Blogging4change
RIP Rush Limbaugh
Yes, you read that right, I am briefly memorializing El-Rushbo, but not for the reason you might think. You see, back in the 90s, I worked in a small office environment with one large room, two other partners and one radio. I was the token Democrat in the room, along with one traditional Conservative and one more Libertarian Republican. We spent most of the day listening to news radio, with the occasional CD in rotation. Come afternoon, the Conservative would switch on Rush Limbaugh for the afternoon. I didn’t mind it much at first, as I always considered myself pretty centrist. But the more I listened to Limbaugh, I began to question some of the “facts” El-Rushbo was spewing. With a little reading papers and listening to NPR (the interwebs was in its infancy), I realized that Rush was often creating a situation out of nothing, like the time he was so focused on accusing the Clintons of murder.
Needless to say, I still begrudgingly listened to Rush, but I argued with my Conservative counterparts over the validity of much of his content. They often agreed that Rush was just hyping things up for his show. But my dad listened to Rush as well, and took a lot of what he said to heart. I realized then how nefarious talk radio could be. Our office routine of Rush followed by Sean Hannity continued, and it is what I credit for actually making me become more Liberal in my views.
So, in retrospect, I need to thank Rush Limbaugh for doing the exact opposite of what his show intended.