On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh opened his mouth and most of America didn’t listen. Unfortunately, about 20 million people did and 20 million will listen to him the next time he says something completely deplorable.
For those of you who weren’t listening, here’s what happened. Last week, a black kid beat up a white kid on a school bus. The police reported that the attack was not racially motivated, but Rush was more familiar with the case and knew better. As a result, he quipped, “We need segregated buses … In Obama's America the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering 'Yeah, right on, right on, right on.’” He went on to try to justify racism like this: “If homosexuality being inborn is what makes it acceptable, why does racism being inborn not make racism acceptable?”
Now, I know it is just Rush Limbaugh and he is trying to get a rise out of people, so making a big deal out of it is just giving him what he wants. Maybe I shouldn’t care about what he says, and usually I don’t. It is not that this comment is so different from the thousands of other things that Rush has said. The problem is there are millions of Americans out there who take what Rush and other right-wing “leaders” in the media say as gospel. There are people out there who are so extreme that these outlandish comments are bordering on dangerous.
Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely extremists on both sides, and with Democrats controlling both the executive and legislative branches, Republicans have a lot to whine about. But I think it is fair to say the far right have become absurd and hostile in their protests.
At town hall rallies, the crazies came out. I am not just talking about the rowdy mobs and the crazy signs, but one guy outside an Obama town hall meeting (on health care, by the way) was holstering a gun on his hip because he “wanted to protect his Second Amendment rights.” America has never had a well-informed public, but there are people accusing Obama of being both fascist and communist at the same rally, citizens convinced that the president wasn’t born in the U.S., parents complaining about the president of the country telling their kids to stay in school and protestors handing out fliers of Obama shaking hands with Hitler. Things have gotten out of hand, and people like Rush Limbaugh are to blame.
A few months ago Rush started making comparisons between Obama and Hitler. As a result, loyal followers colored mustaches under Obama’s nose and deemed the president a Nazi. In 2004, MoveOn.org (a liberal lobbying group) held a video advertising contest on its Web site and one of the 1,500 submission that were presented contained images of former President George W. Bush and Hitler. Conservative bloggers noticed the video and pounced on the opportunity to attack the liberal left. MoveOn.org quickly issued an apology and took the video (that they had never sponsored nor endorsed) down. Fox News and conservative newspapers had a field day. They deemed the comparisons “irresponsible” and “unrestrained.” Now in 2009, Rush and his army of right-wing zealots are marching in lock step, chanting that Obama is a Nazi. The media coverage and outrage over the comparison has been virtually nonexistent.
Rush Limbaugh is many things, but he is not dumb. He makes money by getting listeners and making outrageous remarks. Fine. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people in the U.S. who are just plain stupid. If the right wing doesn’t stop exploiting the ignorance of millions of Americans, our country is going to become an increasingly unsafe place to live. Especially for President Obama.
—Ryan Sullivan is a junior in Peabody College. He can be reached at ryan.c.sullivan@vanderbilt.edu.
