by Patrick H. Moore
Ted Nugent loves to sound off and tear in to people and causes. In fact , that’s probably what he’s best at — although he may arguably be a good rock and roll musician — or at least was in his prime. On Wednesday, Ted tore into Stevie Wonder based on Stevie’s statement that he was going to boycott Florida and would not play any concerts there because of the George Zimmerman acquittal.
Ted keeps his ears and eyes open and like so many other extreme conservatives, he is willing to engage ina classic “red herring” argument in order to deflect the attention away from the Zimmerman verdict and onto the “black-on-black” violence that plagues America’s inner cities. A “red herring” argument is simply changing the subject to take peoples’ minds off the question at hand and deflect their attention onto something else.
On Wednesday, July 24th, Nugent stated:
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. So 700 black people, mostly children, young people, were slaughtered in Chicago last year, by black people, and not a peep out of Stevie Wonder. Are you kidding me? What is this, ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’?”
“How braindead do you have to be? How strangled by denial? How dishonest? How cheap do you have to be, to focus on a clearcut case, where all the evidence — from the DOJ, from the FBI, from the entire army of investigative specialists in Florida — determined that George Zimmerman acted in self-defense against the life-threatening attack by hoodlum, dope-smoking Trayvon Martin. And you’re gonna focus on that clear and universally accepted act of self-defense, but ignore the black-on-black slaughter that’s happening every day in this country.”
During his tirade, Nugent hurled nuggets at Wonder including “Braindead,” “Numbnuts,” and “Soulless”.
He also stated that he would pray for the “Superstition” and “Just Enough for the City” singer — before going back to lambasting him.
“I will pray for Stevie Wonder and all these other numbnuts who think that Trayvon Martin’s life is more important than the tens of thousands of slaughtered blacks at the hands of blacks? I don’t even know what to do with that information .. What a soulful man Stevie Wonder once was. How do do you go from being one of the most soulful people in the world, to being absolutely soulless?”
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I’m not certain that Stevie Wonder’s decision to boycott Florida because of the Zimmerman verdict is necessarily the best way to voice his displeasure with the verdict. It could be argued that Florida — beset as it is with an endless array of problems — could use all the good music it can get to takes its collective mind temporarily off its problems, and as we all know, Stevie Wonder is one of our truly great musicians.
What I am sure is that Ted Nugent in this most recent quasi-hysterical rant “makes fast and loose” with the facts. To the best of my knowledge, the DOJ has not determined “that George Zimmerman acted in self-defense against the life-threatening attack by hoodlum, dope-smoking Trayvon Martin.” In fact, if I’m not mistaken, the DOJ is still investigating the possibility of bringing civil rights charges against Zimmerman. As for “the entire army of investigative specialists in Florida,” I’m not exactly sure who Nugent is referring too.
Resorting to hyperbole and logical fallacies is not necessarily the best way to get one’s point across. But, it’s certainly Terrible Ted’s way as is exemplified in a recent quote on gun control served up by the Tedmeister:
“Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst gun control, you have the highest crime rate.”
Click here to view related George Zimmerman trial posts:
George Zimmerman Defense Attorneys Mark O’Mara and Don West Are Tragic Figures
Juror B37′s Book Deal Is Withdrawn: Power to the Twitter People
George Zimmerman Post-Verdict: Rachel Jeantel Interview Hits Hard, Very Hard
George Zimmerman Trial: The Great Beast of Polarization
George Zimmerman Escaped Conviction Based on Florida Self-Defense Law
George Zimmerman Trial: Prosecution Hits Hard in Dramatic Closing Argument
George Zimmerman Defense Team Turns Up the Heat
George Zimmerman Was Transformed by Shooting and Killing Trayvon Martin
George Zimmerman’s Defense Team Grills Trayvon Martin’s Mother
George “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Zimmerman Had a History of Violence
Why the Case Against George Zimmerman Is Strong Enough for a Conviction
George Zimmerman Unlikely to Be Convicted of 2nd-Degree Murder
George Zimmerman Trial: John Good’s Testimony Is “Good News” for Zimmerman
George Zimmerman Trial: Key State Witness Rachel Jeantel Goes Toe-to-Toe with Zimmerman Defense Team
George Zimmerman Was on a Dangerous Drug Cocktail at Time of Trayvon Martin’s Shooting Death
George Zimmerman Trial: Trayvon Martin Death Photos Dominate Day 12
Sanford, FL Has a History of Brutal Racial Oppression