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RUSH: The kid in Santa Barbara, Isla Vista. Everything that has happened since is utterly predictable. Everybody on the left is taking another real human tragedy and converting it into a political issue, the purpose of which is to advance their political agenda, in this case: get rid of the Second Amendment and confiscate everybody’s guns. And they’re all out in unison.

They’re trying to make the case that this is another instance where — never mind that the first three deaths were by machete. Maybe not the first three, but never mind that guns were not used for all of the deaths. We still gotta get guns out of the hands of people. If you do that, this would never have happened.


Now, I know as much about this as you do, maybe less, actually, than you do ’cause I’ve not been absorbed with it because I think I understand it. What could go wrong here. You’ve got an estranged mother and dad. The dad produces oddball movies like The Hunger Games and as a side hobby takes photos of nude women’s bare rear ends in exotic locales around the country. (interruption) Yeah, you didn’t know that? You didn’t know that? Well, they’re in art galleries. This guy takes black and white, for the most part artsy, photos of nude women from the rear focusing on their butts. One’s in front of the Taj Mahal in the pool. They’re all over the place. That’s his art, the guy’s father.

The kid was in therapy since age eight. What did the kid believe? He believed that everybody was getting some. He believed that everybody was just having a life of pure, total hedonism. He believed that everybody was telling the truth about all the fun they were having. He believed that he was missing out on everything, and that everybody he knew, everybody else was just getting the most out of life that they could. They weren’t really having to work very hard, everything was playtime, everything was drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll. And then some more sex. And after that some more sex and throw in a little more rock ‘n’ roll, and he wasn’t getting any.

So he started blaming women, particularly blondes and others. You know, I don’t know that this is gonna be a factor in this, and even if it is I don’t know that you’re ever going to be able to establish it. One of the things that’s really bothered me — and I’ve mentioned this before — one of the things that’s been a yellow flag about all this social media. Two things about people vomiting everything about themselves on Facebook and Twitter, MySpace, whatever it all is. The first thing that concerned me was people were volunteering to give away every bit of privacy they had. Why? Because they all wanted to be famous. They wanted — they want; it’s not past.


To so many people, particularly young people using social media, they want everybody to know everything about them. They want to be famous. The second thing — and this is a real problem here — the second thing that I worried about is people — see, I think half the people or more on these social media sites exaggerate a bit about all the fun they’re having. I know that when I was in high school — you know, we had a saying. My dad taught me this. I’d go home from school and I’d tell him what all the guys were saying about things they did. This was actually a fight over homework. I said, “Dad, I don’t want to do it. My friends aren’t doing it. They’re out every night.”

“Son, don’t believe ’em. All these guys bragging to you about what they’re doing, the fun they’re having, they’re not having it. They wish they were. They want you to think they are, but the people that talk about it are the ones not doing it. The people you need to pay attention to are the people that keep it close to the vest. The people that don’t tell you what they’re doing, the people that don’t brag, they’re the ones getting things done.”

That’s what my dad always told me. And I found that in my life he wasn’t universally correct. I mean, there were some braggarts who were actually doing it, but in many cases he was right, and particularly when it was men bragging about sex. I can’t tell you the number of guys I knew growing up that were bragging about all the sex they were having and it was simply a dream. They wanted everybody to think it, but they couldn’t get past first base any better than this kid could. And the ones who weren’t talking about it were the ones that you learned later on that were the studs. And they weren’t talking about it because of manners, self-respect, respect for the girls involved, who knows what.

I found that life lesson, when I was young, to be true. So I’ve thought maybe it’s carried forward. It’s a changing culture. It’s a changing planet, changing country. I don’t know if it’s still applicable today as much as it was. But it used to be elementary, a basic part of human nature. That’s why all this social media and all this bragging that was going on out there, in addition to these kids volunteering to give away all their privacy…

I thought that one of the potential downsides was people like this kid, reading about all this fun everybody’s having — which they really weren’t having; they were lying about it. It’s going to create inferiority complexes. It’s gonna create, in some people’s minds, misery and unhappiness. They read about all the fun their friends are having. They read about all the fun people their age are having, and they look at their own lives and they’re dull and boring by comparison.

When, in fact, they’re reading a bunch of people talking about things that really aren’t happening. Everybody’s simply fantasizing, or a lot of people are. So I don’t know if that’s the case here, but I’ll bet you it’s a part of it. It has to be a part of it. But beyond that, obviously, there’s a mental health issue here which the left does not want to go anywhere near, either, because it undercuts the gun argument.


But let’s say everything is normal here. Let’s say that everything that happened here is up and up and everybody in this guy’s circle was doing everything they said, and everything he thought, and he was the only one who wasn’t. Look at the expectations that he had. What was this kid, 22? Look at the expectations he had for all that would have happened to him in his life by the age of 22.

Look at what he thought was going to be normal or should be. Sex any time he wanted it. Women loving and adoring him any time he wanted it. Women draping themselves all over him any time he wanted it. He had his Beamer so he was gonna be the most popular kid around, and he was gonna have whatever he wanted. At the age 22, whatever he wanted! Well, obviously things weren’t normal.

As I say, there’s a mental health issue. But just keep a sharp eye on the left politicizing this to try to convert this into something that can advance their agenda. And they’ll probably get into the socioeconomic aspects of this, too, by blaming this somehow on rigid, moralistic and judgmental conservatives or Tea Party types. (interruption) Well, “How could they come up with that?”

They wouldn’t have to come up with anything. Just say it. You know, just put it out there: “This kid was reacting to a puritanical judgmentalism fostered by the Bush years,” and so forth and so on, as everything goes back to Bush. (interruption) Well, I know. (sigh) The video did leave no doubt about what kid — the young man — was really all about. Anyway, he captivated everybody’s attention.

And they finally found the blonde, Blonde Number One, that supposedly was responsible for getting all of this going in this young guy’s head. She was 10. She was 10 years old when he supposedly was rejected. You know what Woody Allen said about success? To show you how things really don’t change, Woody Allen said, “The only thing that success means is that you get rejected by a higher class of woman.”

That’s all it meant to him, which I thought was classic. But the kid’s father was an assistant director/secondary unit director of The Hunger Games. We have to now point out that there is no gun control law being currently proposed that would have stopped this shooting spree. There is not one law proposed that would have stopped this shooting spree from taking place. And… (interruption)

Nope, there’s no law on the books now that would stop him from ramming people with his car. No, there’s no law about stabbing people. There’s no law on the books currently that would stop people from stabbing other people if they want to. Have you seen any of the Hunger Game movies? Do you know what they’re about? (interruption)

What do you mean, “vaguely”? Do you don’t know what they’re about? Dawn, do you know what the Hunger Games movies are about? How would you describe the Hunger Games movies, the general theme? What would you say they’re about? (interruption) This is crucial! This is what this guy’s dad did. It’s teenagers killing other teenagers.

It’s a survivalist game. (interruption) It doesn’t matter why. They’re being forced to, but they’re still doing it. (interruption) Being forced to kill other teenagers? This kid might say he was forced to by societal pressure. (interruption) Right. Some of them are adults. But it still involved killing. “Why not blame Hollywood movies here?” Oh, we can never, ever go there.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay. So in The Hunger Games books and in The Hunger Games movies there are 12 districts, and each district sends two contestants. So 23 teenagers get killed and one survives each game. That’s what it’s about. I don’t know how they stock the movie with stars, unless they kill the extras. Somehow the stars survive. In the first movie, two survivors are allowed to live, I think. I fell asleep.

I think they had to keep two stars alive for the franchise. Anyway, that’s what the kid’s father did. He was an assistant director/second unit director for The Hunger Games. Not that that matters, of course — and the woman’s butt that he was photographing is his second wife. Not that any of this matters. We’re just stocking you with information so that you can decide yourself.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s Doug in Tampa, driving. Great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hello. Thank you. Thanks for taking my call.

RUSH: Yes, sir. You bet.


CALLER: I want to tie maybe a comment into what you were discussing earlier in your program with regard to everybody putting their life out for everyone to see. Years ago the old cliche was the male would have a mid-life crisis. I think that’s kind of changed. Public media, Facebook, Twitter, different things like that, I’ve seen people that have had four, five, 600 friends. They visit that every day and by the numbers, if you look at some of the people that are going on vacation, enjoying life, if you’re just an average person, it would appear that everyone is having a ball, everyone is doing fun things.

RUSH: Exactly right. Everyone’s out there living this life of luxury and fame and fun, and you’re not, and that’s the impact social media has on you. It is a factor.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: People are patiently waiting. Jeremy in Seattle, Washington. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s good to talk to you. So my point is I think the media just love to takes their lobs and hit ’em out of the park. They can ask the easiest question of all: If there were no gun, could he have committed this crime without a gun? Of course we know he couldn’t have.

RUSH: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, he could have. He did commit this crime with machetes and knives.

CALLER: No, I understand that but he didn’t commit the gun part of it with it. All I’m saying is they don’t ask the questions about the person, about what’s actually going on inside. They don’t ask, “What if he would have been taught abstinence and that abstinence could have led to a really fulfilling relationship with a wife or partner? How much pornography did he have on his laptop, on his computer?

“You know, how much time did his parents actually spend with him growing up? How much time did he spend with a nanny, somebody that didn’t really care for him but was just paid to be with him?” They ask no questions that actually get to the heart of why somebody would make a decision to devalue human life the way this person does.

RUSH: If I were a liberal host, and you had just called with that very point, you know what I’d say to you? “Who gives you the right to judge? How do you know he was messed up? How do you know he wasn’t justified? How do you know that this is what he thought was best? How do you know? What gives you the right to judge everybody?” and they’d hang up on you.

CALLER: (laughs) I wouldn’t have anything to say to that. I would say that I’m just asking why don’t they even ask the question.

RUSH: Well… (sigh)

CALLER: They don’t care. Everything that you were just talking about, the dystopian society, why are these people calling and saying, “Oh, no. I see something conservative in it that leads to exactly what it is.” They don’t care. Everybody sees whatever they want to see in it.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: People used to talk about C. S. Lewis’ the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and say, “Oh, no, it’s a picture of God,” and C. S. Louis himself said, “No, that’s not why I wrote it. I wrote it as a fun book. Yeah, maybe it has some things in it, but I didn’t write it as that.” So when people see what they want to see in something, and imagine that everybody else is gonna see it, that just removes from them the responsibility to talk to somebody about the real things. They just think that somebody’s gonna watch a movie and all of a sudden become conservative. That is ridiculous.

RUSH: I get your point, but in this era those questions are never gonna be asked. They’re considered too controversial, they’re irrelevant, they’re judgmental — and especially your point about abstinence. The thing about abstinence, let’s say in preventing AIDS or pregnancy, is abstinence works every time it’s tried. Every damn time it works. It prevents unwanted pregnancy, it prevents sexually transmitted diseases, it prevents HIV.

But you don’t dare say so, and you know why you don’t dare say so? Because it’s silly, it’s stupid, it’s old-fashioned, and it’s unrealistic. What do you mean, abstinence? Kids are gonna have sex, and we can’t stop it. We better find a way to make it as safe as we can so you take that cucumber to school and get a balloon and show ’em how to use a condom.

Most boys are gonna say, “A cucumber? What’s that supposed to be?” because it doesn’t look like a cucumber to them. They wish it did, but it doesn’t. (laughing) Well, you know, I’m the mayor of Realville. Now, the… (interruption) Well, that’s the point. He was abstinent. Jeremy’s point here is real simple. If he had been raised with the idea that not being promiscuous was good for him, then he wouldn’t be jealous of all these people say how much they’re getting every day and night.

But you can’t say that.

That’s just so old-fashioned and unrealistic. “I mean, abstinence? No, kids are gonna do it. You can’t stop ’em!” It’s just like Nancy Reagan’s, “Just Say NO to Drugs.” I mean, that was laughed out of town, and so was abstinence laughed at. His only point was if he’d had a couple parents who said, “You know, Son, you’re gonna be better off in the long run. It’s gonna have more meaning to you later on,” maybe he wouldn’t have gone off the deep end. Who knows?

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