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Thread: A little Limbaugh history

  1. #1
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    A little Limbaugh history

    It was Limbaugh who popularized the idea that hardworking white men were under attack in America. According to him, minorities and feminists were too lazy to work, and instead expected a handout from the government, paid for by tax dollars levied from hardworking white men. This, he explained, was “socialism,” and it was destroying America.
    Limbaugh didn’t invent this theory; it was the driving principle behind Movement Conservatism, which rose in the 1950s to combat the New Deal government that regulated business, provided a basic social safety net, and promoted infrastructure. But Movement Conservatives' efforts to get voters to reject the system that they credited for creating widespread prosperity had little success.
    In 1971, Lewis Powell, an attorney for the tobacco industry, wrote a confidential memo for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlining how business interests could overturn the New Deal and retake control of America. Powell focused on putting like-minded scholars and speakers on college campuses, rewriting textbooks, stacking the courts, and pressuring politicians. He also called for “reaching the public generally” through television, newspapers, and radio. “[E]very available means should be employed to challenge and refute unfair attacks,” he wrote, “as well as to present the affirmative case through this media.”
    Pressing the Movement Conservative case faced headwinds, however, since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enforced a policy that, in the interests of serving the community, required any outlet that held a federal broadcast license to present issues honestly, equitably, and with balance. This “Fairness Doctrine” meant that Movement Conservatives had trouble gaining traction, since voters rejected their ideas when they were stacked up against the ideas of Democrats and traditional Republicans, who agreed that the government had a role to play in the economy (even though they squabbled about the extent of that role).
    In 1985, under a chair appointed by President Ronald Reagan, the FCC stated that the Fairness Doctrine hurt the public interest. Two years later, under another Reagan-appointed chair, the FCC abolished the rule.
    With the Fairness Doctrine gone, Rush Limbaugh stepped into the role of promoting the Movement Conservative narrative. He gave it the concrete examples, color, and passion it needed to jump from think tanks and businessmen to ordinary voters who could help make it the driving force behind national policy. While politicians talked with veiled language about “welfare queens” and same-sex bathrooms, and “makers” and “takers,” Limbaugh played “Barack the Magic Negro,” talked of “femiNazis,” and said “Liberals” were “socialists,” redistributing tax dollars from hardworking white men to the undeserving.
    Constantly, he hammered on the idea that the federal government threatened the freedom of white men, and he did so in a style that his listeners found entertaining and liberating.
    I must admit it failed to entertain or liberate me---but it did serve to infuriate me on the occasion when I listened.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

  2. #2
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    An influential guy for sure.

    So, explain again how that fairness doctrine would work in cyberland. Do I need an FCC license to spew my hate?
    "Back after 5 years. I thought you had died.

    don"


    Splitting my time between the montane and the mesas

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.

  3. #3
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    Four hours a day, five days a week, fifty weeks a year, 32 years.

    32,000 hours of the same message of hate, anger, bigotry, misogyny, victimhood.

    Certainly deserving of our nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  4. #4
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    For God's sake the man is dead.
    OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

  5. #5
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    I think it is OK to differentiate between the man as a human being and his effect on the country.

    I hope for God's mercy on the man. As for his legacy and the malign effect he has had on our country...

  6. #6
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    I'm glad some of you guys don't get the chance to judge his soul.
    OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

  7. #7
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    What he did in public life is off limits now that he's dead?

    No one wants to judge anyone's soul. That's for God. What Limbaugh did, his public deeds, those are fair game. We all are called to account for those. He chose a public life, so his deeds are there to be assessed. He could have chosen a different profession, one not in the public eye. He didn't.

    And I think he would not welcome tender judgments. His whole brand is about denunciation, strife, conflict. He would likely love this discussion. A man self-centered enough to spend 20 hours a week in virtual soliloquy would enjoy more talk about him and his legacy, good or bad.

  8. #8
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    I get it you didn't like him you didn't like what he stood for you don't like anything about him. I get it really I do. Doesn't change the fact he's dead.
    OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

  9. #9
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    Not so.

    I found him to be witty at times, charming at times, insightful at times. Like all of us, he was complicated. I would have loved to have him as a dinner guest. He'd be really interesting and entertaining.

    But then, I'm complicated as well.

  10. #10
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    I'm surprised at all the vitriol I'm hearing from all over the place. I have no problem with the man or his show. The show wasn't my cup of tea so I changed the channel no big deal.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  11. #11
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    Look here's the deal for me. At times I agreed fully with what he was saying at other times I thought he was a blowhard but I never thought of him as the devil incarnate as he is being portrayed. I'm willing to let him rest in peace. Each to their own.
    OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

  12. #12
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    Conservatives probably wouldn't hear anything wrong. For the most part, they agreed with him. Hence his many listeners.

    Liberals wonder why Hillary Clinton is the AntiChrist for conservatives. They never heard anything that bad about her, because they basically agreed with her assessments.

    Trump voters look past his flaws. Obama voters do the same.

    I've been accused of being tone deaf but apparently I have company.

  13. #13
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    When and if I ever get over seeing Democratic leaders from sea to shining shining sea advocating, supporting and looking the other way while violent protests burned, looted, caused injuries and destroyed so many places all across our country I might actually understand what the Democrats stand for. At this point I don't. Just like I don't understand why Trump did what he did. I won't ever forget that he personally cost the Republicans the election.
    OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

  14. #14
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    Democrats are easy. They are not-Trump. That's about all they are.

    They need to find something else quickly.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin View Post
    Democrats are easy. They are not-Trump. That's about all they are.

    They need to find something else quickly.
    That is so true all you have to do is read some of the posts around here to prove that. I happen to completely agree with you at least that's how I see it right now.
    OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

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