It just doesn't get any worse than this

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/22026


It just doesn't get any worse than this
by Dennis Rahkonen | May 28, 2009


I'm stopped at a red light when a decrepit old Chevrolet pickup with its windows rolled down pulls into the adjacent lane.

Its radio is bleating Rush Limbaugh, and the rear bumper bears a sticker that reads, "My wife, yes. My dog, maybe. My gun, NEVER!"

The driver looks disheveled and haggard, making it very easy to surmise that here's the perfect example of an American totally screwed over by capitalism run greedily amok, decisively abetted by conservative ideology.

He's probably unemployed, has no medical insurance, no pension prospects, and is likely facing having sheriff's deputies put his family's belongings out on the sidewalk, following a heartbreaking eviction.

But he's got that radio tuned to right-wing propaganda, and he's so completely brainwashed that he thinks his greatest worry is gays getting married!

He's undoubtedly convinced that the "Democrat Socialist Party" is ruining his life -- not to mention his beloved country -- and that liberals are the reason his wallet has thinned to nothing but pictures of his gaunt spouse and sickly, skinny kids.

Meanwhile, Limbaugh and other well-compensated voices of radio or television reaction, live in luxury, exceeded in ill-gotten wealth only by the corporate Fat Cats who hire them to keep the masses from angrily identifying their true enemy.

more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/22026

[sakabatou]

1. Propaganda... it can ruin lives

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. That's a conservative statement - propaganda is ruining the WORLD

.
.
.

At the hands of the propaganda experts

USA inc.

[sakabatou]

6. OK so it tuins over 6 billion lives

[Joanne98]

2. It's sad actually. When will they ever figure out they have been duped?

[The Doctor.]

4. When they stop listening to The Fat One.

But he tells them how smart they are, and since that's the only place most of them receive validation, it's unlikely they'll ever wake up.

[rhett o rick]

9. Important question. The answer is of course NEVER.

We must learn to work around the idiots. Their reality completely relies on their believing Faux Noise. They can't handle the truth.

In the land of gullible chuckle-heads, Democracy is a very dangerous thing.

[marmar]

3. Good grief.....

..... and they dragged Obama over hot coals for the "clinging to religion and guns" comment. Looks like he wasn't far off the mark.

[LibDemAlways]

7. A few years ago I worked in part-time in an insurance office.

The two underwriters were a pair of Bush loving morons who listened to Rush in the AM and Hannity in the PM. I'll never forget one exceptionally cold winter day when one of the morons declared, "Can you believe some people actually are brainwashed into thinking there's such a thing as global warning. It's ass-freezing cold outside!"

I quit shortly thereafter. The stupidity of dumbshits like those two knows no bounds.

[liberal N proud]

8. Can you say Baaaah

[HowHasItComeToThis]

10. BEAUTIFUL ANALYSIS

[BirminghamExaminer]

11. This reminds me of another story....

My sister worked at K-Mart in the 80s. A grizzled sweaty unkempt man came into the department where she worked. He was wearing a dirty muscle shirt and his beer belly hung down over his belt. He was missing teeth. But he had a hat on that read, "Life's too short to dance with ugly women."

That guy will forever represent Limbaugh and Beck listeners in my mind.

[babylonsister]

12. That is perfect. He didn't have a clue either, I'm sure. nt

[DCKit]

15. Ahh, the kind of guy who thinks all the 'mos are after his sweet ass.

Ohhhhhh, BABY!!!!!

[ThirdWorldJohn]

13. Yea but he's got Jesus on his side brother!!!

[tomreedtoon]

14. Isn't it fun to turn lots of people into cliches?

Yes, there are some people who are like the cliches mentioned in the article. And people on liberal sites enjoy turning them into cliches, thinking this is vengeance against their being turned into cliches by Limbaugh.

In the meantime, those poor broke lied-to people get trampled under.

I actually know people like this. But they are still people. I still have enough heart, and I'm not doctrinaire enough, to turn them into whack-a-moles.

[Merlot]

16. This is happening to people of any political party:

"He's probably unemployed, has no medical insurance, no pension prospects, and is likely facing having sheriff's deputies put his family's belongings out on the sidewalk, following a heartbreaking eviction."

They're all people. Maybe this person has misplaced ideals, but I don't think we should put this perons down for holding onto their beiiefs. It's the rich people who know what they say is wrong/unture who are the problem (ahem...rush).

[Mopar151]

17. Absolutely!

Some friends of mine - nice, well to do, educated - are O'Rielly victims. We deal with some pretty involved issues at times (motorsports club), and we often have to stop and untangle the web of spin logic surrounding things like legal liability. We are about to run a special biofuel class at one of our events, and apparently Billo has gone off on that lately, cuz it took about 15 minutes to iron out some very tortured issues about discrimination against diesel fuel??????

[AllentownJake]

22. At Mayfair last weekend

I saw a man wearing a Tie Dye shirt, tight bicycle pants, hippie style hiking boots, waving a flag with the planet earth on it.

I turned to my friend and said when a conservative hears liberal...that is who he is thinking of.

[Syntheto]

18. Can we stop with the "Redneck" stereotype?

It gets a little old. It's always a White guy. The only thing you left out was that he was heterosexual, although a rapist and wife-beater, daughter fucker and so on. When my Dad moved from Tennessee to Chicago in the 50's there was the hillbilly prejudice; that's what they called it then. The view that only this type of person holds conservative views is simplistic and just creates a straw man. I know plenty of people like that who think Bush colluded with Mossad, the CIA, Piggly-Wiggly stores and Santa Claus to blow up the Twin Towers and listen to Rush Limbaugh faithfully every day so that they can scream abuse at their radio, much like some of these college-educated, Bachelor of Basket
Weaving types that post. Throw a straw man up if you must, but can we please lay off the stereotypes?

[GMOs are DEADLY]

24. Thanks for this.

Not just sick of it but makes me worry about a left that can't see the people for the name calling. "Indigenous" people elsewhere are great and interesting and have things to teach us, but a guy from a small town in Tennessee who drinks beer and drives a pickup and listens to talk radio is a threat. Never mind he uses the truck to help his father and drinks that beer with good friends and has never harmed a soul and is scared of the government since it's controlled by corporations and everything that pass congress these days gives them more crushing power over the little guy and money elsewhere.

Why in heck did anyone go along with Smart Grid, by the way? Why were progressives pushing it since it is total data mining and tracking of everyone's movements as well and couldn't be more totalitarian? The right is scared to death of that sort of thing and they have got it right.

[quickesst]

19. I think the author...

...of the article is lying. I don't believe the encounter ever happened simply because it's just too pat for making his point. A guy in an old pick-up truck that just happens to be displaying every fucking stereotype attributed to the rural poor by "enlightened" progressives? If it sounds like bullshit, it probably is.

" He's probably unemployed, has no medical insurance, no pension prospects, and is likely facing having sheriff's deputies put his family's belongings out on the sidewalk, following a heartbreaking eviction."

Let's not forget the author's amazing ability as a fortune-telling psychic, but if it gives the author a sense of superiority over the poor, it's worth lying about. I'll say it one more time. In this case, with this author, I think they are lying their fucking ass off for ego-driven kudos from gullible lefty types that believe stereotyping is another form of stark truth. My opinion. Thanks.
quickesst

[Mopar151]

20. Did'nt Howard Dean say we needed to reach out?

To guys with the Stars 'n Bars in the window of their truck? And did'nt a bunch of haughty elitists dump all over him for it?
And, come to think of it, poor children in America are usually fat from lousy nutrition - starvation is generally voluntary (anorexia) - I think the whole thing is a "work"

[GMOs are DEADLY]

21. How many conservatives you know personally?

The post was one assumption about them after another, mostly treating them as idiots.

The ones I know believe the war was for oil, that they got had, hate Bush, and most didn't vote for McCain. They see Obama as going back on everything he said, including promising to rewrite NAFTA. They see the stimulus package as creating debt at a now insane rate and not doing anything that would lower it. They detest that it includes medical controls and data mining and think Smart Grid is socialist (a misnomer but their word for fascist). They think the government is absolutely corrupted by corporations to the point that their indistinguishable. They believe deeply in the constitution and see it being shot to hell. They see the constitution shredded by Homeland Security measures which allow for martial law and taking over farms (theirs), which is why they talk about their guns, as a means to say they see everything being taken illegally and they count on the constitution as supporting their right to defend their homes and lives, not a threat to others. They think the Wall Street thieves who have ruined us should go to prison, and they think we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and spend that money on looking after people here. They think "looking after" people shouldn't include imposing costly and intrusive regulations on them that fit corporations but ruin small businesses and their chance to rebuild their communities. They object to government controls over their personal lives and think it's more and more out of control. Such as: a bill saying new mothers must take a psychology test and if they don't pass the choice is the state will take their babies away or else they are get put on psychiatric drugs. Such as: forced vaccinations. Such as: a judge in Minnesota ordering a family to give their son chemotherapy. Such as: a bill to let the government control ALL water in the country, including rainwater on their land or their well or their pond. They are good to their friends and caring toward their families and want to lead their own lives in peace.

Meanwhile, they know more about what is happening that could destroy all of us than most progressives I know. They know what Codex is and have been worried about it happening. They know the FDA and USDA are utterly corrupt and doing all they can to keep real food from us and cut us off from health so we end up buying lousy food and getting sick and needing drugs and never getting well. They knew the economy was collapsing long before pundits ever mentioned it. They didn't have to think 'we should grow a garden,' because they know how to grow things and raise animals and they have that to fall back on, as well as on closeness to family and church and communities. They also know how to build houses and fix cars and put in plumbing and do electrical things and yet aren't considered smart. They see day to day what corporations and government are doing here to have control over us while are surprised at how much liberals don't see and accept. They do what they can to live "off the grid" - their own power, their own water, their own food, their lives as private as possible, and see things tightening as there is more and more government/corporate invasion of their personal lives.

When do we get it that it is people v corporations? So long as we can't recognize the commonality in conservative everyman and treat him with respect, we can't beat the real threats. Yes, he's been screwed but condescending to him doesn't help you work with him. At least, as someone screwed, he looks to himself and his friends and family to manage and with their skills, they can. Can we? If we lose jobs, what do we eat? What family are people close to? What community that is experienced in surviving hard times with skills in growing things and in building things? Without groceries and repair people and technology and money to pay for them, where are we?

When do we stop attacking people we don't even know? How are "better than thou" assumptions different from class bias or racism and if they are not really different, when did they become okay and why are they so prevalent right now? Because we want what we want politically and see conservatives as obstacles? But are conservative working people responsible for what conservative representatives are saying or doing in congress anymore then we are responsible for 'liberal" ones who have betrayed us?

Time to drop the attacks on other people and listen to them, including their fears for themselves and their own needs, and see how much they can teach us.

[AllentownJake]

23. The average Rush Limbaugh listener

Is in middle management or sales, is white and male, has a wife and around two kids is also probably college educated. Makes between 40,000 to 100,000 a year. They drive SUVs or mid-size sedans. They own guns, half of them though aren't that proficient with them.

They live in the suburbs, they have a deep fear of the inner city that their suburb surrounds.

They are the people that make a good living servicing the corporate fat cats.

The reason why Rush has taken the tone he has is he doesn't want to lose them, because they are losing their jobs and they are angry. The people above them have realized they are no longer useful.

How do I know this, My Dad was one of them.

The average Rush listener is not the poor guy in the pick-up truck. If the story is true that guy is an anomaly