So, I happened across this article today, and as much as I fucking DESPISE Rush Limbaugh, I agree whole heartedly with the author's stance. It's un-American to silence Limbaugh - CNN.com Thoughts? Please discuss.
Limbaugh never said anything about a women that was not said about Sarah Palin and here teen age daughters by virtually everyone on the left. He should leave the media after Letterman and Bill Maher do.
I don't think he should be taken off the air. Obviously, the never-ending garbage he spews doesn't "serve the public interest". The people who listen to him are so goddamn stupid that he would actually be improving our quality of life just by convincing them to kill themselves. Which is exactly why we should let him stay on the air. He provides an easy way to separate dumbasses from rational people.
[quote name='"maxrule"'] Limbaugh never said anything about a women that was not said about Sarah Palin and here teen age daughters by virtually everyone on the left. He should leave the media after Letterman and Bill Maher do.[/quote] I agree with this. As much as i dislike Rush... its part of our free society and i suggest that those who want to silence people that they disagree with, to fucking grow up.
I think Rush is necessary to maintain some kind of balance considering the overwhelmingly left-leaning mainstream media. I consider myself to be moderately to the left, and even I am offended by the blatant bias.
I don't think the FCC should be involved, and in reality, not too many people are calling for that. Most people are calling for a boycott of his advertisers. I don't see anything wrong with that. That's how a free market SHOULD work. The same thing happened to Bill Maher, and he was fired for it. Free speech doesn't mean you can say whatever you want without consequences.
My biggest beef wit this op-ed is that it assumes an essentialism of national identity in it's premise. I'm not big on that. I don't pretend to speak for Penelope420 - but I think that's the point; she's trying to illuminate an operational contradiction.
"Un-american" is an annoying and hollow phrase but censorship isn't really justifiable, especially when it's a system with a vested interest doing the censoring. Limbaugh isn't worth the attention people give him. It's just like Palin, ignore him and he'll go away.
[quote name='"gedio"']"Un-american" is an annoying and hollow phrase but censorship isn't really justifiable, especially when it's a system with a vested interest doing the censoring. Limbaugh isn't worth the attention people give him. It's just like Palin, ignore him and he'll go away.[/quote] I find Limbaugh amusing at the very least, but you're absolutely right. He would be irrelevant if people didn't give into the his extremist tacticts. It is his job to be controversial. If there was no "demand" (people willing to listen THEN speculate) for him, he would be obsolete. God knows that he isn't the most extreme douche out there, he is just the mouth piece.
I've said a bazillion times that I'm a capitalist. I just don't take the free market philosophy to the AnCap extreme.
Nobody has the right to receive money from advertisers. Limbaugh's free speech was not taken away, he might have his radio show shut down but thats due to lack of funds (good ole Capitalism, right Rush?) not due to any censorship. He can yell on the streets like everyone else. spread lies and hatred Considered "balance" Please, there are at least some decent conservatives but Limbaugh is not one.
I agree with this fully. yes, free speech is crucial to a free society but that's not to say that you can expect consequence-free speech. granted, i really, really don't like Limbaugh but as long as he isn't violating any laws (such as slander/libel laws) then he has every right to spew his verbal diarrhea no matter how much i may disagree with it.
My ex's dad once said, "I don't like Rush, he's too liberal for me." I know it was partly tongue-in-cheek, but I also know that he is a raging conservative. And now that man is my son's grandfather.
A. you say unamerican like its a bad thing. B. rush is a piece of shit that does nothing but keep people ignorant.
The author makes some good points. I don't like Limbaugh, so I don't listen to him. But I don't demand some way to prevent others from listening to him. It's simple: