Maybe We Shouldn't Hush The Rush
When I heard that one of my favorite comedians was defending Rush Limbaugh with this tweet: “Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout.”
I thought… Oh no, not you Bill, how can you defend this cowardly creep who attacks a woman he does not know, for speaking out against an injustice; calling her names like a spoiled playground bully? But then I remembered something… It had once happened to Bill Maher himself and if my memory serves me right… I thought it, quite unfair.
Then today I came across this article Hushing Rush isn’t a good idea and I thought, ‘maybe it isn’t… maybe we Liberals should be above retribution and not allow ourselves a schadenfreude moment and sink to a Limbaugh level of HOW LOW CAN YOU GO.
One thing for sure Rush is a BELOW THE BELT kinda guy, he makes a lot of money with his type of “entertainment” that utilizes people’s base fears and their hatred of those who are different from themselves. Limbaugh gives them plenty of kindling to fuel their animosity which makes them feel legitimized in their malevolence and prejudices. They tune in religiously to hear what Limbaugh has to say, not knowing his words are really empty and the only reason he does his ‘Limbaugh dance’ is to collect millions from his bosses at Clear Channel via the sponsors (which he derogatorily refers to as french fries) that come in droves because they know his listeners are easy targets for their indoctrinating marketing techniques, after all, if they believe ole Rush’s pathetic hate mongering, they will believe ANYTHING!
SO LET THE SHOW GO ON, don’t fire his arse, allow us, we-the-people to write our opinions in blogs, sign petitions and email his sponsors that we, at long last, can tell this unscrupulous man to his face that HE SUCKS! thinkingblue
September 17, 2001, his first show on the air since the September 11 attacks, Maher made some poorly received remarks about the hijackers and about U.S. foreign policy on his ABC Television late night talk show, Politically Incorrect. Agreeing with comments by his guest, conservative author Dinesh D’Souza, Maher called the U.S. “cowardly” and said what the hijackers did “took guts” because they sacrificed their lives for their cause.
At a time when the nation’s collective nerves were raw and Americans were in a collective state of mourning, a remark like this was not taken lightly. Maher’s adversaries on both the right and left called him unpatriotic. Bush White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said it was “a terrible thing to say” and called it a reminder “to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do. This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.” Maher apologized for his statements to “anyone who took it wrong,” but it made no difference to advertisers like Federal Express and Sears, which withdrew their sponsorship of Maher’s show. Seventeen ABC affiliates dropped the program.
Hushing Rush isn’t a good idea
Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com
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Rush Limbaugh, of course, would call them FemiNazis. They’re the trio of famous feminists who last week called on the government to silence the bombastic radio host by removing him from the airwaves.
Writing as co-founders of the Women’s Media Center, Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan are urging the Federal Communications Commission to essentially yank Limbaugh’s license.
“Limbaugh doesn’t just call people names,” the women wrote, in a column for CNN.com. “He promotes language that deliberately dehumanizes his targets.”
They may be right about Limbaugh, but they’re wrong about what should be done with him, because censorship is rarely the answer to offensive speech.
After Limbaugh called a law student a “slut” for supporting greater access to birth control, a rather wonderful thing happened. Largely egged on by an outraged public, advertisers have been fleeing his program, as many as 140 by one count. That resulted in the rarest of spectacles, a pseudo-apology from Limbaugh. Still, sponsors continue to bail.
The First Amendment supports Limbaugh’s right to be an obnoxious bigot, which is why Fonda and friends are misguided in urging the government to interfere. I don’t like Limbaugh, but I like even less an attempt to censor someone for controversial views.
But there’s nothing wrong in a free society when people speak up, and sponsors act in their best interests. So I don’t understand the opposition to the advertisers’ exodus, and neither does local defense lawyer Michael Wilcox.
Like Wilcox, I watched talk show host Bill Maher defend Limbaugh on his show last week, framing the criticism as an attack on free speech.
“I don’t like it that people are made to disappear when they say something, or people try to make them disappear, when they say something you don’t like,” said Maher. “That’s America. Sometimes you’re made to feel uncomfortable, OK?”
Absolutely. I, too, have been known on occasion to make people uncomfortable. In my job it’s practically required; in my personal life, I tend to apologize a lot. And Maher is likely sensitive because his own show was once canceled due to controversial statements.
But others are joining Maher in his defense of Limbaugh, including Marc J. Randazza, a Las Vegas-based First Amendment lawyer, who said that he despises Limbaugh but believes that it’s “morally wrong” for people to “pressure” his sponsors.
“If you disagree with someone who is on stage, it is wrong to stand up and yell to drown out his voice,” Randazza wrote in a column. “Drowning out his voice by organized bullying is no way to pay tribute to our most cherished liberty.”
But why should only radio hosts have the right to free speech? Don’t regular Americans enjoy that right, also? Can’t we bring the free market to bear? When a sponsor decides to disassociate itself from Limbaugh’s misogyny and hate-mongering, that seems awfully moral to me.
“That’s crazy to say it’s morally wrong,” said Wilcox, a lawyer and Shrewsbury resident. “This is one of the purest forms of democracy. If I don’t like the widgets you make, I don’t buy them. His show is commercial speech, and we have every right to contact his sponsors.”
In a blog, Wilcox addressed the radio host: “You have every right to call women names, and to demand that they surrender 100 years of social progress so that you can have some sense of order in the fantasy world you want to live in. That is your right. Conversely, I can tell your boss that I will never, ever buy a Sleep Number bed as long as they support your right to express your divisive and highly un-American thoughts.”
Limbaugh adores the free market. Let’s put it to the test and see if the love affair lasts. http://www.telegram.com/article/20120313/COLUMN01/103139932
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“Socialism never took root in America because
the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as
temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”
- John Steinbeck