is indeed meaningless, however if you add punctuation the phrase can become meaningful thus:
In the last week alone, my opinion auditing firm has shown that I’m up a tenth of a point again. Documented to be almost always right; 98.8% of the time. Even in the midst of dealing with this smear.
By separating the phrase “almost always” from the statistic, the phrase becomes an “adjective” for the statistic.
I have attempted to find the “Sullivan Group” on the Internet but as of this moment have not found them. I found diddlysquat and your comment and got sidetracked. I’ll put a link in your comments if I actually find the Sullivan Group.
And yes, I have way more time on my hands than I know what to do with. And yes, Rush is a sarcastic entertainer, but as you can see Rush as usual, is almost always right even when he is sarcastic.
Here’s what I found out about the “The Sullivan Group.”
From http://daviswiki.org/KFBK :
9am to Noon – Rush Limbaugh
The famous (or infamous) political commentator got his start in talk radio in Sacramento in 1984 and as a result often references the local area on his national show. A catchphrase of his is “For those of you in Rio Linda, let me explain…” (Rio Linda is a poor suburb of Sacramento with a reputation for being populated with ignorant rednecks). He also often references “The Sullivan Group” as a source for fictional statistics, referring to the Sacramento based financial group run by Tom Sullivan (see below). Thrives on controversy and a reputation as the public relations arm of the “conservative movement”.
Afternoon drive – Tom Sullivan
Tom Sullivan is worth mentioning simply because he is one of the core driving forces in Sacramento, the nearest city to Davis. He is technically a financial consultant, but seems to pop up in the news all the time in relation to various development projects and proposed laws. He seems to support a strong downtown, which means plenty of music venues. He also leads many of the charity drives in the greater Sacramento area.
Tom Sullivan and Rush Limbaugh were both on KFBK in the mid 80s, and Rush looked to him as somewhat a mentor. Tom Sullivan guest hosts Rush Limbaugh’s show from time to time, although he does not consider himself to be socially conservative and as a result tends to stick to financial and foreign politics.
In October 2007, Tom Sullivan was one of the founding anchors at the new FOX Business Network. He now broadcasts local California issues out of his new studio in New York.
That is true about the punctuation. I’m now interested to see how the transcripts of the show are punctuated.
I’m pretty sure the Sullivan Group either 1) doesn’t exist (at least not the one Rush refers to) or 2) doesn’t have much of a web presence (which for me means it might as well not exist), but I’d definitely be interested if you find anything.
Thanks, BlueCat57 for the info!