Limbaugh's Sociopathic Creed

Rush Limbaugh’s Sociopathic Creed
Rush Limbaugh is not a genial man. He is, however, a misogynistic ideologue who uses his Clear Channel bully pulpit to harass, attack, and bludgeon those with whom he has identified as political adversaries. He has been given license to spew poison for years. Who could ever forget his demeaning “ Barack the Magic Negro” spoof of the nation’s first Black president? His venomous diatribes are the equivalent of drive-by shootings. Once potential prey has been targeted, they are dispatched by cruel derision, vast distortion of fact, and shameless mendacity. Limbaugh’s audience of 25 million “dittoheads” are adoring sponges who credulously parrot every odious lie pontificated by the great one. His years of distorting climate science are especially troubling because he has been so successful in promoting climate denial among Americans whose science literacy is at least as limited as Limbaugh’s.
Limbaugh’s hate mongering emanates from approximately 500 radio stations carrying his syndicated drivel fest. Most of these stations are owned by media conglomerate Clear Channel whose shameless silence over Limbaugh’s repugnant and recidivist cruelty is further evidence of the moral dissolution of corporate America. The conviction that the only meaningful corporate responsibility to society is to surpass Wall Street’s quarterly earnings expectations is tightly woven into the fabric of American business culture. Rush Limbaugh is the proud logo of this sociopathic creed.
Limbaugh’s latest victim is a young woman who is a law student at Georgetown University. She had the unmitigated temerity to testify before Congress on the Obama healthcare policy of requiring that employees of religion-affiliated institutions have access to healthcare that provides coverage for women’s reproductive health. Such coverage would include, dare I say, contraception. The Catholic Church is opposed to contraception even though the vast majority of Catholics use some form of birth control other then Limbaugh’s recommended aspirin between a woman’s knees. Apparently, El Rushbo believes preventing unwanted pregnancies is strictly the responsibility of the woman.
The church is unyielding in its opposition to Obama’s plan even though the use of contraception reduces the likelihood of abortion as a less than optimal family planning option. The church’s willingness to overlook the fact that most Catholic women use some form of birth control seems more than a little contrived and hypocritical. The Catholic Bishops are fighting a needless battle in a war they lost years ago. In so doing, they have allied themselves with right wing extremists and pernicious propagandists like Limbaugh who are the antithesis of Christ’s teachings.
The young woman, so reprehensibly attacked by Limbaugh, speaking to a mostly Democratic Congressional audience, described the burdensome cost of contraception on women of limited economic means as well its essential efficacy in the treatment of a variety of medical conditions such as von Willebrand disease. She also detailed the plight of a friend who had an ovary removed because the Georgetown student health plan (Georgetown is a Jesuit institution) would not cover a prescribed birth control medication to stop the recurrence of ovarian cysts.
Limbaugh’s bizarrely vitriolic response to a private citizen exercising her First Amendment rights can be most appreciated by his own words. “What does it say about the college coed… who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex?” El Rushbo followed this egregious smear with the following abomination. “It makes her a slut right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.” Limbaugh has always been disdainful of women, but what could justify the ugliness of this kind of language demeaning and objectifying a college student? What kind of man would verbally rape a young woman before an audience of 25 million listeners? What kind of audience would continue to listen to a coward who abuses women and the truth? But more importantly where are the voices of outrage and protest from Republican leadership and the Catholic Church, and Limbaugh’s employers?
Limbaugh is a proxy hit man for the unholy patriarchal alliance seeking to transform women’s personal healthcare decisions into the specious issue of religious freedom. As previously mentioned, adherence to the Church’s proscription against contraception use is virtually ignored by most self-identified Catholics. It is done so without any consequence from the Church. Therefore, this can only be a political issue and nothing more. For Republicans it is merely another opportunity to bash Obama. For the Catholic Church, I believe the real issue is the perception of control. The Catholic hierarchy is merely taking a misguided opportunity to create the illusion of medieval obedience to antiquated dogma that conflicts with their putative pro-life convictions.
The question remains as to why Limbaugh’s attack on an intelligent, articulate, and sincere young woman was so vicious even by Limbaughian standards. Limbaugh is a nasty, brutish bully who loves the cheap shot. This woman became a target precisely because she was such a compelling spokesperson for her cause. She must have been a particularly appealing target as she had no forum, or so Limbaugh thought, to fight back. Limbaugh does what he does because he is paid well for it and because he is a coward. He is never held accountable for the daily torrent of hate speech corrupting the public airwaves by his constituency or his employers.
Limbaugh has made America meaner and more stupid long enough. It is time for thoughtful people to demand an acceptable standard of discourse and intelligence from the wasteland that has become talk radio where every wingnut has an opinion and their own set of matching facts. If you are concerned about the corporate hijacking of America’s priorities and values as well as its purposeful cultivation of an incendiary culture of blame, then let Clear Channel, Limbaugh, and his sponsors know that you are going to show your disgust by boycotting any product mentioned during the bloated bloviator’s daily assault on human dignity and good taste.
Boycotting those who sponsor Limbaugh’s malignant perturbations of reason and civility is the very least we can do. It’s time the playground bully learned what it feels like to take a punch and taste his own blood.