Activism

Jason Menayan

I have a bit of a cynical attitude towards radio personalities like Limbaugh--they thrive on the victimhood that their outspokenness engenders. And by "thrive," I mean profit. I'm not entirely sure he cares about his country--it is clear, though, that he loves attention more than anything else.

Most of the time I think Limbaugh is a loudmouth whose rank hypocrisy is only overlooked by his legions of faithful dittoheads. I do think his quest for ratings and money does the Republicans a disfavor most of the time, so as long as the Republicans can live with his effect on polarizing his party, the rest of us should too. And I believe people should be able to say what they like, no matter how distasteful and no matter how destructive.

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Jason Menayan

I really don't begrudge the man much at all, Dani. I think we both agree that first and foremost Limbaugh is an entertainer. He is not beholden to journalistic standards, because he's not a journalist, nor political standards, since he wasn't elected or appointed to office. He's an entertainer with a large audience who uses a particularly bizarre form of partisanship to appeal to his followers.

I don't think anyone who wants a large following has to resort to the same sort of polarizing tactics that he does; Walter Cronkite is a good example. But then again, he was a newsman. Limbaugh is an entertainer, so, like Kathy Griffin, he can be as outrageous and offensive as he'd like to be.

The problem occurs when people expect what he says to be taken seriously (I don't know if he really expects that; maybe he's having a private laugh about all of it). But in terms of hypocrisy, here are a few examples:

• he claims to love our country (which apparently you must say at every breath or you don't mean it) but then he hopes Obama fails at his job as president. A real patriot wants our president to fail while we're fighting a war?
• he says gay marriage will destroy the American family, while he has been married and divorced three times. He even said Mark Sanford was a victim of the cheapening of marriage (ostensibly by growing support for gay marriage)
• he railed on drug addicts and said they should all be carted off to jail, but subsequently admitted he had an addiction to painkillers

Like I said, he could be enjoying a private laugh at all the ridiculous things he says he believes (but apparently doesn't always preach), but lots of people take him seriously. And those people who take him seriously make the rest of the country question their sanity. I don't think it's any mistake that the Democrats are calling Limbaugh the leader of the GOP; it's almost like character assassination on the Republicans. A highly suspicious part of me wonders if he isn't a Democratic plant meant to damage the credibility of Republicans...

At any rate, he is occasionally politically incorrect - he lambasted McCain when he was the GOP's party standard. Everything else considered "poltiically incorrect" really isn't that when he is following his own party's standards, right? A Republican being politically incorrect would profess his love of France and cap-and-trade; saying the stuff Limbaugh usually says is actually quite politically cautious.

But an entertainer he is, and an unusually successful one at that. He's been going strong for a couple of decades now, and like Matt Drudge has a great pulse on the emotional resentments of social conservatives all over the country.

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Jason Menayan

I agree with you that the emotional element of commentary has blurred into the news, and not only on the conservative side (although it might be easy to argue the recent popularity of the likes of Olbermann and Maddow is a response to the longer-term success of right-wing radio and TV political commentary). I find the ratings numbers of the Fox vs MSNBC battles disturbing (the fact that both are gaining ground relative to neutral news programs). Commentary should of course be free, but it's become a substitute for the sober news for an increasing share of the population.

When your entire view of what's going on in the world is shaped along partisan lines, how can you not demonize the other side? Perspectives from people who see things different from you but have a reasonable rationale for their viewpoint is healthy, and yes, I agree, debates like these help people fill in the gaps that our media has unfortunately created. It's good to have a healthy debate at the national level, too, although, frankly, the Republicans have such bizarre priorities these days that their credibility for holding up their end of the debate is waning.

Regarding Limbaugh: having reservations is one thing, but hoping for failure is another. And, believe me, I can easily imagine fringe-leftists hoping for the same failure for Bush a few years ago, and it's just as hypocritical (because liberals love this country as much as conservatives do). Fortunately for the Democrats, none of them seem to have the bully pulpit that Limbaugh has.

As for the marriage issue, I think people should be able to get a divorce, but multiple marriages and divorces suggests a lack of respect for the institution and poor judgment. Interestingly, the gay marriage rights opposition mostly comes from the Christian social conservatives, who have nothing to say about making divorce illegal, even though Jesus condemned divorce seven times in the Bible (while not mentioning homosexuality even once). The higher failure of marriages in evangelical Christian parts of the country also discredits social conservatives' own arguments, which is probably why support for marriage equality continues to grow. (BTW you might get a chuckle from Limbaugh's comments on Sanford here)

Finally, about Limbaugh's motives: I suppose we'll never truly know. He is an entertainer with a carefully crafted public persona, so we might never know what his private thoughts are. But his continued failures at keeping a marriage, as well as his painkiller addiction, point to an unhappy and troubled man. They certainly put his exhortations about principled behavior in a different context, and oddly cultivate in me a bit of sympathy for him.

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Jason Menayan

I'll be honest that when it comes to engaging with thinking conservatives and understanding where they're coming from, without the bombast and hyperbole, I prefer the likes of you over Limbaugh. I don't think he's crazy - I think the ratings-driven tendency towards sensationalism distracts from any message he's trying to get across. But he clearly has mastered his medium and there's reason why he's as successful as he is.

Absolutely agreed on the importance of protecting free speech, even those commentators who define the fringe. There's a terrific movie, by the way, starring Ron Perlman in the Limbaugh-like role, that conveys this beautifully, called The Last Supper. A truly excellent, underrated film - highly recommended no matter what your political proclivities are!

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