Media Matters: Flushing Rush's toilet falsehood ;)

[roland]

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Flushing Rush's toilet falsehood

Nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh falsely asserted that Europeans lacked toilets until the United States "came along." In fact, both the water closet and the valve-type flush toilet were invented by Englishmen in Europe.

The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets reports that precursors to the modern toilet date back to western India, circa 2,500 B.C., when "people had water borne toilets in each house ... linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks."

Closer antecedents to the modern toilet evolved in Britain and France before the United States even existed as an independent nation. In 1596, "J.D. Harrington, a relative of Queen Elizabeth I, invented the water closet -- a toilet with a chain," according to the Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram. In the years that followed, "Harrington's toilet under the name Angrez was being used in France, though not introduced on a large scale in England," according to the Sulabh Museum.

(...)

From the June 9 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: You think they had toilets in Europe before we came along? They didn't. They still don't have toilets in Europe that make any sense. Even after we're here. You ever been to Europe? Use some of their toilets, even in some of the finest hotels, it's amazing!

— A.S.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200506100004


take this one lightly guys ok ? :D
I have big respect for America because it always able to creat counterpowers when needed.
See this one: http://mediamatters.org/

EDIT: less lightly, what LIMBAUGH said is pure lie, plain and simple, mostly since he've been to Europe. Shame on him. What's the use of those lies ? I don't understand.

[Sharp]

and god is american :lol:

[gaijinsamurai]

It's not the first time Rush Limbaugh opened his fat mouth before thinking.

[Nikitaras]

He was probably high again. No clear thinking American takes OxyRush seriously so just sit back, relax and enjoy the moronic humor.

[dangerclose]

He was probably high again. No clear thinking American takes OxyRush seriously so just sit back, relax and enjoy the moronic humor.


Clear thinking Americans as in the American left? umm .. ok.

I don't know about european toilets but I wish you euros would bathe more often.

What's funny is that Rush is vacationing in France right now of all places.

traitor

[Miles.]

Who cares?

[Trigger]

I guess sarcasm doesn't translate well into 'Europeanese'...but please carry on worrying about the reeeeeeealy important stuff. rofl

[Nikitaras]

Clear thinking Americans as in the American left? umm .. ok.

Actually what I meant by clear thinking is people who are not a bunch of fat-asses sitting around zonked out of their gourds on Oxycontin or other illegally procured substances.

I don't know about european toilets but I wish you euros would bathe more often.

Painting with broad strokes I see. When I was stationed in Europe I don't remember the majority of people stinking or anything. How long were you there for?

What's funny is that Rush is vacationing in France right now of all places.

traitor

Another reason to remind kids to stay away from drugs.

[achilles]

edit

[joe mama]

EDIT: less lightly, what LIMBAUGH said is pure lie, plain and simple, mostly since he've been to Europe. Shame on him. What's the use of those lies ? I don't understand.

Ummmmm, hello, how bout it's a joke? Or an exaggeration aimed at being a joke?
Are toilets in most Euro hotels similar (ie modern) to most US hotels? Ie, modern? I'm clueless, but I know there's some dumpy hotels here in the US that might have ancient toilets, I wonder if there are just the same kinds of places in Europe (or any modern/first world/prosperous/whatever region). Isn't air conditioning rarer in some European countries than in the US? I'm asking based on the possibly wrong impression I got reading stories about that French heat wave that killed tons of people. Obviously I mean in the warmer places.

[XS203598]

Rush is soooooooo fat, he deficates in a bathtub. Not really, but he is an idiot & I voted for Bush 2.

[Russ.Dill]

You people don't have a sense of humor, do you?

[friikki]

I don't know about european toilets but I wish you euros would bathe more often.


Thats like saying all americans are fat and stupid.

Im European and i shower daily. Sometimes few times in a day when i work out. And i can say all people i know do the same.

[Deuterium]

I've got to agree with the big guy when it comes to WC facilities especially in Germany and France. Different culture different facilities when compared to the USA. After living in Germany for 7 years it was always a topic of conversation amongst us Americans over how the Germans had the best cars and roads but the worst toilets. It was always a shock to Americans the first time they use a German toilet. The dreaded "shelf", gives me the willies even today. It IS a stretch to say that we gave them proper facilities. Hyperbole is his forte.

[fremen]

Rush is a bigtime ****ing lardass junkie. Preaches to the world about morality while sticking himself full of drugs. Don't take anything he says seriously.

[Miles.]

Rush is a bigtime f*** lardass junkie. Preaches to the world about morality while sticking himself full of drugs. Don't take anything he says seriously.

He doesn't "stick" drugs, ala heroin, into his body. He took pain medication for his aching back, and got addicted to an addictive substance. What a concept.

He's way more successful than you'll ever be. Regardless of whether you agree with someone or not, calling them "f-cking lardass junkies" just shows what an idiot you are. Millions of humans for thousands of years have used mind/body-altering substances. There's no stigma there, jackass. Unless you're without fault, back off of his shortcomings.

If all you have to discredit Maha Rushi is your above statement, then I can't take anything you say seriously.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

Good Lord. Of all the things Rush says, you bring up a two month old off-the-cuff joke. Yes, this definitely proves he is bad. :lol: As if he was making a statement of fact. Again, Rush is not a reporter. He was not reporting a statement of fact. He is an entertainer. He is paid to offer commentary, which he does. Many of us have the ability to separate his rants/hyperbole from the more serious content. Why the endless threads about what US commentators are saying? Why do you care?

BTW - as an American, I must say that I was surprised at some of the "toilets" I was faced with in Europe. At one military base in Italy, the "toilet" consisted of a tile slate on the floor, with a hole in it. I had no goddamed idea what I was supposed to do with it. The entire place seemed to need a coat of paint, which I suppose is a criticism that could extend to most places I visited.

Now, go ahead and start a thread that shows what a liar I am, because most of Europe doesn't actually need a coat of paint. ;)

[gaijinsamurai]

It would be one thing if his "toilet comment" were an isolated incident, but unfortunately, Rush has a pattern of saying stupid stuff. Limbaugh is an idiot, and if we on "the left" can acknowledge Michael Moore's stupidity, people on the right should be smart enough to distance themselves from people like Limbaugh.

[Atlantic Friend]

Ummmmm, hello, how bout it's a joke? Or an exaggeration aimed at being a joke?

Seriously, Joe, how about this is a purely gratuitous insult ?


Are toilets in most Euro hotels similar (ie modern) to most US hotels? Ie, modern?

From what I've seen in Louisiana and in Western France, yes. Nothing struck me as really different, except that the toilet seats here are usually in a separate room, not in the bathroom.


I'm clueless, but I know there's some dumpy hotels here in the US that might have ancient toilets, I wonder if there are just the same kinds of places in Europe (or any modern/first world/prosperous/whatever region)

You bet there are. Try some low-life hotels or cafés in Paris, for example, and you'll long for provincial civilization ! I'll keep "fond" memories of a 18th-district hotel near the Sacré Coeur whose main customers were visibly cockroaches.

[quote]Isn't air conditioning rarer in some European countries than in the US? I'm asking based on the possibly wrong impression I got reading stories about that French heat wave that killed tons of people.[quote]

Yes, air conditioning is quite rare here. Old houses, being built in stone, didn't need it even in Provence, and only a small (but growing) percentile of modern buildings are equipped. The main reason for that is that Europe's moderate weather did not justify the investment, until we began to have prolonged and high-temperature heat waves a few years ago.

But let's be serious here, Rush Limbaugh is not stating a few intriguing differences in plumbing or in household equipments. His comments are a good ol' ethnic/national insult about some oh-so-funny "hygiene gap" that has made the core structure of ethnic slurs ever since people began to mock foreigners.

[drfunk]

dont take him seriously, he's a right-wing smear merchant who's paid to say crap like this. What i dont get is why some people want to defend a guy like him?? the guys a jackass.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

It would be one thing if his "toilet comment" were an isolated incident, but unfortunately, Rush has a pattern of saying stupid stuff. Limbaugh is an idiot, and if we on "the left" can acknowledge Michael Moore's stupidity, people on the right should be smart enough to distance themselves from people like Limbaugh.

Oh come on. Michael Moore pretends to make "documentaries". He pretends to report straight facts.

Rush makes no bones about the fact that he's an entertainer. His modus operandi - which he often says on the air - is to "illustrate absurdity with absurdity". Which he does very well. Rush is like the Doug Piranha of radio.


Well, I was terrified. Everyone was terrified of Doug. I've seen grown men
pull their own heads off rather than see Doug. Even Dinsdale was frightened of
Doug. He used... sarcasm. He knew all the tricks- dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious."

Even if you don't agree with him (which I didn't most of the time when I started listening to him in '88) - he's still very funny.

That all the anti-Rush folks here can come up with is "he's fat", "he took pills" "he's an idiot" "he says stupid stuff" - amounts to an argument based upon "yeah, well your mother is ugly" -- just the stuff that the left prides itself on not doing.

[gaijinsamurai]

2sheds, would you prefer we take the guy seriously? By saying things like "he says stupid stuff", we are making it known that we don't intend on getting all bothered by him, and HE IS AN IDIOT, or a glorified version of David Duke. If a person had made the same comments he has made about Native Americans and their genocide, but substituted Jews for Indians, he'd be off the air immediately. But by laughing it off and calling him a moron, people choose to make light of it rather than get truly pissed off and try to make him the pariah he deserves to be. Which would you prefer?
I won't even try to defend Michael Moore. I hate the guy too.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

2sheds, would you prefer we take the guy seriously? By saying things like "he says stupid stuff", we are making it known that we don't intend on getting all bothered by him, and HE IS AN IDIOT, or a glorified version of David Duke. If a person had made the same comments he has made about Native Americans and their genocide, but substituted Jews for Indians, he'd be off the air immediately. But by laughing it off and calling him a moron, people choose to make light of it rather than get truly pissed off and try to make him the pariah he deserves to be. Which would you prefer?
I won't even try to defend Michael Moore. I hate the guy too.

Well I guess people can think whatever they want about him in order to keep their sanity. :lol: Personally, I would find it hard, on a logical level, to call the man with the largest radio audience in history, who inked a deal for $250,000,000, and who is a political fixture in the country, an "idiot". That would suppose that all those millions every day listening to him are also idiots, no? The left is so bothered by the guy that they've launched Air America - which apparently is staffed by idiots, because the network loses money every day (it's a leftist charity case), has no audience, and is a classic example of supply exceeding demand.

I didn't find his Native American comments outrageous or even factually incorrect. Sure, they're a bit boorish - but the guy is an entertainer who's "shtick" is to eschew emotional appeals and stick to facts. As a result, he comes off as a bit of a prick at times. IMHO, he's far to popular and successful to simply be dismissed as an idiot.

[gaijinsamurai]

So, you don't think Native Americans have any legitimate complaints?