Rush Limbaugh: Icon of Anti-Morality

[BigBearJohn]

Limbaugh has been plowing the field of moral outrage for decades, but unlike Billy Sunday and the other hot-headed radio preachers who cashed in on social resentment in the Great Depression, Limbaugh threw out God. With no religious tradition to anchor himself, he can swing wider. Anything Limbaugh judges against is condemned, not by scripture, but simply by him being pissed off. Whatever Limbaugh hates -- however petty, personal, and arbitrary his animus -- is ipso facto wrong.

This represents a huge social shift in American values. Before the Eighties there were a handful of right-wing outlets on the air; now there are well over a thousand. They exist purely as steam vents. The common citizen gets to be pissed off by the millions, unrelentingly, without cease or solution, and in return, he is praised. To be outraged is to be morally superior.

The Limbaugh effect fueled the anti-morality of the Bush years. Under ordinary morality, the wretched plight of illegal immigrants, for example, must be considered along with the fact that they are breaking the law. Being poor, illiterate, and desperate, their human condition makes them more sympathetic than ruthless lawbreakers would be. But under anti-morality, if you hate immigrants because they are foreigners who don't look American enough, the argument is over. Your anger strips away tolerance, sympathy, and regard for "the other." Hence the almost imperial bearing of Limbaugh, the bland certainty that because he never stops being angry, he never stops being right.

The same goes for a wide range of "others" who mightily tick off Limbaugh's listeners: Muslims, feminists, people of color, gays, and environmentalists. There's no need to understand them or try and accommodate their views. Just put them through the wringer of Limbaugh's perpetual judgment and, poof, there's no problem anymore. Of course, the whole scheme is delusional. Problems aren't solved by remaining perpetually ticked off. Accords can't be reached when you demonize the other side.

By any sane account, Rush Limbaugh is dead weight when it comes to finding a solution to anything. Like Sarah Palin, his spiritual bride, he lurks in the shadow of the human psyche, expressing the dark anger, resentment, jealousy, and vindictiveness that society can never escape. And yet, the next time you tune into Limbaugh's censorious circus of insensitive scurrility, give him a kind thought. As far back as Mark Twain, the American character has been ornery. We secretly love rascals, bank robbers, tricksters, swindlers, hell raisers, and outlaws. And when we feel so inclined, we laugh at them. Rush Limbaugh may represent a toxic form of entertainment -- and the bile he spews bears no resemblance to true morality -- but the fact that America makes room for him is something to be proud of. I don't pray that he goes away. I pray that we can keep laughing, even if our grin is crooked, at the pranks of the eternal shadow who is our companion for life, whether we want him or not.

SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/rush-limbaugh-icon-of-ant_b_172900.html

[KharmaTrain]

1. The Voice Of The Southern Strategy...

The "moral" charade rushbo and his rushpublicans have played for the past 40 years was a smoke screen. It veiled the real bond that drew millions to believe the GOOP was the party of "responsibility" and strength and made possible the 30 years of raygunomics and politican and economic ruin. It was based on the 1968 Southern Strategy...uniting all the factions that rejected social progress and change along with those who rejected the New Deal and economic progress. Rushbo was the voice of this rejectionism. It blamed all problems at "libruls" and Democrats and could always resonate since the Democrats either controlled the Congress or the White House and made easy targets.

This all changed with 6 years of total rushpublican rule. And this was before the financial implosion. People started to get wise to the lies and hypocrisies of the GOOP...leading us to wars and political polarization. It's like this country has come through 8 very "forgotten years" and the voices that once encouraged people to walk into the darkness are now having the light shone upon them and their real motives.

Rushbo never offered solutions, only problems. His game was to create outrage...not find answers.

Kudos on a very fine post...

Cheers...

[AndyA]

2. Limbaugh?

The divorced, illegal drug carrying, child-sex seeking, grossly overweight, wardrobe challenged, closeted hypocrite radio "personality"?

That Limbaugh?

[DemoTex]

3. William Faulkner described Limbaugh before his time.

When you have plenty of good strong hating you don't need hope because the hating will be enough to nourish you.

William Faulkner in Absalom, Absalom!