One of the listeners to "The Professional Left" has written us with some feedback.
Since he gave us permission to use his email complete and unexpurgated, here it is:
Subject: Feedback from a real liberal.Hello - I looked up and listened completely to the two most recent episodes you have posted. I agreed completely with your politics however I will NOT be listening to you any more because the male podcaster cannot and will not stop cussing and using F-bombs. You may do that all you like but let me therefore tell you not just something but several things as a podcaster myself and a former reporter on television.
1. HOW DARE you call yourself a professional. You aren't. Professional podcasters don't do this. Ever. Period.2. The reason they don't do this is it shows ACTIVE DISRESPECT for ANYONE listening. Didn't your MOTHER teach you not to swear in public? Whether she or your dad did or not, I'm sure teachers did along the way and this just shows what a loser you are out of the gate. Also did it not occur to you that liberals might have kids nearby? So you want to teach their kids cuss words? You are putting out a PUBLIC product...kids listen.3. It distracts from your message and does it a disservice. You might think your GUTTER MOUTH gives you a common touch, but no, not really. It just makes people wish they were there to punch you.4. It also makes me infuriated that you are putting yourself out there as an example of how liberals are or should be. I would correctly be humiliated if listening to your show with a conservative objecting to you as a low grade degenerate and I'd have to agree.5. If you aren't going to change the name of your show to the guttermouth left, at least be PROFESSIONAL podcasters and bleep him or edit his f bombs out and AGAIN, RESPECT your listeners. I am certain you have lost MANY other listeners because of this and will continue to and you should be ashamed of putting this otherwise good message in an unfit filthy package on the internet.
6. There is NO WAY IN HELL you deserve any money for this obscene, low grade production, so STOP ASKING.
And yes by all means read my FULL UNEDITED email in context on your show you foul mouth piece of crap I'd love to hear you defend that behavior and discredit yourself EVEN MORE than you already have.
Quite Sincerely,...
First, for those not familiar with how The Internet works, here is link to an explanation of the "Not Safe For Work" warning with which we begin every episode of "The Professional Left":
Typically, the NSFW tag is used in e-mail, videos, and on interactive discussion areas (such as Internet forums, blogs, or community websites) to mark URLs or hyperlinks which contain material such as pornography or profanity, which the viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as at work.
Second, when choosing to enjoy recorded or transmitted words or music which they also may not wish to share with those around them, many humans use "headphones". Here is a link to a search engine called "Google" which may help you to find some reasonably priced "headphones" which can either be purchased in your local area or which can be ordered through the mail.
Third, here is a link to Blue Gal's excellent post from 2008 explaining the uses and abuses of that "F-bomb": "What we talk about what we talk about Fuck'."
Fourth, here is a snip from my own efforts back in 2007:
Cussin’: Turns out it’s like Water for Mutha@&$!#ing Chocolate!
...
This is about ownership and responsibility.
Because you, personally, own the entire English language.Every motherfucking word of it.And so do I. So do we all. And every day we raze it, build it, break it and birth it, because it is a living thing.It is our inalienable birthright, and will be our most versatile legacy to little fuckers not yet born, but as with driving the Big Rigs, or operating a band saw with your toes, the tool itself demands a certain level of responsibility and respect.When used correctly, language not only feels like a mouthful of velvet rubies and chocolate mousse, it can reformat the world, heal a scalded heart, and get her to shed those pesky pants!Used incompetently it is an embarrassment. A rusting dumpster in a reeking alley behind which the ignorant, the bigoted and the irrational believe they can pass out, occluded from scrutiny in shit-stained imbecile safety, but which turns out, by dawn's early light, to be a mini-bus full of liberals with digital cameras.....In the end, the second most dishonorable and demeaning thing you can do to this fine, fierce, sinewy, blunt, flensing bazooka you have been granted is to cower in the corner, making a mighty, scowling fortress out of your “Impactfuls”, “Synergies”, “Paradigms” and the other 181 officially approved units of lifeless bizzpeak buzztwaddle.The most insulting thing is demanding that others do likewise.
Last, here is Malcolm Tucker, putting me to shame.
It's not safe for work.
62 comments:
Mr. Tucker?
Wasn't he on that amateur-hourish, potty-mouthed, viewer-disrespecting BBC?
As for the highly-professional, port-a-potty-brained, viewer-baiting Mouse Circuses....
Well?
.
Seriously Mssr Driftglass, as a former copywriter for a PBS broadcaster and local news program, I say fuck this whiner. This is 2012 and "fuck" is well and truly ensconced in our public speech. What a tight-assed, hyper-vigilant little bitch. So continue please with your bad self and I shall render unto you and your resplendent wife what little I may afford. Carry on and refrain not from the speech that grabs the attention of the beaten and dispossessed.
Just another pearl-clutching language-proscriber. Not worth the time it takes to tell them to shut their fucking pie-inhaler.
To borrow a phrase from the sadly departed Steve Gilliard, "Fuck this fucking fucker."
In fact, I'd wager even money it's a con trying to make you do his bidding. Fuck this fucking fucker.
I found the email hilarious.
I'm sure your correspondent also subscribed in his "journalistic" career to the "both sides do it" meme. I am so tired of this type of use of the term "professional" which I understand to be a tag one applies to oneself for the purpose of dating really stupid people.
If you live to serve this type of respondent, you are wasting your and my valuable time. He shows himself to be a superannuated (take this from me, an 80 year old,who grew up when professionals wouldn't say the word "pregnant" on the air nor would they use the disgustingly filthy word:"breast" in public and certainly in the press, written or electronic) poorly acculturated fool.
I feel disrespected when Rachel Maddow uses the words "bullhockey" and "h-e-double hockey sticks." This so insulting I have been known to turn away from the often informative things she has to say! My bad, I suppose, but I am so happy that normal, vulgar (as in common) language can now be heard on network tv(to an extent) but especially on cable.
So, there is an absolutely opposing view to that espoused by your correspondent.
So, again, what's new? I hope you understand that, at least for me, part of the charm of listening the podcast is the no(or few)holds barred, passionate commentary.
Keep up the good work and fuck the assholes who carp on idiotic, insignificant matters of personal taste.
To the whiner, PHA-Q.
"you foul mouth piece of crap"
If you are going to rail against someone for swearing, it's best if you don't contradict yourself.
This person is at best a Concern troll, concerned that your message isn't being listened to due to your "Tone"
At worst, this person is a Purity troll, looking for a mythical Speaker without baggage that can't be ad hominem attacked over some trivial issue. A shining light that can be placed on a high up horse and praised as a divine leader. A person, on who we can pin all our hopes and dreams. Someone who we can all tout as the figure head, who carries our cause forward.
But srsly, Grow the fk up! This is the internets. Wanting someone to live up to all the highest standards of everyone listening is a pipe dream! I personally wished that DG and BG swapped surnames when they were married, Drift-Gal and Blue-Glass works and would show true lifelong blogger commitment! However this wish isn’t going to stop me listening on a Friday night!
What a fucking crybaby.
Hey Drifty, Re: "6. There is NO WAY IN HELL you deserve any money for this obscene, low grade production, so STOP ASKING," I just hit you and BlueGal via PayPal with $20. Keep up the great work, and don't change a word of it.
Sorry your "real liberal" listener doesn't appreciate your elegant and refined usage of some of our more figurative words and phrases. The "real liberal" should go fuck itself if it can't take a joke, as we often remarked in my military days. You can use this note any way you want, and you can quote my name.
Your servant, Eric Whitney
Please tell me he/she punches everyone with a Potty Mouth. Bitch slapping more like it.
That's it. I'm fucking donating to you right now.
Reading this email was a lot like being in a car with someone while they're learning to drive stick-shift.
Hurk-and-jerk-and-start-and-stop-and-please-Dear-God-find-some-flow.
And this was written by a professional communicator?
Actually, that sounds about right.
Dontcha just love that Freedom of Speech thing? As an Ayrshire lad myself, one of the things I miss most is the commonplace vulgarity that makes the Scots tongue so beguiling. I am convinced that the puritanical douche bags that suck all the fun out of EVERYTHING are the real root of the misery that exists in America today. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to refrain from a Malcolmesque diatribe because I knew the recipient wouldn't get the poetry of it. I invite this "real Liberal" to accompany me to a pub in Glasgow at closing time so he could ask the locals to refrain from such vulgarities. I hope he enjoys his "Glasgow Kiss".
Guy's an obvious phony. Another tut tut fake whining about your tone because there's no valid response to the content. It's so phony it almost smacks of satire. Not worth your time or ours to respond but, hey, wait, we just did.
I think its very possible he isn't a phony. At least half the problem we have in moving forward with our agenda is whiny and useless cretins like this guy on our own side keeping us from making any progress.
If Mr. Fainting Couch is reading this, PLEASE get the FUCK out of the way so the adults can get shit done. If you are really so stupid as to think your way of doing things has ever accomplished anything, then you are clearly surplus to requirements for the movement.
Thick of it:the best of Jamie, so much fucking better!
You're response reminds me a bit of the youtube clip by Stephen Fry on swearing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_osQvkeNRM
Brilliant.
I didn't think they had e-mail in 1952.
That's funny... I actually regard the occasional curses and scatology as leavening in the occasionally TOO literate evisceration of the centrist class!
I figured DG and BG were trying to bring the rants down to the highest level we readers could viscerally apprehend.
Shit, I did it again!
I'm not saying there's an absolute right or wrong about the poster's opinion, which I must respect - it feels kind of like a cultural thing to me.
But my culture is the counter-culture and I come down on the side of your (and anyone's) free use of the whole language 100%.
Personally, _I'm_ offended by a broadcast movie channel that chooses to blur out nudity even in classic works of art. I find Bowdlerized movies with constant blank spots (or lame-ass substitutions like 'flip you') similarly unwatchable.
To me, the best of the '60s lessons were _not_ about escape from reality but about getting more real. About thinking for yourself and speaking the truth as much as possible. Not disrespecting tradition, but giving tradition along with everything else a hard look to see if it was still relevant, truthful and useful.
We recognized that much of the 50s Ozzie-and-Harriet vision we were unwilling to buy into was a pernicious fantasy; meanwhile, we were being sent to Viet Nam to die for bogus reasons. We saw that traditional religious morality was likewise telling us lies about what was and wasn't good for us. So we needed to get real and figure that out for ourselves.
We needed as much as possible, and with compassion, not to sugarcoat the truth as we saw it, even to our friends. This would allow us in turn to hear better what others were saying, because we didn't have to read between the lines as much, or play as many games in interpersonal relationships, or reverse-engineer all the polite conventional filters.
This also meant using the same language in public as we used in private.
The changes we were trying (and still are trying) were spiritual, but in a deeply practical sense: the were social and psychological experiments.
And even though a caricature of those times is mostly put down today, many of the more successful experiments have been adopted to some extent by the culture, even those most people may be unaware of their origins. And many of these experiments are still ongoing.
2 cents from a 59-year-old.
DG -
I have misunderstood the depth and breadth of your necromancer abilities: somehow you have revived the spirit of David Broder to complain about you being a vituperative foul-mouthed blogger of the left. Clearly your influence, in what Robert Gibbs has called "the Professional Left," has zombie Broder agitated and his spirit cannot rest, poor devil.
This is the only possible conclusion I can draw as no one as well-raised and polite as your interlocutor could possibly be so crass as to insult one's host.
Only a pontificating poltroon would be so uncouth.
Broder it is!
Regards,
Tengrain
I feel so much better about dropping a few bucks in the hat an hour ago....
I understand why people on TV do it. I would rather Rachel Maddow say, "this is disastrous to the poor because of aleph, beth, gimmel, and daleth." Her saying, "This is some fucking horseshit!" wouldn't exactly be informative. I can remember being rather shocked when she said "Thank CHRIST!" She is always strict to avoid anything with Teh Religion. I think she is trying very hard to avoid the ad hominem risk, as another here pointed out.
I'm also glad MHP didn't swear in her DIVINELY INSPIRED righteous anger. If she had, no one would dare repeat it, and she would be an angry and foul-mouthed "black woman"
Peace,
Mike.K.
Is it that obvious that no one else is saying it? That this person totally doesn't understand the genesis of the name of the podcast? Professional not like stand up ej dionne type liberals, but in Gibbsspeak, like "whiny" motherfuckers that actually point out way too many politically inconvenient things for them to actually be responded to otherwise their question might get asked by someone with club passes? He thought he was coming across some sanitized real professional shit instead of the hard and nuanced medicine he needs.
Tengrain may be on to something.
After all, rumour has it that ZombieBroder is a Yankees fan.
.
Yes, many is the times your broadcasts over the computational machine has forced me to gasp "my stars and garters" and rush to wash my ears out with Lux or possibly Borax.
Recently, I almost dropped my mustashio wax in to my cream o wheat upon hearing your particular description of one of our leading citizens as a fornicator of their immediate female ancestor!
Perhaps, if you were to substitute "fudge" or "fudgers" or as some of the fans of that new fangled genre of fiction are now using "frak" or "frakkers" those of us with more delicate sensibilities could more enjoy your wholesome, all american serial presentation.
After all, one of our most famous audio comediatrons, Milton Berle, never once uttered an expletive in all his years on the vox mechania.
But I did hear that he had a huge dick and fucked like a mother fucking rabbit all the time....
If that cunt is calling himself a Liberal then I am changing my label to Progressive.
Fuck him,nanny motherfucker.
That settles it. You sir, are the motherfuckin' internet LORD, bar fucking NONE.
PS - oh yeah, FUCK that guy...
Are you sure this wasn't some fiendish professional leftish plot to get some more money out of me? You wrote this didn't you, Driftglass. Money on the way.
I dont have to tell you what my favorite word in the English language is, do I?
I love language and the use of it....I never believed that I should shelter my kid from it, but rather that as he got old enough to understand control, I let him know that one used these beautiful words in appropriate places in public; and of course warned listeners that a broadcast was not safe for work. Does anyone listen to anything from speakers anymore?...
Very funny...and very controlling.
Id put that listener on ignore. If they cant take the heat...well, I think they already fled the frying pan;-)...
and thats how you end up with a limited vocabulary.
You cant help all the people but its safe to assume that that listener (a liberal, after all) is voting for Obama, so let them go...
To echo some of the comments up-thread, I'd like to quote from a T-shirt slogan I first saw in New Orleans in 2002 (but have seen for sale in other places since then):
"FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING FUCK!"
And I say that as a person who often tells other people to stop saying "Fuck." That's because I work in a psychiatric ward, and when the patients (many of whom are meth freaks) start saying "fuck" a lot, it's an indicator that they're getting more agitated and psychotic. Lord knows we try to put some civilizin' on 'em when they're in here.
I have to confess to not listening to your podcasts. Mrs. Bukko and I tune in to podcasts from Mike Malloy, the angriest guy on left-wing radio. We can actually hear him sometimes on AM radio from Seattle when the atmosphere is right and we're driving in the car between 9 p.m. and midnight local time. Podcasts are easier, though. He doesn't say "fuck" because he's on the airwaves, but I know he'd like to. His tag line is "Have I told you tonight how much I hate these people?" (meaning conservatives. We also listen to podcasts of Thom Hartmann, "Ring of Fire" (with Mike Papantonio, Robert Kennedy Jr. and Sam Seder) Norman Goldman and one or two others. Sorry our podcast plate can't include you and BG.
My feeling is, if you're not fucking angry enough to say "fuck" a lot, you don't really give a fuck about the way things are headed. Go back to listening to N-P-fucking-R until you fucking well bore your fucking brain back to sleep, Mr. Purity.
Affuckin'men DG.....
Dear Driftglass,
As a teacher and a father, let me say that I am in no fucking way offended when you drop the fuck bomb.
To quote Michael Franti - "I don't give a fuck who they're screwing in private, I want to know who they're screwing in public." I am far more offended by how people are fucking the country than by people saying the word fuck out loud, and considering the Strum und Drang that we are suffering I am more offended by people who are too frightened to say what the think for fear of using the wrong words.
NOam Chomsky talks about people who have their jackboots on the necks of others, standing around complaining about the screaming of their victims. While I don't think your reader is the jackbooted thug, there is something despicable about people who listen to the words and not the meanings.
If he / she thinks that we can establish respect by controlling language, I suggest we give him / her a freezer so they can go to the Artic and turn back global warming by re-freezing the ice.
OK, enough tirades... Driftglass, I in no way think you and Blau Gal are disrespectful by your use of language. When you're dealing with the potty, you need the potty-mouth words to describe what you witness.
Best wishes,
Geoff
Didn't "Deadwood" kinda solve this issue a few years back, for ever and ever and ever.
If he's never hit the tip jar, he's a troll for sure.
If he's contributed to the effort in the only way an author can truly appreciate (small, unmarked bills only), he's a scholar and a gentleman, albeit somewhat misinformed.
I highly recommend all Driftglass' trolls first make several substantial PayPal contributions to establish their credibility before cutting one loose. They will then be provided serious consideration.
(ignore if the previous attempt at commenting actually went through)
Good morning, Mr. Glass.
Dude, you should totally start the next podcast with something like Roman Moronie's faux-profanity from "Johnny Dangerously"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GVCgTFw2Qk
When you say... that word... the baby Jesus cries.
I have always maintained that a well placed "fuck" can be very effective. The over use, an in every other word, renders the word meaningless and void of all value. I also have questions about substitutes, such as "frack" or "f-ing", isn't intent really the important thing? If one says "f-off" how is that less offensive than using the actual word? The meaning is the same.
Here's what I'd add about the swearing:
I love the Professional Left Podcast. Love it. Love, love, love. Can't get enough. I love Driftglass. I love Blue Gal. And I love the podcast.
Is it possible there are some people who can't or won't listen to the show because they can't or won't get past the swearing? Sure. Of course. Does it follow, then, that the ProLeft formula should be *changed* to exclude foul language?
Absolutely not. No more than it would make sense to fiddle with the Big Mac recipe because some people don't like the sauce.
I have no idea what the ProLeft Podcast would be like if Driftglass had to comply with FCC broadcast standards - and I don't want to find out!
Excellent work. see you,
DG, fuck that fucking motherfucker. It's just a word is what I tell people that give me shit about my potty mouth. The only language I find offensive dribbles out of the mouths of such sub-Humans like Karl Rove, Beck, Felafel Boy...you get the idea.
By the way, this should also let that other dick head bad mouthing you on another post know that yes, you do have more than 23 readers.
Fuck him too.
I do not believe your correspondent understands all internet traditions.
F....f......f......f......
Fuck!
There, I said it. No biggie.
Keep on keepin' on.
Damn you Mal Wood! That was my exact thought. Anyway I've owed you guys a payment for your great podcast. Thanks DG and BG. ben
"1. HOW DARE you call yourself a professional. You aren't. Professional podcasters don't do this. Ever. Period."
Who publishes the official "Rules and Regulations for Podcasters"?
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Times in the past I was told a fair number of times that my way of dressing, speaking, acting was unprofessional.
I used to reply, "That's impossible. I am a professional. Therefore everything I do is by definition what a professional does." You are a professional podcaster. Ergo…
Not actually sound logic, but it usually achieves one of several equally desirable results.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
BTW, he heard the warning NSFW and listened anyway. What sort of "not safe" stuff might he have been anticipating?
*lays out script*
*clears throat*
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking fuckfuck fucked-up-fucks fucking puncheminnafuck!
Fuckers. 8D
I was shocked, shocked the writer would use disgusting words like "crap" & "hell" to articulate his Church-lady views. I believe I feel the vapors coming on. Please try to get a better class of correspondents.
Regards,
Fucked up in Florida
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Well, the only thing that the prissy asshole seems to have accomplished is to up your donations. Complaining about "inappropriate" language by using inappropriate language is truly fucko-ed.
dear Quite Sincerely,
My very favorite part was when you called him a "piece of crap" for using disrespectful language.
Kudos to your mom.
that...was HILARIOUS.
You got him AWFULLY worked up, didn't you?
Nobody tell this guy about George Carlin.
I think the most damning fact is this listener missed the ENTIRE inside joke of the title "Professional Left".
Yah, FUCK HIM!!!
Well, at least the Queen tried it...twice! You have to give the old girl credit.
I am so angry at you for making me listen to you. Why do you keep forcing yourself on me. In fact I am so peeved that I am going to disguise myself as a "liberal" and really have your hiny over it. So please please no matter what don't make me listen next week or I'm going to call you a "piggy dumb rat" and a "poop-poop face" and tell all my "friend" to stop you from making them listen either.
Signed, Lefty
This "writer" is a self plagarist. The same letter was written to David Mamet.
Potty on Mr. Glass. You'll have no complaints out of me. ;-)
Maybe you should change the name of the podcast to The Professional Fucking Left and those with dainty dispositions will not even bother to listen.
Hilarious.
I know people who are genuinely upset by swearing, so I try not to swear around them. I don't have a problem with that, or someone expressing that. But the sanctimony in that e-mail is impressive. It smells of troll, but Poe's Law loosely applies.
Time to run the "Please get the children out of the newroom" pic again, methinks...
I'm bored with people not remembering priorities based on the tiers of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: the very lives of these presupposing, uptight, and largely hypocritical people are being sold out, their tiers made blithely unachievable with giddy abandon, their futures swept off discounted shelves by privileged psychopaths onto platinum carts... but wait! DG said..."fu..." ...well, does it matter what DG said? Not to the whiner... likely looking for an excuse to turn away from the disturbing truth that he is well and truly _fucked_!
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