I admit that I don't actually listen to him any more and that's been true for many, many years. I simply can't trust myself in the presence of so much evil, so much hatred of the kind of America I hope for, but at the bottom of it, I can't stand to hear some sinister thing that the law requires us to treat as a human being and citizen, so incapable of reason, so bereft of any human feelings and so unable to feel any kind of shame, so full of hate.
But as I say, his followers can listen to him demanding harsh treatment - even death - for drug users while knowing he's a long time abuser of opiates who has had his employees risk their freedom by buying drugs for him. His hangers on can quote his self contradictions without pause and will smile and nod when he wishes disaster on our country if disaster is what it takes to promote Republicans and destroy any Democratic president. Who but Rush, after all, can call Obama an ineffectual "empty suit" and a tyrannical demagogue at the same time; tell us he was born in Kenya and Indonesia simultaneously and not instantly be dismissed as casually as one flushes a toilet.
Certainly not Limbaugh's ignorant army. They surely applauded his latest verbal atrocity; telling us how that evil Obama sent troops to Africa to help kill Christians: The Lord’s Resistance Army. They certainly aren't going to notice or care or believe that the LRA are a genocidal terrorist group who has murdered, raped, kidnapped and terrorized tens of thousands over many years. They've killed some Muslims, you see and that makes them Christian Soldiers, marching as to war.
They aren't going to be shocked at the way Limbaugh assembles scraps of misunderstood or non-existent or invented stories without any concern for truth or decency or patriotism or anything but the potential to destroy Barack Obama. No, not as long as he keeps up the endless supply of nasty little lies they can tell their friends over a beer and at the barber shop where Fox plays on the TV, where the stupid go to get their wisdom confirmed and hate is in the air.
"Hey didja hear how Rush called Oh-BAH-ma an empty suit? He sure got that right!"
I think S.W. may have meant to comment here rather than on the Cain post. Anyhow, I suppose we risk losing either way -- if you comment, it's good for their business model, so to speak; if you don't, they propagate filth and lies absolutely unchallenged, and don't get the mockery they richly deserve. I'd say it's up to people to do as they like, in such circumstances.
ReplyDeleteBut I know the model you're talking about -- there was some to-do a while back about internet business types actually soliciting outraged "he done me wrong" reviews from upset customers because bad press generates just as many or more visits to one's site as good press. It's all about the "hits," not the nature of the comments. On that model, you could defraud your customers and then show up at their home and beat them with a stick, and their anguished public report would only make you even more money. I heard that the guy who pioneered this model ended up in the pokey, though, so maybe there's hope in the universe after all.
For the most part, I have been a devotee of the SWA School of Ignore the Shitheads - meaning ignore Limbo, Counter Coulter, and Always Balkin' Malkin, among others. Sometimes, I came out and fired off missiles where I thought it might do some good ... such as the anti-Beck-boycott-Fox-News letters which pre-dated Beck's eventual dismissal by about 3 months. That was worthwhile and gave me great satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe one other, but I don't want to call attention to this already over-inflated egotistical gasbag (hint: rhymes with take a "dump").
Well, guess whose face is red. I apologize for getting the blasted comment under the wrong post. It might have something to do with the fact that I spent a couple of hours in a dentist's chair yesterday. Or, maybe it was just my day to be off my game.
ReplyDeletebloggingdino, it is up to individuals to do what they think is best when it comes to commenting on Limbaugh and the rest of that rotten lot. I didn't mean to tell anyone what or what not to do, just to point out that there's a good reason to think twice before tearing into Mr. Bouncy Bouncy.
Things seem to be getting better on this score, so maybe more on the left have come to the conclusion I did. Used to be that if I visited 10 blogs in an evening, I could count on six of them having a post blasting Limbaugh, O'Reilly or some other pompous windbag.
Octopus, I think it's interesting how CNN and Fox both spent a bundle on Beck, only to have to show him the door. I'd like to think the decision to hire him was a career ender for at least one decision maker at each network, but I doubt it.
"I once thought ignoring would make them go away, but the result is that they don't go away and the longer they stay, the more their lies become truth.
ReplyDeletethe Book Square One by Arnold Forster, about the Anti-Defamation League I think presents a good argument for strenuous and continuous opposition. In the end is there any difference between ignoring lies and affirming them?
Capt. Fogg, I could argue the matter with some good points either way. You probably could as well. I think there's a difference between ignoring and affirming them, but admit it's nuanced and hard to define. It's a matter of playing it by ear and choosing when they've gone too far.
ReplyDeleteI do think that when criticism of wastes of human flesh like Limbaugh is constant, people eventually treat it like static and ignore it. Some know he's bad and feel the point was made a long time ago. Some like to listen to him precisely because he's bad. Others don't care one way of the other.
SWA,
ReplyDelete... and some people listen to him for the adrenaline rush (no pun intended). Believe it or not, one person told me that he listens to RL, not because he likes him, but because RL puts him in a more aggressive mood (and ready for battle) on the way to the office in the morning.
I don't need Rush to arouse my aggressive instincts. Any Starbucks (or troll) will do just fine.
I know about being an adrenaline addict, believe me, but what a sick way to get that Rush (pun intended)
ReplyDeleteI watched a PBS documentary last night, with Harry Belafonte, about his experiences with the civil rights movement and about how little has changed and how apathetic we've become and got all the adrenaline I needed. Went outside and sharpened my machete.