The Republican Utopia

[funhusker]

11 hours ago, Archy1221 said:

He helped bring conservative thought and policies into the mainstream of America which helps America. 

I get that.

 

But can you admit that along with the conservative thought he made his listeners resent liberal thoughts and discount anyone who holds them as damaged and not worthy of honest discussion?

 

This isn’t only a conservative talk radio problem.  Even Rachel Maddow makes a killing making the GOP look scary and stupid.  The Tweet I referenced credited Rush with starting this type of media.  Cable news then ran with it.

 

Is Rachel Maddow and far left shock jocks also good for American politics?  I’m really surprised this is even a conversation we’re having.

 

I thought it was pretty much agreed by all here that obviously biased media that feeds on the emotions of listeners/viewers isn’t a good thing.

[Archy1221]

47 minutes ago, funhusker said:

 

But can you admit that along with the conservative thought he made his listeners resent liberal thoughts

Ya that’s a valid point.  It was an us vs them type attitude he portrayed.  

[DevoHusker]

Only those susceptible to being influenced. Like I said, I listened to him on my lunch...not everyday obviously...for years. He didn't influence me to change my moderate views or hate any person or group. I often laughed at his pov or comments. Blaming Rush for far right wing folks being incendiary is pretty weak, imo. 

[funhusker]

2 hours ago, DevoHusker said:

Only those susceptible to being influenced. Like I said, I listened to him on my lunch...not everyday obviously...for years. He didn't influence me to change my moderate views or hate any person or group. I often laughed at his pov or comments. Blaming Rush for far right wing folks being incendiary is pretty weak, imo. 

1st bold: Unfortunately this is not an inconsequential amount of people...

 

2nd bold: if Rush didn't have much of an effect on most conservatives, why is he getting so much credit for having so much of an effect on the spreading of conservative thought?

 

At best, Rush added no real affect to political conversations in America because people are smart enough to know it was all just "schtick".

 

At worst, he created an atmosphere of polarization in his listeners.

 

At best, his death was inconsequential and I couldn't care less.

 

At worst, I'm glad he's gone.  

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I guess I listened to Rush a fair amount in the 80s and 90s, back when I was in my car a lot. I had other choices, but I listened to Rush enough to remember him well. I knew I disagreed with him but he must have been entertaining. He opened every show during the Clinton administration with the number of "Days Held Hostage" -- his equation of living under Clinton to being an Iranian hostage. The callers were mostly sycophants, but every now and then a liberal would get through, and Rush would engage them with relative civility. In his Sacramento days, he would happily take on fools on both sides of the aisle. 

 

I'm sure others have studied and written about it, but there was a shift in the 1990s in the marriage between AM Talk Radio and the Clinton administration. The accelerator seemed to be the Waco standoff, the BTF, and Janet Reno. It wasn't so much about policy differences and Big Government anymore, it was about Black Helicopters and homosexual recruiters, One World Government, Hillary Clinton and Vince Foster. I remember driving around Nebraska listening to G. Gordon Liddy's am talk show, where Liddy and his callers would sign off with dark warnings and reminders to "keep your powder dry." That's when I saw this getting really creepy. Guns and Bibles and the manifest destiny of the white guys in power. 

 

So no, rightwing commentators can't force people in a direction they weren't already leaning, but they can and do craft self-serving narratives out of thin air and disburse them to millions. There is zero evidence the 2020 election was rigged, that Antifa was behind the Capitol insurrection, or that AOC and Green Energy are the culprits in the Texas grid disaster, but when right wing think tank consultants huddle up to craft counter-messaging overnight --- and that is what they do -- they are working towards a willfully ignorant America to serve their political purposes. 

 

This is a bad time to be that stupid. 

[Guy Chamberlin]

14 hours ago, Archy1221 said:

What policy did you list?  Who made the list? 

 

Just Google "the worst s#!t Rush Limbaugh ever said" and you'll get plenty of hits. 

 

I actually culled that list for brevity's sake. There are newer compilations featuring the times Rush spoke ill of the fatally sick, recently deceased, and grieving survivors. 

[knapplc]

Why do we need the permission of a Rush Limbaugh fan to call Rush Limbaugh a racist? If people want to remember him fondly, let them. They are what they are - either the enablers of racists, the kinds of people who will turn a blind eye to racists, or racists themselves.

 

I wouldn't waste my time trying to wring an admission of racism out of someone like that.

[Archy1221]

42 minutes ago, knapplc said:

Why do we need the permission of a Rush Limbaugh fan to call Rush Limbaugh a racist? If people want to remember him fondly, let them. They are what they are - either the enablers of racists, the kinds of people who will turn a blind eye to racists, or racists themselves.

 

I wouldn't waste my time trying to wring an admission of racism out of someone like that.

Living rent free 

[BigRedBuster]

17 hours ago, Archy1221 said:

He helped bring conservative thought and policies into the mainstream of America which helps America. 

He did?

[knapplc]

11 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

He did?

 

He brought a kind of conservative thought into the brains of Americans.

 

The racist kind. The misogynistic kind. The homophobic kind. Conspiracy theories about stealing elections? Yep, that too.

 

Was he a good, or laudable contributor to American society?  Not hardly.

 

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

21 hours ago, suh_fan93 said:

 

 

Yes. All Confederate flags should be flying half staff. 

[DevoHusker]

3 hours ago, funhusker said:

1st bold: Unfortunately this is not an inconsequential amount of people...

 

2nd bold: if Rush didn't have much of an effect on most conservatives, why is he getting so much credit for having so much of an effect on the spreading of conservative thought?

 

At best, Rush added no real affect to political conversations in America because people are smart enough to know it was all just "schtick".

 

At worst, he created an atmosphere of polarization in his listeners.

 

At best, his death was inconsequential and I couldn't care less.

 

At worst, I'm glad he's gone.  

 

 

Good points from your point of view, thanks.

 

To your bold, conservative does not equal hateful.

[BigRedBuster]

1 hour ago, knapplc said:

 

He brought a kind of conservative thought into the brains of Americans.

 

The racist kind. The misogynistic kind. The homophobic kind. Conspiracy theories about stealing elections? Yep, that too.

 

Was he a good, or laudable contributor to American society?  Not hardly.

 

 

I used to listen to him every single day.  I don’t remember policy discussions. 
 

really the only things he did on his show was. 
 

1) Say shock jock things. 
2) Ridicule liberals. 
3) Brag about how great he is.
4) Convince everyone that the main stream media is lying to them and he’s the only place to hear the truth.  
 

What is conservative about that?  

[BigRedBuster]

33 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

 

Good points from your point of view, thanks.

 

To your bold, conservative does not equal hateful.

True conservatism doesn’t.  Rush’s version did. 

[knapplc]

3 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I used to listen to him every single day.  I don’t remember policy discussions. 
 

really the only things he did on his show was. 
 

1) Say shock jock things. 
2) Ridicule liberals. 
3) Brag about how great he is.
4) Convince everyone that the main stream media is lying to them and he’s the only place to hear the truth.  
 

What is conservative about that?  

 

There's conservatives and there's conservatives. You, @DevoHusker, @JJ Husker, @TGHusker, you'd all agree you're conservatives.

 

In my opinion, the good kind.

 

But there's no denying there are bad conservatives out there who ate up Rush's version of conservatism. Because it was hateful and unpleasant doesn't mean it's not a conservative ideology.