Doug's Darkworld

I’m not normally one to celebrate someone’s death, but there are the rare cases where I will make an exception. Rush Limbaugh is one of those cases. Hell, the first case, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so unconflicted happy that someone died. This was a man who devoted his life to persuading Americans to blindly hate their fellow Americans for no other reason than differences of opinion. More than anyone else Rush created the divided America we live in today where a third of Americans fear and hate anyone who doesn’t think in lockstep with them. When I was younger Republicans and Democrats disagreed, but generally got along fine outside of politics. Name calling and accusing the other of wanting to destroy America was in the fringe, not mainstream. This is a guy who said (paraphrased) we should keep two liberals alive in every town on display so people can see what they were. If that’s not mindless hatred, I don’t know what is.

Rush also normalized name-calling as a mainstream thing. Referring to people one disagrees with as ‘libtards’ or ‘feminazis’ isn’t political disagreement or debate, it’s dehumanizing one’s political opponents so that their viewpoints don’t have to be considered, let alone discussed. Name calling is just one of the many false arguments and logical fallacies Rush normalized. People say, why not just listen to what he has to say! I did, on a number of occasions. A third of what he said was just insults and name calling. A third was just lies. (Another truly special form of false argument.) And the last third was just false arguments strung together. They sound terribly convincing to people who agree with his conclusions, but aren’t actually logical arguments at all.

Just one example from when I listened to him. Rush claimed that a study showed that if California adopted health care for all, it would cost more than the state’s entire existing budget. Right, let’s think about this. Every other developed nation on Earth has universal health care, at far less cost than Americans pay, but California, far richer than pretty much all of them, can’t possibly afford it? Safe to say that this “study” was conducted by America’s corporate “profit off of sick people” health care disaster. And Rush was carrying water for them. Yeah, he cared about Americans. Snort.

Rush was not a conservative either. Or more accurately, he changed the definition of conservative into “someone who hates and fears anyone who isn’t a conservative.” Eisenhower would have been appalled. Hell, even Reagan would likely have been appalled. Hating other Americans is neither conservative nor Christian, but Rush worked very hard to change the definition of conservative into hate-mongering, false argument spewing fools. Good job Rush, tearing a country in two is a real accomplishment.

And then Covid came along. I always wondered if Rush’s schtick was just an act, and he was laughing all the way to the bank. Then America faced the worst crisis of his life, one that cried out for an apolitical science and reason cased response. What did he say? “Yeah, I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.” And millions of his followers believed him, and all the other BS about Covid being some sort of Democratic hoax to make Trump look bad. And hundreds of thousands of people who could have lived are dead as a result. Good going Rush, like Trump, you could have helped lead America and the world in the fight against Covid. You chose ignorance and partisanship instead.

And Trump gave Rush a Medal of Freedom. That Trump gave it to him, and he accepted it pretty much sums both of them up. I was hoping that maybe when Rush was diagnosed with fatal cancer he might change his tune. People can change. Carnegie was a rat bastard all his life, but in his old age he spent nearly a trillion dollars in today’s money on public works. Rush didn’t ever change. If there’s a heaven and a hell, I know where Rush is going. Jesus and so many others told us to love our neighbor, not hate and fear him.

I dunno, kind of a negative post. I think humans all need to work together, we are all in the same boat. I just think that those who devote their life to demonizing other humans are part of the problem, not part of the solution. I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument to the contrary. Maybe Rush’s death heralds the end of an era, the one man who really took up his mantle (a certain former president) may also be on a downward spiral. Hate isn’t going to fix America, it’s time to move on. Yeah, I’m an optimist.

My father still lives. Spring is around the corner. Life goes on. Stay safe and warm everyone. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #FelesRegula

Copyright © 2021 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: Public Domain image.)