Oh, Rush Limbaugh, you've done it again. Every time I think you won't outdo yourself, you done gone went and outdid yourself again. Going on the attack on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, calling her a "slut" and a "prostitute" because of her beliefs to have employers cover contraception as part of healthcare.
I could go on about this latest tirade, but I won't. I could also reference his attack on Michael J. Fox, where he did an absurd impression of the effects of his Parkinson's disease, but I won't. I could go into every last person he has attacked, smeared, lied about, etc., to build his audience and roll his fat carcass to the bank, but I won't. What I will do, though, is put this entire thing into a context which not only speaks to Rush's idiocy or my hatred for him, but rather the fear I have that there are adult human beings who actually parrot what he says and does.
Let's hop in our De Lorean and roll back to 1991 with Doc Brown. Bill Clinton was just elected president, ousting George Bush I, and a nation of conservatives were clamoring for answers to how they would survive with a democrat in office.
Growing up in a republican household, the TV was regularly turned to Rush Limbaugh. This man, so many thought, would guide us through these next eight years of horribleness. He would be a beacon of light in a dark and challenging time for this country. He would assure these horrified peoples that they wouldn't fall victim to Bill and Hillary and the myriad horribleness they would cast upon them.
During one of these shows, Rush was chuckling to his viewing and studio audience about the new White House pets. He first introduced the audiences to Socks the cat and then declared "Did you know there's a White House dog?," at which point he held up a picture of Chelsea Clinton.
I was appalled when he did it and thought for sure that the audiences would respond the same. They didn't. These adults--men and women--laughed. They laughed not only at a child, which is in and of itself terrible, but they laughed at an abuser. Here was an adult human being bullying an innocent child and people were laughing. Sadly, the laughter extended beyond the TV screen to the family room where that TV glowed.
This event hit me hard. Growing up, I went to close to a dozen different schools between kindergarten and graduation, so, as the new kid, I got my fair share--and then some--of bullying. I knew it came with the territory. I didn't like it, but I expected it. Kids are cruel, right?
Perhaps it was naivete, but I always thought that at least you could count on adults to protect you, to stand up to bullies, to take a stand for a kid getting knocked down. That day, I learned a valuable lesson: that I was wrong.
Sitting there in that living room, watching people laugh and make fun of a little kid because she looked different made me sick. It still does to this day. Why? Because it still happens. For some strange reason, supposed free-thinking adult human beings continue to not only listen to and watch a bully (I could throw in racist, sexist, etc., but there's not enough room in this post.), but they support and spread his hatred.
I saw that again this week when doing a search on "Rush Limbaugh" in Twitter. I wanted to see what people were saying about his latest remarks. Sure, there were people opposing him, but between those people, I saw others with actual valid accounts--even with their full names--ballyhooing his hatred, attacking Sandra Fluke with their own "slut" and "prostitute" comments. An alias account, I can understand, but an account with your first and last names and photo? How would those men look into the eyes of their mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sisters and aunts? Would they feel no shame?
Then, sadly, I thought back to that night in 1991 when I saw men and women alike attacking that child and remembered that, as much as we may want to believe and hope, people just don't change.
So, to Rush Limbaugh and your hating minions, keep on keeping on with hating the things you don't understand and dipping in your Double Standards Swimming Hole. Oh, and you suck!
Sincerely,
Elihu M. Smails
Judge
