Still Talking, This Guy

[Trigger warning for misogyny, Islamophobia, and reference to self-harm.]

Rush Limbaugh says so many stupid things on such a regular basis that it's hardly worth the time to single one out as if it's a rare event, but occasionally he says something so absurd that it warrants a quick comment. This is one of those times…

Now before you people go getting all offended on me, you gotta understand something: The customs in Islam and the Muslim world are quite different from the feminized culture of the United States. Here's a guy with three wives living in a pigsty; one oughtta be enough to keep it clean. No—don't do that to me! Do not look at me that way! We're talking about—we're talking about the Muslim religion; we're not talking about feminized America. I told ya—even, even warning you, I got the reaction I was warning you not to bother me with. It's suicide to tell a joke today about how a dirty place is 'cuz a woman won't clean it. I'm not stupid enough to do that! But over there, what else do they do? You know, that and run around in a kitchen! I mean, that's exactly—you got three of 'em over there, and the place is still a pigsty. Well, that's what I say—babies and clean!

First of all, I love the idea that it's dangerous to say something misogynist in the US. Let's ask Imus about that one.

But the real kicker in this one, for me, is the utter absurdity of Limbaugh simultaneously sneering at the "feminization" of the US (which he evidently regards as a terrible thing) and at the subjugation of women in some Islamic traditions (which he also naturally regards as a terrible thing). Leaving aside his false premise of an imagined monolithic Muslim culture and his hilarious implication that the US is a misogyny-free zone, I wonder what role it is that Limbaugh imagines women should play in the world, since Muslim women shouldn't be oppressed, but US women shouldn't be influential.

The calculation with which I'm left is that Limbaugh believes all women should be dominated, but in the right way—that is, by white American men.

Sounds about right.