The voice of right-wing radio is dead. Rush Limbaugh. Love him or hate him, he’s gone. But I’ve got a bone to pick with those spouting hate online in regard to his death. I’ve seen plenty of “Glad he’s dead,” comments and that rubs me the wrong way. I don’t wish death on anyone, and like most other fellow humans he had family and friends who are certainly hurting. And cancer ain’t no joke. It’s a miserable way to go. Most of us know this all too well. Claiming to be glad he’s death does nothing more than deepen the divide between us. (Yes I know Rush worked very hard at deepening this very same divide.)
Was I a fan of Rush? No, not at all. He did massive damage to our culture and society not to mention our political world, but what I can’t discredit is what he was able to pull off in his broadcasting life. Many of the people celebrating his death are the same full-of-shit, online, social media-addicted phonies living lives in pursuit of what Rush had; an empire. Rush, by my best guess, made hundreds of millions as a broadcaster. He didn’t invent right-wing radio but he certainly brought it to the masses in a way that nobody else had. And remember, he made the Coolaid but he didn’t force people to drink it. We did that all by ourselves and are continuing to do so even after his death. Throw in Hannity, Beck, and that super smooth, sexy, tanned love beast Steven Bannon and this style of mudslinging ain’t going anywhere.
I watched Rush destroy my father, someone who started out as a “normal” policy based Republican but thanks to Rush became and isolated, angry, prone-to-conspiracy man who allowed Rush and those like him to begin to override his independence and decision making ability. Cultish, god-like, sure. All the above.
Rush was very good at what he did. So, you have a million subscribers on YouTube? You ain’t shit. Rush had seventy-five million people in the palm of his hand. Pushing, pulling, and lighting a fire under their ass. He lost people like you in the couch every day. Know it.
Even his cut to commercial break was magical to listen to. This was propaganda at its best. With seconds to go Rush would be talking about something remotely possible or remotely truthful, but right before the break, he would mention something so impossible, so improbable, so outlandish it would freeze his listeners in their tracks. “Well, people are talking about Barack HUSSEIN Obama having a baby out of wedlock with the wife of Osama bin Laden. “Wow, people are talking, okay let’s go to break.”
This accomplished several things. First, repeat a falsehood of Obama being a Muslim, non-American, and question his birthplace once again. Second, play off the anti-Muslim community who was very much a part of his audience. But most importantly, it primed the audience with rage for two minutes of a commercial break. Agitated people BUY more than happy people and they also have more reliance on corporations, media, and companies. This was Rush making money. Making his sponsors sing. But it also brought the audience back with their mind on the outskirts of reality, reason, truth, and decency. Now Rush could introduce an idea that ran closer to the mainstream but could lace it with radical partisan nonsense that the audience was now ready to consume. They were ready to lick the plate.
I watched this happen to my father again and again. Take Rush and his buds away from the mic and their conversations would be very, very different. Did he and his colleagues believe what they were saying on air. No chance. Not even close. A business, a charade, a pillaging of people ready to be pillaged. And he did it as well as anyone I’ve ever seen or heard.
So don’t celebrate his death, especially online. It isn’t becoming. Instead, learn. Learn from his mastery and use that to your advantage. Use it to pioneer truth, justice, and the American way. (Or whatever country way you have.) You have almost no chance of doing what he did but at least now you know where the bar is set. Save the hate for the storm. It might just keep you warm.
Comments 17
Have you heard about the Australia-Farcebook debacle over there yet? Can’t believe people are so upset about it here, but it just goes to show how much people have given their lives over to it. Can only hope it will lead to the awakening of the zombies, but I doubt it. The populace is too invested, the. The grip is solid and as much as I hope the Gvt here would just ban them completely it wouldn’t be long before another popped up in its place.
The sheeple be led…..
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Pasquale,
Yes, I heard. It speaks to power and addiction. FB addicted the population. Step one. Now they flaunt their power. Governments are nearly helpless because people have willingly given their lives to the platform.
Well said! Don’t hate. Instead, learn. Thanks for the reminder…I need to implement this more, especially when I get worked up 🙂
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Savannah,
We all do it. I’m guilty as well. But, if we are going to better the world we can’t keep doing it.
I haven’t celebrated it, but I’m not bothered by people who have. According to Snopes, Limbaugh had an AIDS Update feature for a while that mocked gays dying of AIDS. – https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rush-limbaugh-mock-aids-gays/
“This is true. While we have not uncovered any audio of these segments, we did find a few contemporaneous news articles and comments from Limbaugh confirming the contents of these controversial segments.
Iowa’s Cedar Gazette reported in 1990 that Limbaugh’s “AIDS Update,” a recurring segment in which he made jokes about a disease that had killed more than 100,000 people in the United States the previous decade, started by playing songs such as “Back in the Saddle Again,” “Kiss Him Goodbye,” “I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” and “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.”
The “Aids Update” segment was short-lived. According to The New York Times, it ended after a few weeks. Limbaugh would call the segment one of “most regretful things I’ve ever done” because it was “making fun of people who were dying long, painful and excruciating deaths.”
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/16/magazine/the-rush-hours.html
Limbaugh, who does not enjoy contretemps, has cut some of his material, especially on homosexuals. He says he was tired of the “harassment” and also feeling a greater responsibility as his audience grows. He killed a running bit on AIDS after two weeks. “It’s the single most regretful thing I’ve ever done,” he says, “because it ended up making fun of people who were dying long, painful and excruciating deaths, when they were not the target. It was a totally irresponsible thing to do.”
I’m sure fans of his have arguments claiming that it wasn’t intention to make fun of dying gays. Right. He made a fortune making life more difficult for a lot of people. Terrible way to build an empire. I disagree about the bar he set. He set it about as low as you can go.
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Scott,
Two bars, For decency, civility, sure…as low as they go. For a media/communication empire, as high as it gets. Only one who seems to be remotely in the area is Joe Rogan.
Every time I open Twitter I promise myself I’ll dunk my head in a barrel of acid before I ever make that mistake again. I think Twitter is a gazillion times worse than IG, save for its utility with respect to highlighting police brutality. Unfortunately I’m a liar, and I opened it tonight to see what was going on in Matt Taibbi’s world. I think he’s a fantastic journalist, but I also think his writing has a cruel, vindictive streak (I hastily add that everything online these days has a cruel vindictive streak to it). He wrote some things about Rush very much along the lines of what you wrote in your post. I do understand what you’re both pointing out. Talking about someone’s impact, success, and influence doesn’t mean he’s the first person on your Thanksgiving dinner invite list. I couldn’t stand Rush Limbaugh. I think he was rotten and mean, doing and saying whatever it took to get that country club life and the ability to score boutique opiates while trying to bury addicts of lesser means. I think he knew he could get that extra few million by stirring up racial divides. But you’re right, he was very very good at what he did.
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Scott,
I didn’t like him either. Not at all. He lied for a living and did so purposefully to control a destructive political narrative. But he did it REALLY well. He literally had half the country at his mercy.
the guru of fake news…saw my brother in law drink the Rush snapple…it was sad to watch how easily he was duped…
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Chuck,
Sure. I’ve lost a lot of friends and some family down that road. Always painful to watch, especially when it was destroying their lives.
“So don’t celebrate his death, especially online. It isn’t becoming. Instead, learn. Learn from his mastery and use that to your advantage. Use it to pioneer truth, justice, and the American way. (Or whatever country way you have.) You have almost no chance of doing what he did but at least now you know where the bar is set. Save the hate for the storm. It might just keep you warm.”
So true, DM; So true.
Author
David,
Time for Texas to rally.
More truth speaking. A horror show down there and their Senator basically says “Let em eat cake.”. At the same time their almost Senator is phone banking and working at food pantries. It’s a stark contrast
I’ve always thought Cancer was the great equalizer. It came regardless of whether or not you deserved it. It is a cruel karmic equalizer. It hits the good and the bad without hesitation or moral consideration. This time it hit Rush. Next time it could be me.
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Jim,
Brutal. I’ve lost family and friends with no end in sight.
found a Hemingway quote that seems appropriate:
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”
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Jim,
Man, that is so fantastic in so many ways. I wish I had come up with that one.