Rush Limbaugh


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I am sure you all have heard that Rush Limbaugh died today.  It is my personal opinion that though he was good and perhaps even great - he is credited with more than he deserves as a founder of conservativism on radio.  My father would listen to the radio every day at noon to catch the program of Paul Harvey.  The official term back then was not news anchor but rather "commentator".  Somewhere along the way commentators were thought of beyond opinion commentators to a class of news outlets.

I liked Rush Limbaugh because he did not pretend to be without opinion or bias - he wore his opinion and bias as though it was a badge of honor.  Most other commentators seemed to me to think that they were above bias and personal opinion.  When I first listened to Rush Limbaugh I was at the time working for the defense department on state of the art delivery systems.  I was well aware that our ICBM could not hit close to anything in Russia and that it was unlikely they (Russia) could hit anything in the USA.  At the time the only way we could deliver a nuclear device with accuracy and reliability was by submarine.   It was the era of the cold war and to me, Rush seemed to be ill informed concerning delivery systems for nuclear devices.  So for many years I would not listen to him.

I still harbor some prejudice - more so towards what has become known as the "drive by" media news sources than for Rush - I believe the term "drive by" was coined by Rush.  It is my general impression that the news commentators are of the type that only reference what and how in the news that is justified according to their bias.  So for this reason I believe Rush to be more honest to himself - because he admitted his bias.  This all goes along with Shakespeare - who said - "To thine own self be true and it shall follow as the night the day.  Thou cannot be false to any man."

Today I believe we lost a man that truly was true to his beliefs - not just in what he said but by how he lived and treated others. 

 

The Traveler

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He downplayed the relationship between smoking tobacco and cancer.  He died of lung cancer if we believe what he was diagnosed with.  It seems clear that in some ways he was his greatest enemy regarding his own health.

However, his life brings one of those great questions.  If one of your great pleasures in life is smoking a cigar, is it better to enjoy 70 years of life, or live miserably for 100?

Obviously, as we are members of the Church this is something we do not really bring into our questions as we do not smoke (but what I'd do for a cup of coffee if allowed, but have no touched the stuff for decades...which should actually tell me how addicted I was to it). 

I listened to Paul Harvey as well...loved "the rest of the story" portions he did.  I even bought the book once upon a time.  I don't know where it these days.  Fabulous book, fabulous to listen to on the Radio.

I didn't agree with many of Limbaugh's opinions or ideas, but I DID listen to his show regularly.  I have a decent length commute to work and his show seemed to be timed (it could have been a rerun considering the hour I normally was driving) to be on during my drive.  I may not have agreed with many of his views but he was a VERY entertaining speaker.  He was fun to listen to.  My opinion was that sometimes he expressed things he didn't actually believe himself, but more to cause people to think about the issue and to create enough of a stir to keep him in the media (free advertising, not the only individual to do that type of stuff).

I also think he was a strong believer in the Constitution and very loyal to his idea of patriotism to the ideals of the United States.  He actually wrote several children's history books and I think he had a heartfelt love of the US.  I didn't agree with his form of politics or his ideas, but I think he was a very strong patriot in his own way throughout his life, and that patriotism changed some aspects of conservatism and activism during his lifetime.

Whether conservative, Liberal, or Independent I think most would agree he had an impact on Americans and their views of life, politics, and radio talkshows.

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13 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

He downplayed the relationship between smoking tobacco and cancer.

I keep hearing that criticism (among others being heaped on him right now), but I'm not sure it's true.   I've listened to him off and on since the late '80's, and what I heard, was him downplaying the notion that "we have to give up things we want in order to be as healthy and long-lived as possible".   He loathed government intrusion into our lives, and pointed out how this or that study on 2ndhand smoke or sugar intake would be used by folks to justify legislation over our lives.   And demonize people who thought differently.

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A little side note.  About 20 years ago a very strange and unfortunate event took place within my personal limited field of vision in the world.  An acquaintance of mine owned a small business here in Utah (Utah county).  Small can be relative - my acquaintance was quite wealthy and had 200 or so employees.  I had need of his services and went to his place of business to discuss a contract.  When I arrived at his place of business there were a group of protesters carrying signs and picketing his business claiming the business was unfair.  The picketers were a rather rowdy bunch that as I drove in to park shouted obscenities and threats at me for coming for business. 

As I was making arrangements for business I asked my friend what was going on.  He told me that it all started a couple of months previously when he received a threating letter not to advertise with Rush Limbaugh.  He did not think much of it because he did not advertise with Rush.  Within a week he was contacted by phone and threatened again and told there would be repercussions if he did not stop advertising with Rush.  He told the caller that he did not advertise with Rush - which seemed to only anger the caller.  Then he told me that he was quite sure that the picketers had targeted him by mistake.

After I concluded my business, I thought I would talk to some of the picketers before I left.  As I approached they shouted at me for dong business.  I asked specifically why they were protesting - had they ever worked for or done business here.  My curiosity seemed to calm them down.  They said that they did not even know what the business was (which was rather strange because there were large signs identifying the business).  I asked where they were from - answer - mostly California but all were from out of state.   I asked why they were there protesting they said they were paid.  Of course I wanted to know by who and how much.  They were paid over double the minimum wage in Utah plus their hotel and meals were paid for but they did not know who was paying them.

From this experience I came to the conclusion that there is a very well financed cancel culture that makes efforts to silence conservative political speech.   I have heard that liberals are also threatened but I am not sure it is even close to the same.  Why - In my neighborhood there are several signs in support of Black Lives Matter and during the election there were lots of yard signs for "liberal support" but no yard signs for anything Republican party.  I know some very active Republicans and have asked why they do not put up signs.  There response is that they do but that the sign are quickly taken down during the night.

I realize this is not much in the way of research - mostly impression on my part.  Though I do not consider myself as associated with any political party - my impression is that efforts to define political speech as hateful comes mostly from the left - but then even this forum will not tolerate any political speech - so my general impression is that very few really consider political speech to be in the category of free speech. 

I guess I am saying something is going very wrong and I am not sure I know how to deal with it.

 

The Traveler

Edited by Traveler
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6 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

I keep hearing that criticism (among others being heaped on him right now), but I'm not sure it's true.   I've listened to him off and on since the late '80's, and what I heard, was him downplaying the notion that "we have to give up things we want in order to be as healthy and long-lived as possible".   He loathed government intrusion into our lives, and pointed out how this or that study on 2ndhand smoke or sugar intake would be used by folks to justify legislation over our lives.   And demonize people who thought differently.

I heard him say that numerous times.

 

A great loss to conservatism.  RIP Rush.

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18 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

In 3 Sundays, I am expecting to hear at least one testimony given that mentions Rush Limbaugh by name.   Anyone else, or is that just something to expect from my ward of retired former military quite-right folks?

Just those still involved in the John Burch Society - directly or indirectly.

 

The Traveler

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  • 2 months later...
On 2/18/2021 at 4:59 PM, NeuroTypical said:

In 3 Sundays, I am expecting to hear at least one testimony given that mentions Rush Limbaugh by name.   Anyone else, or is that just something to expect from my ward of retired former military quite-right folks?

An old joke I heard from a member (and he was conservative, but had a sense of humor)

“You could be forgiven if you thought that testimony Sunday was just the congressional GOPs prayer hour.” 

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30 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

An old joke I heard from a member (and he was conservative, but had a sense of humor)

“You could be forgiven if you thought that testimony Sunday was just the congressional GOPs prayer hour.” 

 

On 2/18/2021 at 3:59 PM, NeuroTypical said:

In 3 Sundays, I am expecting to hear at least one testimony given that mentions Rush Limbaugh by name.   Anyone else, or is that just something to expect from my ward of retired former military quite-right folks?

 

On 2/22/2021 at 10:34 AM, mirkwood said:

Well, we had a good Sacrament Meeting.  Three talks, no mention of Rush, or Neil, Alex and Geddy for that matter and I was one of the speakers.

Strange.  I've only heard such things live about three times in my life.  And I remember being shocked each time-- thinking that was highly inappropriate for a worship service.

It has, however been a more common occurrence during class discussion than Sacrament.

Edited by Carborendum
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9 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

 

 

Strange.  I've only heard such things live about three times in my life.  And I remember being shocked each time-- thinking that was highly inappropriate for a worship service.

It has, however been a more common occurrence during class discussion than Sacrament.

Oh, agree totally. It IS inappropriate for a worship service. I have heard references to Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and once to Michael Savage (remember him?). All by three different people.

And yes, dropping names of leftwing commentators who you admire is also highly inappropriate at a church. We are there to worship Him, not your political heroes. 

Edited by LDSGator
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We had one of our ward woke 'therapist'* get up and cry/tell the entire ward that she didn't feel church was a safe place, basically putting everyone on notice.
To top it off, she waited to be the last person so no one else could comment.  Times when I'm grateful I'm not in the Bishopric.

But hey, at least it wasn't about Rush.

 

*actual paid therapist. If someone has to pay her for advice about life, I can only imagine the advice they get.

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6 minutes ago, NeedleinA said:

We had one of our ward woke 'therapist'* get up and cry/tell the entire ward that she didn't feel church was a safe place, basically putting everyone on notice.
To top it off, she waited to be the last person so no one else could comment.  Times when I'm grateful I'm not in the Bishopric.

But hey, at least it wasn't about Rush.

 

*actual paid therapist. If someone has to pay her for advice about life, I can only imagine the advice they get.

Yeah, that’s just as awful. No doubt. 

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On 5/14/2021 at 12:47 PM, NeedleinA said:

We had one of our ward woke 'therapist'* get up and cry/tell the entire ward that she didn't feel church was a safe place, basically putting everyone on notice.
To top it off, she waited to be the last person so no one else could comment.  Times when I'm grateful I'm not in the Bishopric.

But hey, at least it wasn't about Rush.

 

*actual paid therapist. If someone has to pay her for advice about life, I can only imagine the advice they get.

I have a brother that is what I call semi liberal or I could call him semi conservative.    He is retired from an executive position of management from the energy sector of the corporate world - which would possibly account for his not be a typical liberal or conservative.  I find his personal opinions about the business end of society very interesting.  For example he says that if we were to take at random 10 individuals from any profession (and this would include therapists).  What we would find is a great deal of difference in their competence in their various professions.  The truth is there is a great deal of difference between the best and worst of the 10 and it does not matter what their expertise is.   In addition it is impossible to find two with the same level of competence - I find this amazing similar to intelligences as described in the Book of Abraham chapter 3.

I do not know anything about your ward's woke therapist - but since you categorize them as "woke" - I wonder if they are on the equity over equality bandwagon of woke thinking or do they think their opinion is better than that of others that do not enjoy their same experiences or background?

It may be just me but it does not appear that there is any "safe place" for life of any kind, anywhere in this entire universe.  Based on her reference to a safe place - I am not sure how helpful her advice would be for any living thing trying to survive any actual life condition.

From time to time, even on this forum there seems to be some that support elements of the woke agenda of equity.  I would really like to have some insight into why they believe such is in reality helpful for survival in this universe - let alone an improvement or path to accomplishment?

 

The Traveler

Edited by Traveler
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On 5/16/2021 at 8:51 PM, Traveler said:

I do not know anything about your ward's woke therapist - but since you categorize them as "woke" - I wonder if they are on the equity over equality bandwagon of woke thinking or do they think their opinion is better than that of others that do not enjoy their same experiences or background?

The therapist feels a lot like this... it is everyone else's fault... never your own.

 

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