346 Rush Limbaugh has died.We all knew that was coming, so it’s no surprise. I’m not here to eulogize him, but I would like to say a few things.Firstly, no matter what politics he was peddling at any given time, he was a brilliant broadcaster. In the early days, he mixed elements of the typical Top 40 morning show with political talk radio. Nobody did that to anywhere near as great an effect as Rush did until he did it. Glenn Beck followed in those footsteps about a decade and a half later. They both deviated from that format as they went, but Rush was the one who showed how it was done. All politics aside, it is undeniable that Rush Limbaugh was a broadcasting pioneer, and strictly in terms of formatics, he changed talk radio for the better.Secondly, yes, he was wrong about a great many things, especially through and after the Obama administration. And yes, I think he truly believed the opinions — and, in many cases, straight-up bullcrap — that he was broadcasting.However (and this is not an excuse, just a fact), he knew from the very beginning that what he was doing was nothing more than a show for entertainment purposes. And he’s not the only talk radio host who knew that; pretty much ALL of them know that. Sure, they’ll tell you they’re principled, they’ll tell you they’re on the air to fight the fight and encourage you to stand up to whatever popular enemy is the target of their ire today, but it’s all about ratings and advertiser revenue — anything other than a straight newscast always is, and even then, all too many news departments are led by what’s most lucrative.Rush knew that. He knew it was all an act. He could huff and puff with the best of them, but at the end of the day, when the Golden E.I.B. Microphone (an RE-20, by the way) was turned off, that was it. The show was over. Did you see him going to West Palm Beach city council meetings? Did you see him petitioning Tallahassee? Did you see him personally corresponding with members of Congress on any of the issues he talked about… y’know, beyond mingling with Republican high-rollers at dinner functions? Was he writing letters to the White House to ask for executive action or passage of a bill?No. He didn’t care to do any of that. He had a microphone and hundreds of thousands of watts for a bully pulpit for three hours every weekday. He had YOU to do that FOR him. He knew it was entertaining to listen to, it made him money, and if people took him as some sort of authority figure, so be it. Not to say that there aren’t some who truly engage with both their audience AND the political figures they’re talking about, but for the most part, political talk radio is all for show, and it began with Rush Limbaugh.The most obvious sign of that being true is how talk radio hosts often change their opinions based on what’s popular at the time, and when someone calls them up and calls them out on it, they say “I’ve ALWAYS believed this! Go back and listen! I’ve NEVER said that, I’ve ALWAYS said this!” You can go back and listen, and you’d find that they DID say that, but you’ll never get them to admit it. It’s the one lie they can’t give up, because if they admit their hypocrisy, there goes the audience, and there goes the ad revenue with them. It’s all about populism among their political faction — right OR left, doesn’t matter. As long as they can keep the base tuned in, they’ve got it made. Rush was THE Master at that tactic. I’m not praising him for it, I’m just pointing it out.Yes, I listened to him for a time; from the middle of high school up until just about halfway through Obama’s presidency, so a little over a decade — until the self-contradictions and obvious bigotry got to be more than I could handle without putting my fist through some solid object. I never once agreed with him on everything — and to be fair, he did take the time to listen to people who disagreed with him, including matters relating to transgender people, which I was rather surprised to hear one day. But in many cases, at least until around 2013 or so, he DID embrace some things that were right and sensible. That doesn’t excuse all of the wrongful things he said and stood behind, but as I pointed out in my article about Mike Shirkey and the Hillsdale County Republicans, that’s the insidious nature of Nazism: it mixes its evil messaging into truth and slowly takes over. Rush fell prey to that tactic; he was not vigilant against it and he was not immune to it. And make no mistake: he was within the Nazi fold these past few years.It should go without saying that, as a broadcaster, I respect what Rush did for and accomplished in the industry. As a TRUE conservative, I admire him for his ability to communicate and popularize what was, at least to a certain degree, the conservative message. But also as a TRUE conservative, I have always rejected everything he got wrong. It’s similar to how I greatly admire Ronald Reagan’s ability to communicate and popularize conservatism despite all the harm that he did. In both men’s cases, that doesn’t mean I endorse what they got and did wrong. I’ve made it pretty clear that I rebuke that and rebuke them FOR that at every turn.So Rush’s death brings a mixed bag of feelings for me. I never wished him any ill, but given all the things he’s said about those who were victims of a broken system simply not trying hard enough, I wasn’t exactly sympathetic to his plight, especially when he truly did bring it upon himself (he was a smoker, he died of lung cancer). I’m not celebrating, but I’m not crying, either. I’m not particularly saddened by the loss of him, but I’m not happy that a human being died.I’m… acknowledging, but… something just shy of indifferently so. BroadcastingIcons & LegendsRadioRush LimbaughTalk Radio 0 comments Josh Colletta When he was a kid, everything was a microphone. So they put him behind one, and he started in radio at the age of 8. Now, some 32 years later, Josh Colletta is doing what he's worked toward all his life: talking with you about things that matter, things that don't matter, and life in general. From politics to sports to Star Trek to civil engineering, and plenty of other geeky endeavors, let's have fun keeping the doctors confused! You may also like Josh’s Ultimate Christmas Music Playlist Published: Friday, November 29th, 2024 I Wonder If There’s Beer On the Sun Published: Wednesday, November 27th, 2024